Feeding the Fire

Sarah Green
Jan 12, 2003

Canadian Fighting Forward, Chad Woollard

Coach Todd Lalonde was working the Fort Worth Brahmas hard during Christmas-time. "Move your f’ing ass!" "Go, Go, GO!!!" A loud whistle screeched, and twenty more colorful expletives followed. Players raced the rink as Lalonde chased them down, ready to kick their butts into full throttle. A couple of guys stopped during the drills to puke on the ice. Lalonde characteristically showed little to no mercy, and after ordering them to take off their gear, he made his team run bleachers. Lalonde ran the stairs with them, making steady sprints then hopping a couple of steps at a time. Then he ordered a wrenching session of push-ups. Most of the guys appeared wet and winded afterwards. A few hunched over and I thought maybe another vomit session was in the offing. It was enough to do the hardiest man in. I expected Chad Woollard to need at least a few minutes to recover from such a torture session, but the 6'3" left winger got up from the floor, took one long deep breath and sat down with me, appearing none the worse for wear.

Woollard looked at me with a steady gaze. He radiates the unblinking confidence that comes with a lot of talent. His striking pale eyes can suddenly flash with interest or anger, but most of the time, he keeps himself level and a little reserved. Don't make him angry on the ice, though. This red head is 210 lbs. of controlled fire. Chad Woollard is one of hockey's prized commodities, a high-scorer who'll drop the gloves on a moment's notice. He explains his physicality simply, saying, "The more physical I am, the more room I make on the ice. The more room I make on the ice, the easier it is to score."

This is the kind of playing that fans adore and that scouts notice. Last season, Woollard was called up to the AHL Utah Grizzlies, and spent training camp this season with them. Todd Lalonde fully expects that it won't be long before Woollard is called up to Salt Lake City again. I asked "Wooly" if it was hard being back with the Brahmas for a third season after a sampling of the AHL. “I’m hoping I'll go back. I feel I had a really good camp in Utah. I came back down knowing I did my best there, and after being called up last year, I know I can play at that level. The camp helped me improve. Next time, I think I'll be able to stick up there. It's just getting that lucky break".

I wanted to ask him a little more about lucky breaks:
"Do you think a guy like Steve Gainey has an unfair advantage with his dad being Bob Gainey, (The legendary Montréal Canadiens captain, and former Dallas Stars GM) or do you think something like that makes it harder on a guy?" "I don't think he has an unfair advantage. He's a great player and brings something to the game that Utah needs, which is a tough grittiness. I think it might be hard for him following in his dad's footsteps, but he's a legitimate player, and he deserves to be there. He's had shots in Dallas, and he didn't look out of place at all." "Did you make any friends in Utah?" "My best friend, a guy I've known all my life, Jeff McMillan, plays up there. We grew up together, been neighbors all our lives, went up through the minors together, and it was a thrill to play together at that level".

23 year old Chad Woollard was born in Durham, Ontario. He spent his junior hockey years in the Ontario Hockey League, playing for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and the Owen Sound Platers, where he enjoyed a fine year, scoring 28 goals and 29 assists in 50 games. He also played for the Toronto St. Michaels Majors. Hmm. Not too shabby.

His rookie pro season in 1999-2000 was spent with the Jackson Bandits and Greensboro Generals of the East Coast Hockey League. It's with the Brahmas, though, that Woollard has been developing into a mature standout who's speedy, tough and intimidating. Todd Lalonde expects the utmost from his team, and Chad Woollard delivers. It's not easy to earn the praise that Lalonde gives to #19. (Just review the first paragraph). "There's no question that Chad Woollard is one of the top players in the CHL under 25. He is a power forward in the mode of a Brendan Shanahan type. He can score and create goals, and he also plays with a high level of intensity." An intensity that gained him 188 penalty minutes in 53 games last season. A season that also saw him score 21 goals, make 27 assists and rack up 48 points. He's on track to do even better this year. On December 20, Woollard netted the game winning overtime goal, (his 13th so far) made three helpers and sat out a five minute major for fighting, leading the Brahmas to victory over the Wichita Thunder 5 to 4. Woollard patterns his play on that of Wendel Clark, the recently retired Toronto Maple Leaf, and there's little doubt that the feisty Clark seems to be a fitting model for Woollard. The big winger also hopes to one day play for the Leafs, "But I'd even be happy playing for the Atlanta Thrashers, as long as it's the NHL. The NHL is probably the goal of every player in this league." I asked Chad what his most memorable fight has been so far. "My first ever fight in the OHL. Being 16 years old and playing against guys who were 20 and 21. My first shift I got into a fight; it probably wasn't a good fight for the fans, but it was a long fight, a good fight for me. And I didn't get beat up, and I was happy about that." I finally saw Woollard's face light up in a smile at the memory.

I wondered if the impressive experience that Woollard's had makes him a natural leader on the team. "Maybe not so much in words. We have a captain. Maybe I’ll say a few words in the dressing room, but I try to be a leader on the ice."

Adapting to a Texas-based team took a bit of adjustment for the young Canadian. Southern life is slow and easy, and the mild climate where the roads maybe freeze over for about two hours every four years isn't the ideal location to produce rabid hockey fanatics, much less excellent players. It's something the winger feels keenly:

"Some nights we have good crowds, some nights we don't. That's hard. It's not like Canada, where hockey is everything. For me, my first year was a real culture shock. Coming down and playing hockey when there's no snow and it being sunny out and going golfing after practice. When you're playing outside, back home in Canada, when you're little, it's about minus 24 degrees Celsius. You're out in the backyard at 10 o'clock at night in the snow, playing with your feet frozen like rocks. But it doesn't really matter; you don't feel it until later when you get inside. You just want to be out there playing."

