Seeing fall colours back home in Prince George seemed a bit strange to Jason LaBarbera.
Hockey season is in full swing and he hadn't been around the city this time of year since he was 15 years old.
Now 37, in his second season as the goaltending coach of the Calgary Hitmen, it's only been about a year since LaBarbera made retirement official, ending a long pro playing career stopping pucks that began when he graduated the WHL ranks in 2000.
"It's been fun to come full-circle and have a lot of that stuff that happened to me in junior that I get to relate to these guys - it just kind of reinvigorates you a bit," said LaBarbera, after his Hitmen lost 7-1 Tuesday night to the Prince George Cougars at CN Centre.
"It's obviously a lot different from pro, lots of learning. They're young guys trying to figure their way. I've been through a lot of stuff so you try relay your experiences on, not only to the goalies but to the players too.
"A game like (Tuesday) is tough, it's emotional, but you've got to find ways to get through it. I had a few games like that in this building. When I played for Portland I always got lit up here. I remember I gave up 16 goals in two games here."
Drafted in 1998 in the third round by the New York Rangers, the year he won a Memorial Cup with the Portland Winterhawks, LaBarbera also played WHL hockey for Tri-City and Spokane. He has become a full-time coach this season, overseeing Hitmen goalies Nick Schneider, a 20-year-old former Medicine Hat Tiger signed by the Calgary Flames, and WHL rookie Matthew Armitage. LaBarbera also teaches penalty-killing strategies and pre-scouts Hitmen opponents. He travels with the team and was behind the bench Tuesday as the Hitmen kicked off a three-game road trip.
Schneider started Tuesday's game and after a scoreless first period was yanked after he allowed four goals on 18 shots. Armitage played the third period and gave up three goals while the Hitmen were outshot 16-2.
"You have to talk guys off the ledge a lot of the time," said LaBarbera.
"When I played I watched a lot of hockey on the bench and got to see a lot of things and I learned a lot. When you're playing you've got the blinders on and you're just focused on yourself so it's been nice to take them off. You can play all you want, but it's a lot different on the other side."
LaBarbera played for six NHL teams (New York Rangers, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Edmonton and Anaheim), as well as six AHL teams and one ECHL club. He earned a stint as the backup goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks after being traded from Edmonton and was on the bench in the 2014 Western Conference final when the Kings beat the Blackhawks in a seven-game series and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
"I didn't win a Cup but it was close a few times and it's been a pretty good journey," he said. "There were times when it was hard and you weren't playing much and you question whether you belong there and you always had to kind of remind yourself that you're one of 60 (NHL goalies) and that's pretty cool. It worked out alright."
LaBarbera and his wife Kodette have two boys, eight-year-old Ryder and six-year-old Easton, and have been based in Calgary ever since they became parents. Born in 2009, Ryder has autism and he responds well to routines and schedules. The LaBarberas decided it would be best for his development if he did not have to change addresses, a pattern that followed his dad throughout his pro career.
Kodette and LaBarbera met in Calgary in 2006 and were featured for two years on the W Network TV series, Hockey Wives, which ended in the spring of 2016 when he retired after playing 23 games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the top farm team of the Philadelphia Flyers.
"It was a good experience - I think we had a good story to tell, it was certainly odd and different at times," LaBarbera said.
"Kodette has done a lot of work (to promote autism awareness) and I think we reached a lot of people."
But the Cougars took a chance he'd have a change of heart.
So far he's lived up to the hype when the Cougars announced this summer Cholowski would be playing in Prince George. According to Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk, his days as an NHL regular are not far away.
"He a very special player, his vision on the ice and the way he can skate. Detroit is looking for him to be that guy that pushes the envelope on the offensive side and that's exactly what he does," said Matvichuk. "His skating ability and his maturity level is off the charts. Being in college and playing with 23- and 24-year-olds you can see how mature he is and he's so beneficial for us. He's adjusted great, he's one of our leaders and is going to be all year and our goal is to turn him into a pro hockey player, like we did with (Brendan) Guhle last year."
Cholowski showed his maturity as an 18-year-old with the Chiefs in 2015-16 when he scored 12 goals and 40 points in 50 BCHL games. He also helped Canada West win gold that season at the World Junior A Hockey Challenge. Last season in the NCAA with the Huskies he was held to a goal and 12 assists in 36 games and as a late-season call-up played one game for the Wings' AHL farm team in Grand Rapids.
The Wings gave him millions of reasons to cut short his college eligibility when they signed him to a three-year contract in July worth $2.775 million US. He would only draw that salary if he played for the Wings, but he still was able to bank a $92,500 signing bonus. In three NHL exhibition games he picked up one assist.
"It was a lot of fun and I was enjoying myself out there and I thought I did pretty well - I was honoured to get drafted there and I'm just trying to make it now," said Cholowski. "They want me to be more aggressive and more assertive on the ice, take more control and have the puck on my stick all the time and generate offence and create scoring chances. I have to be able to carry the puck and join some rushes and score some goals and get points, but also be responsible on the defensive end too."
Don Hay's Blazers (0-9-0-0) are off to their worst start in team history, taking on a team of Cougars (3-3-2-0) that sits third in the B.C. Division standings. The Cougars won the first game of the season series 6-2 on Oct. 4 in Kamloops.
