Terriers’ Spiller sets MJHL wins record

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This article was published 17/01/2024 (878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Blake Spiller has long been recognized as one of the finest coaches in MJHL history.

On Wednesday night, he staked a claim to the top spot after his Portage Terriers thumped the Winnipeg Blues 8-3 at Stride Place. It was Spiller’s 671st regular-season victory, eclipsing the league’s career record for coaching wins established more than a decade ago by another coaching legend, Doug Stokes.

“It’s a very historic league and saying that you’re the winningest guy in the history of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, I was certainly proud of that,” said Stokes, who reached the league final nine times — winning three titles — in 22 seasons as an MJHL head coach.

“But I’m not disappointed to pass it on. Records are made to be broken. I look at the traits that you need for those types of things — longevity, resilience and consistency — and Blake’s exhibited all three of those in his career.”

The 60-year-old Spiller’s record of success is unmatched in league history. Earlier this month, he passed another coaching legend, Don MacGillivray, who had been second on the all-time list with 669 victories. And no, Spiller is not plotting his retirement.

“I kind of just try to go year by year and obviously, when you’re in this business it’s a it’s a day-to-day thing,” said Spiller, also the club’s general manager since 2006. “You sign your contract and hopefully the next time they’ll still want you back. I still enjoy it and the people that I work with and our executive, they’ve always shown confidence.”

Now in his 18th season in charge, he has guided the Terriers to a record eight Turnbull Cup championships, two ANAVET Cup crowns and one national junior A championship. Spiller, who worked his 1,000th MJHL game last month, has also been honoured as the league’s coach of the year four times and named the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s top coach on three occasions.

“There’s nothing really that I don’t enjoy, it’s just that that the GM part can be a little bit taxing at times,” said Spiller. “Obviously, the trade deadline times and you always feel worse for the players and the families and the billet families that time and when you’re making decisions.”

The franchise’s perennial success has a lot to do with having capable hockey men in charge. In fact, goaltending coach Jim Tkachuk predated Spiller’s arrival on the scene while Spiller and assistant coach Paul Harland are in their 18th season as tandem.

“We kind of have the same mindset as to how we want to coach the team and what kind of team we want to be,” said Harland, 57. “We bounce ideas off each other and and I think as far as the partnership goes, we give each other space when we need to we do our pieces of the team that we’re responsible for. It’s been lots of fun and it’s been a good a good partnership and the success has kind of shown on the ice.”

The Terriers’ dogged playing style mimics the boss’s hard-driving personality.

“The big thing with Blake is he’s pretty transparent in what he expects from his players and obviously, given the amount of wins he’s racked up, he’s good at putting the club together and identifying roles for everyone,” said Tanner Jago, a defenceman and captain on the 2015 national champs. “Obviously, he knows how to both build a team and coach a team.”

Spiller’s coaching credentials were established early but his skills as a manager and deal-maker have been sharpened to an elite level.

“He does a good job of recruiting and I think beyond his coaching, his GM skills are very good,” said Dale Deschouwer, the club’s governor since 2014. “He seldom loses on a trade.”

Spiller’s uncanny ability to retool his roster was based in part on trusting his scouting staff — led for many years by the recently retired Frank Harding —to identify players that suited the club’s playing style and then moulding a winning team. Spiller’s teams have missed the playoffs only once in 17 seasons (2020-21).

“We had only three guys returning off the ‘15 team and he built the team up to win the league again,” said Deschouwer. “He won in ‘15, ‘16 and ‘17. I think he does a good job of recruiting and his scouting staff is good — it’s a place where players want to come.”

After hosting the Centennial Cup national junior A championship last spring, the Terriers, with 10 returnees, are in the midst of another successful campaign — sitting third in the East Division with a 24-8-4-3 record.

“We definitely have the same mindset,” explained Harland. “The players have to be team oriented and have to be competitive and hard working and then you fill in from there, whether you’ve got some skill guys and you got some guys that are more of the checking type.”

Before Spiller took the reins of the franchise in 2006-07, he apprenticed for five seasons as an assistant on Don MacGillivray’s staff before MacGillivray moved to the University of Manitoba.

“You could tell right away he was going to be a good coach and I always respected his ability to separate the personalities from the decision-making,” said MacGillivray, currently an assistant coach with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. “He was always good at making hard decisions and keeping people accountable.

“He’s obviously, obviously done a terrific job in Portage and cemented his legacy in terms of their success and the tradition that they have there. But first and foremost, he’s a good person and I enjoyed my time working with him.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca