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‘A great person, a great coach’: Stars coach Rick Bowness won players’ respect by treating them like family

Stars GM Jim Nill credited Bowness’ familial attitude for helping Dallas turn the corner in Edmonton.

When the Stars were sequestered from society and their families, locked away in an Edmonton hotel for nine weeks during the playoffs, Rick Bowness looked for a way to bridge the gap.

Then the Stars interim head coach, Bowness was steering the franchise’s best postseason run in 20 years, a performance that ended with a Western Conference championship and a loss in the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay.

The hockey lifer with five decades of NHL coaching was chasing the first Cup of his career.

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One of his lasting accomplishments in Edmonton came in a dimly lit room, with a video as his backdrop. It was Bowness’ idea to compile good luck messages from every players’ family and show them to the team while they spent months away, chasing their dream.

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Bowness knew that Andrej Sekera hadn’t seen his wife since he left Europe that summer. He knew Ben Bishop, Taylor Fedun and Justin Dowling were missing their newborns. He knew that Blake Comeau had three daughters waiting for him at home. He wanted in a small way to bring them all closer.

The explicit message was that sacrifices were made all around. The underlying one was that Bowness treated his players like his own family.

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“He’s dad and grandpa and a husband before he’s a coach,” son Ryan said.

“Definitely heard from a lot of people that I hadn’t heard from in a long time, from Ottawa and elsewhere,” son Ricky said. “Everyone was happy for him, so it kind of shows karma pays off if you’re a good person and do your job well. Eventually, you get rewarded.”

“To me, it meant more that he got so much credit being a good person rather than a Stanley Cup winner,” daughter Kristen said. “I think that’s something you can hold your hat on a little bit better.”

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Bowness has since shed the interim label attached after Jim Montgomery was fired in December 2019. He signed a two-year contract to coach the Stars through their championship window. For the first time this century, Bowness will be introduced as the head coach on opening night, when the Stars begin their season Friday against Nashville.

Coaching the Stars may be Bowness’ last best chance at winning the elusive Cup, and it’s a realization that hit him a year ago when he discovered he did not want anyone else coaching this team. Pride swelled, as did his competitiveness and ambition.

“I don’t want to give this up, because this could be my last, my one and only chance to be the head coach of a really good hockey club,” Bowness said. “It strengthened pretty much every day, every week, every passing game. You get more attached.”

After coaching the expansion Senators, and taking over for fired coaches (due to performance) amid trade deadline selloffs, Bowness finally had the reins of a competitive team.

He tweaked the Stars’ playing style, asking more offensively from defensemen John Klingberg and Miro Heiskanen. Forwards crashed harder to the net to score more dirty goals. He inserted Joel Kiviranta into the lineup just in time for his Game 7 heroics. He provided calm during wild series against Calgary and Colorado.

As the Stars crept within two wins of winning a championship, Bowness’ family assembled in Dallas. Ricky, Ryan and Kristen all joined mom Judy in Texas to either celebrate a career accomplishment or console after a Final defeat. When Rick finally exited the bus at the Stars training facility in Frisco, his family was there for him.

“Once we talked about it and they saw that I was going to survive, then it became a normal family life,” Rick said. “We got to enjoy each other’s company again. That was huge. When I got off the bus at the rink here, they were all there. It brings tears to your eyes because you just know they’re feeling exactly what I’m feeling.”

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Kristen said: “Every kid wants to see their dad come home from work.”

Nowadays, Rick has a date every night with his grandson Brendan, Ryan’s son. They speak their own language, Kristen said, and Ryan said his communication with his father now is all about Brendan.

“He calls him his little buddy, ‘What time we talking to little buddy tonight?’” Ryan said. “Just throw him on the camera. It’s actually hilarious; my wife loves it because the two of them have little screaming matches at each other. Brendan knows when grandpa is on the phone because he just starts screaming.”

“Love it,” Rick said of being a grandfather. “Oh my God, it’s awesome. It really is. He melts my heart every time I look at him.”

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The Bownesses are a hockey family at their core.

All three children have worked in the NHL. They send Rick good luck messages prior to puck drop. Kristen followed a strict game-day routine during the playoffs: She wears something green and uses the same coffee mug in the morning. Ricky’s bachelor party was how Rick met Montgomery. Ryan, a Penguins scout, asked his dad to remain true to himself when he took over the job.

And, like almost all hockey people, they’re golf enthusiasts.

“We’re a very close family,” Rick said. “They felt the losses like I did. They felt the wins like I did. I know they did because hockey’s been all our lives. That’s the only life they’ve ever known is hockey, and the ups and downs that come with it. It’s not always a rosy street you’re walking down in hockey.”

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When he’s not watching Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm reruns (Ricky got him a “Serenity Now!” placard for his desk) or tending his garden in Nova Scotia, of course Bowness still has his day job.

Stars general manager Jim Nill credited Bowness’ familial attitude as something that helped the Stars turn the corner in Edmonton. He assisted the team out of a topsy-turvy regular season with his demeanor, a go-with-the-flow flexibility that the team needed during COVID-19 unknowns.

It’ll be vital again this year with the pandemic still raging.

“The father’s the one that always has to discipline, but he does love everybody and everyone respects him for it,” Nill said. “That’s kind of how I look at Bones. He’s got major respect in that dressing room, but he also knows there’s times when he’s got to tell players something they don’t want to hear or may have to sit a player, or take away ice time. Players don’t like that, but they respect him enough to know that he’s doing it for the right reason.”

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Captain Jamie Benn said Bowness is probably the best coach he’s played for.

“I’ve played for a lot of great coaches, but he’s got to be right up there,” Benn said. “Our relationship has definitely gotten stronger, closer; there’s obviously a lot of communication between a head coach and a captain. The door is always open to his office, and I can always go in there as well as the rest of our team. A great person, a great coach.”

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Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.