John Snowden has the same hockey mindset as Ryane Clowe, the same drive as Clowe but Snowden is also quick to point out he’s no Ryane Clowe.
“I don’t want to be Ryane all over again,” said Snowden, the Newfoundland Growlers’ head coach who makes his home ice debut tonight. “I want to be me. I loved everything Ryane did, I loved his approach to the game, loved how he prepared.
“I wouldn’t do anything a whole lot different, but there are some things in which me and him, certainly personality-wise, are a bit different. I want to make sure I’m me, and not someone that I’m not.”
It’s not how he planned or wanted to land his first head coaching gig, but now the buck stops with Snowden, a 37-year-old hockey lifer who was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but spent most of his adolescent years in suburban Seattle.
"I want to make sure I’m me, and not someone that I’m not.” — John Snowden
Snowden was tabbed by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs to take over the Growlers in the wake of Clowe’s sudden resignation as the ECHL team’s head coach a week ago due to “medical reasons.”
Snowden lost in his debut behind the Newfoundland bench last Saturday night in Brampton, Ont., 3-1 to the Beast, but notched his first win the next day in a 7-4 Growlers decision over Brampton.
Snowden, newly-hired assistant coach Darryl Williams of St. John’s and the Growlers play host to the Worcester Railers tonight and Saturday night at Mile One Centre. Game time for both nights is 7 p.m.
Snowden was as surprised as anybody Clowe resigned from his first head coaching job, the result of lingering concussion issues.
The Fermeuse native missed 15 games prior to Christmas, but Snowden didn’t foresee the ex-NHLer walking away, “because he’s a warrior.
“There were days he probably wasn’t feeling the greatest but he did a good job hiding it,” Snowden said. “Obviously, this is an amazing opportunity for myself, and I’m obviously excited and honoured the Leafs would give me this opportunity. But on the other hand, I’m real upset and sad for Ryane.
— Newfoundland Growlers photo/Jeff Parsons
“My admiration for him not only as player but as a coach and as a person, and the way he does everything, is going to be missed by myself and the whole group.”
Snowden worked as an assistant coach with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears the past three years, ironically when that team was affiliated with Toronto.
The Leafs interviewed him for the Newfoundland head coaching job, along with six others. Word is the former 11-year minor pro player — he twice leading his team in scoring, with Texas of the ECHL in 2004-05 and Greenville of the ECHL 2005-06 — impressed Leaf management, who had no problem giving him the assistant’s job after they decided to go with Clowe as the head guy.
“I learned a lot in the short time with Ryane,” he said. “He’s a brilliant hockey guy. He’s been able to be at the highest level for a long time. I think that’s something to be said for the hockey mind that he is.
“Every day I was around him, I took everything in. I’ve also been around some other great coaches in Drake Berehowsky and Anthony Noreen (both in Orlando). And when I was playing, when I knew I wanted to be a coach, I made sure to take in everything I could — good or bad, right, wrong or indifferent — from all the coaches I played for.”
Like Clowe, Snowden sees himself as a “very intense” individual. In that sense, he and Clowe are alike, but he’s not about to be Ryane Clowe 2.0 inside the Growlers’ room.
“That competitive drive is what kept him in the game for so long as a player,” Snowden said of Clowe. “Obviously I didn’t play in the NHL, but it was that drive that allowed me to play for as long as I did at this level, which isn’t easy to do, either.
“I think he’s a little bit more of an imposing figure, if you will, and I am a little bit more cerebral, a little bit more reserved in some ways. But the group knows how my approach is, so I don’t think I have to go outside of who I am.
“They did a great job as a group responding earlier in the year with Ryane’s absence, and I don’t foresee any change now.”
Twitter: @TelyRobinShort
John Snowden
Born: Jan 12, 1982
Birthplace: Everett, WA
Height: 6-0
Weight: 210
Season Team/League GP G A Pts
1998-99 US National U18 team, NAHL 49 6 5 11 43
1999-00 US National U18 team, NAHL 31 12 11 23 23
1999-00 U.S. Junior National team, USHL 20 2 2 4 25
2000-01 Lincoln Stars, USHL 55 24 26 50 58
2001-02 Lincoln Stars, USHL 54 32 12 44 104
2002-03 Lincoln Stars , USHL 58 23 26 49 123
2003-04 Texas Wildcatters, ECHL 72 22 21 43 113
2004-05 Utah Grizzlies, AHL 1 0 0 0 0
2004-05 Texas Wildcatters, ECHL 71 37 25 62 48
2005-06 Greenville Grrrowl, ECHL 69 27 37 64 49
2005-06 Norfolk Admirals, AHL 2 0 0 0 0
2006-07 Reading Royals, ECHL 63 12 18 30 49
2007-08 Rosenheim Starbulls, Germany 38 26 29 55 0
2007-08 Idaho Steelheads, ECHL 30 8 3 11 29
2008-09 Rocky Mountain Rage, CHL 7 3 0 3 6
2008-09 Amarillo Gorillas, CHL 54 15 37 52 58
2009-10 Dayton Gems, IHL 59 21 23 44 26
2009-10 Bloomington PrairieThunder, IHL 15 8 6 14 21
2010-11 Bloomington PrairieThunder, CHL 66 19 17 36 54
2011-12 Quad City Mallards, CHL 58 22 30 52 47
2012-13 Rapid City Rush, CHL 22 2 9 11 12
2012-13 Fort Worth Brahmas, CHL 41 23 19 42 34
2013-14 Allen Americans, CHL 22 5 10 15 12
2013-14 St. Charles Chill, CHL 34 12 16 28 28
Coaching
Season Team/League
2015-16 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL (assistant)
2016-17 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL (assistant)
2017-18 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL (assistant)
2018-19 Newfoundland Growlers ECHL (assistant/head coach)
