The Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team has added a familiar face to the coaching staff as they look ahead to the 2017-18 season.
New assistant coach Joey Manley is a former Raven who played for the Ravens from 2009 to 2013 and was captain during his last season at Carleton.
While wearing the Ravens jersey, Manley scored 92 points in 83 games landing him in sixth place in Ravens all-time, modern-era scoring.
In his final year he was awarded the Jack Vogan Memorial Medal as an outstanding graduating male athlete at Carleton.
Born in Ottawa, Manley played for the Ottawa Jr. Senators and Nepean Raiders of the Canadian Junior Hockey League before playing for Carleton.
The Charlatan spoke with Manley about his transition from a player to coach.
The Charlatan (TC): What was your time at Carleton like?
Joey Manley (JM): My time was great, I learned a lot here. I always thought I was lucky and grateful to be able to go to school and play hockey at the same time. I have a lot of respect for Shaun Van Allen, the head coach. He was my coach while I played here as well, and when I finished playing and going to school here, I kept coming back to watch the games and I had a great time.
TC: How has the program changed since you played at Carleton?
JM: One of the biggest changes is they’ve improved in recruiting players right now. I’ve seen this team get stronger and stronger every year and the coaches are to credit for that. They’ve done a great job creating an environment where they don’t have to go out and sell themselves to get players to come here. It’s more so that players want to come here, which is what we want.
TC: How do you think your previous playing experience will be beneficial to interacting with the players?
JM: I think being a previous player here will help, because I have experienced what all these guys have to go through, going to school and managing a full course load while playing hockey. When I played in my years, we always went pretty far and I know the coaches well, I know Shaun well and I think that being a former player who didn’t play too long ago will have a big impact on these guys to help them on the ice and off the ice.
TC: What do you hope to bring to Carleton as a coach?
JM: I want to create good relationships with these guys and help them understand how lucky these guys can be to play hockey and go to school at the same time, and create an environment where everybody respects one another, players respect each other, players respect coaches, coaches respect players, but that respect’s earned, and not given. I think that myself being a new coach here, I still have to earn the respect of the players, I’m not just expecting them to but vice versa as well.
TC: How has the transition been from playing to coaching?
JM: Its been good. I’ve got a number of years of experience kind of what they call being out in the real world and I think that will also help these guys understand what it’s like when they’re done playing hockey and help them make the tough decision whether they want to keep playing or move on. I had to make that decision about four years ago and I think that my experience being away from the game for a little bit will actually help these guys in some way.
TC: What are you most excited for about this year?
JM: I’m excited with the group of guys we have right now, I think that we have a very strong team, and we have some very strong recruits that look pretty good right now in training camp so far, and I think that as a team we have to stay humble and understand that we do have a good team but we need to prove it first. I think right now we think we’re a little better than we really are but we got some strong players in that have replaced some key players we lost last year and I think with that we’ll be pretty good. We do have a tough schedule this year but that’ll be a good challenge for the team and the players.
