From player to coach, Brendan McCarthy transitioning well with P.E.I.'s Western Capitals

Brendan McCarthy knew he always wanted to stay involved in hockey after he finished playing.

Conversations with two former junior hockey coaches helped set McCarthy on that path.

“When I was 19 years old, Jim Hulton, after the year, said, ‘I think you should keep playing hockey, but when you’re done playing, you should stay in hockey somehow,’” said McCarthy, who had just completed the 2020-21 season with the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders. “That kind of really started getting the gears turning and made me start thinking about it more as I got a little bit older and a bit further into my career.”

McCarthy, from Goulds, N.L., went on to play his final season of junior eligibility with the 2021-22 Maritime Junior Hockey League-champion Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals. McCarthy then played four years of U Sports at York University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in kinesiology and health science.

McCarthy returned to P.E.I. and is currently working towards his master’s degree in business administration at UPEI.

The Caps posted a job opportunity for the front office, and McCarthy applied with the idea of this being an opportunity to stay involved in the sport. But when Caps head coach, Billy McGuigan, learned this, he saw a bigger role for McCarthy. The Caps required an assistant coach to replace Lauchie MacDougall, who moved into a different role with the organization.

“I always knew that I wanted to stay in hockey when I was done playing, and I kept in touch with Billy over the past couple years,” said McCarthy. “We talked about coaching in the future, but I didn’t think it would happen right away.

“Anyway, he needed an assistant coach, so the opportunity came up and it was just too good of an offer to say ‘no’ to.”

So, at age 25, McCarthy has caught the coaching bug.

“I think most hockey players who stop playing would probably agree the hardest part of leaving is probably not being part of a team anymore,” said McCarthy, who praised McGuigan, MacDougall and assistant coach Tim Schurman for helping to smooth his transition to coaching. “So, to step right back into being with a team and back into the locker room, I’ve really enjoyed it.

“It was such a big part of my life for 20 years and I get to keep doing that. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and I’d really like to keep doing it into the future. I just got to keep learning and keep getting better every day at trying to be a better coach and helping our team win.”

McGuigan welcomed the opportunity to add McCarthy to the coaching staff. McCarthy brings a fresh perspective; he’s not far removed from being a player, and knows what it takes to win a championship.

“For the last number of years, we’ve been looking for a younger guy that’s just finished his playing career, and it just worked out well to have Brendan going to school at UPEI,” said McGuigan. “It was just a good fit and a good time.

“Being a player here, he was always a hard-working, penalty-kill, defensive-type specialist here and it was nice to add him to the staff.”

When McGuigan coached McCarthy, he felt coaching could be part of the industrious forward’s future.

“He’s very smart, very keen and he’s a player that understood the game,” said McGuigan. “He’s a player that played a more defensive role and didn’t have the offensive skill set as some other guys but was always counted on to play the hard minutes – the PK, the shut-down role and that’s (the responsibilities) he’s been given here as well.”

McGuigan described McCarthy as mature.

“It’s good to have a guy like that come into your program,” said McGuigan. “He’s a very smart young guy; he’s got lots of ideas, and he’s not afraid to voice them.”

McCarthy feels he can relate to the players well. He’s closer in age to the players than the coaching staff.

“I still remember what it feels like to be in certain situations as a player versus looking at it from the coaching side,” said McCarthy. “It can be a bit of a help sometimes and it can be valuable to have that aspect of it as well.”

McCarthy said he’s enjoying overseeing the Caps’ penalty killing. McCarthy compared planning a team’s penalty killing to match up against the opposition’s power play as a chess match.

“I really enjoy that and it feels good when you kill a penalty off, just as it did when you’re a player,” said McCarthy. “But beside that, (coaching’s) the same things that you love about being a player – going to the rink every day; seeing the guys and getting to be part of a team and working towards a goal.

“All the things that I love about hockey are still the same as a coach as they are as a player.”

But one difference McCarthy has noticed since he started coaching is how he watches games. For example, McCarthy said he now looks for different things as a coach than he did as a player.

“I texted Billy the first night of the NHL (regular season) and I was like, ‘I’m watching this completely different than I was from last year,'” said McCarthy. “Myself, anyway, when you’re in the heat of the moment in the game, it doesn’t feel different then – it’s still hockey and all the things that I love about hockey are still there; they’re still the same. It’s just a different perspective.”

Jason Simmonds is the sports editor at The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at jsimmonds@postmedia.com and followed on X @JpsportsJason.