Hockey really has to be an indoor game here, except for inline stick and puck, which is often played on blisteringly hot asphalt in the 104-plus degree Texas summers. There are no frozen ponds in the back yards of Fort Worth. Why wonder then, that Canadian and Northeastern American players and their fans share a bond that many southern hockey watchers have yet to understand? Please don't think less of us who live below the Mason-Dixon Line, we just don't have the climatic conditions to create the total hockey atmosphere. We're trying our best, though. The Brahmas can pull in crowds of around 5,000. Not too shabby, considering that the Dallas Stars play a mere 35 minutes down the freeway, usually to sold-out seating. Fort Worth people know about their Brahmas, and when I told a few friends that I have been doing some stories on them, ears pricked up, I was assailed with questions, and was repeatedly asked how to get player autographs. My response? Go to a game, and ask the players themselves. What a great chance to catch someone like Chad Woollard on his way up, before you have to spend a week's salary at an NHL game to do it.

I took my own advice and headed out to a Brahmas game last Saturday night. Most home games are played at the Tarrant County Convention Center. It's mostly known because it's where a new Miss Texas is crowned every July. I remember the arena mostly from all the rock concerts I attended in the 70's and 80's, but Yes, Styx, Pink Floyd and Van Halen have all blended into a weedy haze by this time in my life. The game was certainly the first time I was to witness an event there in a relatively unimpaired state. The crowd was the size that Chad Woollard doesn't like. Small. Well, the Brahmas were up against the final home game of the suckacious Dallas Cowboys. This is the land of football, winning or losing. And it's a tough match.

I must say that for a smallish crowd, it was truly a group of solid fans. They banged the glass, they chanted, they wore their Brahmas Jerseys. When the Dallas Cowboys' scores were announced, people reacted with enthusiastic booing.

The Brahmas are suffering through a tricky time right now. They stand at last place in the Northeast Division of the CHL. The team is heavy on rookies, and is having a hard time gelling. A tough and grueling road schedule has also contributed to making things difficult for the team to progress. Coach Todd Lalonde feels confident that more games scheduled on home ice for the rest of the season will solve some team woes. "We have to believe that when we get to play some games on our ice, we'll start getting some breaks. It just seems like when anything can go wrong on the road, it does." The Brahmas feel an intense loyalty to their coach, and they're all working hard to create a turnaround over the next few months. Woollard concurs: "Coach Lalonde has done a lot for me. This is my third year here and when he came along three quarters of the way through my first year, he made me into a better player. He put the pressure on me to be the best player on the ice every night; He doesn't allow me to take a game off, and coast through it. He 's done a tremendous amount of work for me by getting scouts here to watch me play. I have a lot of respect for him. He works us hard, but he does it all himself, too. Whatever he asks of us, he does as well. You've got admire that in a coach".

Even with team standings to contend with, Chad Woollard remains a player who rarely disappoints. Despite disruptions like having Mike Tilson, a loud and lively Brahmas veteran defenseman, being traded the very morning of the game for three guys from the Corpus Christi Ice Rays, Woollard retained a steady and professional presence in the game, scoring his 14th of the season with plenty of clear ice around him. There were no 5 minute fighting majors this time, but Woollard made the most of his chances, even if he did behave. If the Brahmas are to get out of the cellar this year, Chad Woollard will have a key role in making it happen. That is, unless he gets called up to Utah again.

I recall taking a good look at Chad Woollard's feet at the Wednesday practice. I looked at them because as a former ballet dancer, I know that feet that are put into unnatural footwear have weird things happen to them over time. Sure enough, Woollard's were the feet of someone who's worn skates almost every day of his young life. Big, scary looking calcium deposits at the backs of his ankles are a visible testament to the hours and hours of work it takes each day to make it to professional level hockey.

That morning, I had asked Chad what his proudest hockey moment had been so far. “Getting drafted into Major Junior when I was 16 years old. The year before that, I'd been cut from Junior B teams. They told me I wasn't good enough and I went to Junior C and I wasn't expecting to get drafted. I actually went to watch my buddy Jeff get drafted, and to hear my name get called in the second round when I was rated somewhere in the 21st round was probably the thrill of my life. I’ll remember it 'til the day I die. It was exciting for my family, too."

If he can keep working and improving, keep feeding the fire that a player needs inside to survive in professional hockey, there are going to be several more proud moments for Chad Woollard. For Chad Woollard and the Brahmas, the best is yet to come.

Postscript: To add more tumult to a difficult season, Brahmas head coach Todd Lalonde was reassigned Dec. 29, and replaced with veteran coach Bill Inglis. Lalonde had led the Brahmas to the CHL playoffs last season, but could not pull the Brahmas out of this year's slump, which has been exacerbated by player injury and illness. The 59-year old Inglis is a native of Ottawa, Ontario, and has coached in the NHL, AHL, and IHL.

Jan 8^th Woollard was named to the CHL All-Star team. Woollard was one of eleven players named as reserves to the Northern Conference squad that will take on the Southern Conference squad in the annual mid-season game.

Sarah Green writes and illustrates in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Please give her a paying job. She needs new curtains.

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