Local Spotlight: Graeme Townshend

Graeme Townshend of Saco has a lot in common with Herb Brooks, the head coach of the U.S. hockey team that defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

In the 2004 movie Miracle, Brooks is portrayed as a hard-edged, demanding coach who expected his players to set aside their egos and their petty differences in order to become a formidable team that could achieve what no one thought would be possible.

Townshend, 58, was born in Kingston, Jamaica and his family moved to Toronto, Canada when he was a young boy.

Being raised in Canada played a huge part in Townshend’s career path.

“Oh yeah, it’s true what they say about Canada,” Townshend laughed during a recent interview. “Literally, everywhere you go, you can find hockey sticks for sale; at gas stations, grocery stores, everywhere. Canadians take hockey very seriously.”

Townshend’s hockey career is quite impressive, and he became one of the first Black head coaches in professional hockey.

Townshend began his professional career by signing with the Boston Bruins after his senior year in college and was then assigned to the Maine Mariners, the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in 1989.

His professional playing career lasted for 10 seasons between 1989 and 1999, including playing right wing for the Bruins, the New York Islanders and the Ottawa Senators.

But it was during his extensive coaching career when Graeme realized players need more to succeed than just talent.

Your first job as head coach was with the Macon Whoopee, a CHL team based in Georgia. That’s a strange name for a hockey team.

(Laughs) “It’s kind of like that Johnny Cash song, A Boy Named Sue. You know, with a name like that you got to be tough.

“Part of your job at that level is you’re also being the general manager. It gives you a lot of great experience in hockey. That’s why I took the job. I wanted to learn every aspect of the game. You do everything: marketing, advertising, public appearances, immigration – everything.

“So, I was recruiting this college kid out of Alaska. I got his phone number from his coach and when I called, his mom answered the phone. So, I said, hello this is Graeme Townshend, the head coach of the Macon Whoopee. She just started laughing, and said stop fooling around and then hung up the phone.

“Because we had such a weird name, I had to have a very tough team.”

But during your next job as head coach, you say that you discovered you hated coaching professional hockey. Why?

“I got promoted and my next job was with the Greensboro Generals in the EHCL. I realized that I absolutely hated coaching in the pros. I hated it every day; going to work. I just dreaded going. I hated the job. I couldn’t stand it.

“When I was a player, I think you could describe me as a low maintenance player. Coaches never had to worry about me. I did my job. I worked hard. I never complained about anything. I played injured, didn’t care what the injury was – I just played.

“When I became a coach, I automatically assumed that all my players were like me. But it became quickly evident that my assumption was not at all true. The guys were high maintenance. They needed and wanted to be coddled.”

What was the breaking point that made you leave coaching in the pros?

“The one event that solidified my exit was this seminar for ECHL coaches in 2000. A sports psychologist did a presentation. She told us that we had to understand this new generation of players.

“Most of these kids have had everything arranged for them, she told us. “They are incapable of doing it for themselves. I was sitting there taking notes, and I started scratching my head. It didn’t make sense to me. I thought she was crazy.

“My players were adults, like 25 years old. This can’t be true, and then she says you have to understand that these players have the mental capacity of 16-year-olds, and that’s how you have to treat them.

“My job as a coach is not just about winning games.  I also have to get these guys prepared for life after hockey. My job is to develop character and functioning humans. I realized she was right, but I wasn’t going to treat adults like children.”

What did you do after coaching professional hockey?

“I actually got into real estate, and started buying multi-family income properties. I started in North Carolina, and I continued when we decided to move back to Maine, which is where my wife grew up.

“But it wasn’t long before I ended up as a skating coach in the AHL. Today, I’m running a hockey school [Townshend Hockey] in Gorham.”

What’s your favorite hockey movie? Miracle? Mystery Alaska? Or something else?

“My favorite is Miracle because it is so authentic. I remember watching them play the Russians in the movie, and even though I knew the result, I was on the edge of my seat.

“There’s a former teammate of mine who played an extra for Team Norway. And one of my former players played Dave Silk in the movie, and I’m actually friends with Dave Silk; there’s that connection.”

You created an imaginary nemesis for motivation when you were a young man.

“I came up with this image when I was 17. I pretended I was an eagle. I saw myself flying over Toronto, and then next thing you know, I’m in Manitoba looking down from the sky, then British Columbia and I kept flying, and I hit Russia.

“Russia was our biggest rival back then. There was a huge rivalry between Russia and Canada. So, I imagined that there was this Russian kid, lifting weights, and I was about to quit because I was tired. I named him Boris after Boris Mikhailov.

“Boris was my motivation for years and years. Every challenge I came across. Every time I wanted to quit; whenever I was down, I thought of Boris.”

How do you like living in Saco?

“I absolutely love it. I can’t see myself ever moving from here.”

Randy Seaver is a cranky, nearly insufferable malcontent living in Biddeford. He is a retired newspaper editor and the principal of a small strategic communications consulting firm. Randy Seaver can be contacted at [email protected].