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00:11Hello and welcome to Invicta Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated to Kent's Sporting
00:16Action. We're going back to an old format to the show you know and love and today we're
00:21bringing you an interview with Carl Lennon, the head coach of the Invicta Dynamos,
00:24Gillingham's own ice hockey team and their Canadian player Denny Gatenby. We hope you enjoy.
00:30Where did you really start in ice hockey? So actually my mother used to work in the ice
00:35rink when I was a kid so I spent most of my summers and Christmas vacation periods in the
00:40rink probably causing trouble or I shouldn't and yeah skating every day. I was given my
00:46first stick by a guy called Kevin McNaught who bit of a local legend he was the Midway Bears
00:52head coach at the time and he actually was the leading point scorer for the Bears and everything.
00:58This is our 40th anniversary year and we did a celebration just before Christmas
01:02of that part of our era let's say and yeah first stick from him to the first practice and then
01:11you're hooked you're in it's a very different sport. My brother also played so it was a real family thing
01:17he's involved still as a coach himself too in the team so yeah from there I progressed through the
01:22junior system and then became a dynamo around the age of sort of 19 20 I think it was and
01:27played 10
01:28years there and now back as coach after a period away. Amazing so you got given your first stick by
01:34the previous coach almost like passing the torch. Yeah a little bit like that I mean he was like I
01:39said a
01:39local legend and for me to get that from him was quite a special thing um I wish I still
01:44had it I
01:45don't and um and that was it just kind of got you hooked on the sport itself and yeah from
01:51there you
01:52just you grow your own passion and love for it um you know the club was the Medway Bears then
01:56now it's
01:56the Invictus Dynamos it's sort of changed hands in that period of time as well too um and I never
02:01got
02:01to be a bear but I got to at least represent the Dynamos which was you know one of the
02:05proudest moments
02:06as a junior growing up that's what you wanted to be so um yeah and to do that I ended
02:11up as captain
02:11at the end of my my time there as well which was really good and yeah have fulfilled many roles
02:16within the team I guess and now with being the coach so. Amazing can you remember the first time
02:20you went out on the ice as a Dynamos player? Oh god uh actually yeah but it wasn't at home
02:25it was
02:25away from home I was kind of um kind of a funny story I scored on my first shift I
02:31actually scored my
02:32first touch um it was a complete let down thereafter basically I think it was the only
02:37guy I scored that season but you know nonetheless it was uh yeah people probably had high hopes after
02:42that first moment but yeah it was uh not quite the same I was not that player I was not
02:45a goal scorer
02:46that way but um nonetheless you know I still committed and played for for many years I think over 300
02:52games so wow amazing cool and uh and Danny I'll come to you tell us a bit about your origin
02:56story where did
02:56it all start for you on the way you're from Canada originally so tell me about that and how you've
03:00come to
03:00play here in the UK yeah I mean uh started pretty young probably four years old um parents did a
03:08pretty good job building the outdoor rink um which maybe isn't as common over here um got my brother
03:12and I out there um yeah I think like Carl said once you get a feel for it it's hard
03:19to give it up
03:20um I actually played with uh Jacob Ranson way back in the day in Canada so finished my university hockey
03:27back home wanted to keep playing um reached out to him and and this is when he was actually coming
03:34to the dynamos so he put me in touch with Carl um spoke to him about the program um definitely
03:41could
03:41hear the passion in Carl's voice for for the team and the organization um I think the transparency and
03:48honesty about about everything was super enticing to me and and made my way over here and it was
03:54everything that I want it to be so yeah it's a great day and tell me I'm aware in Canada
03:59ice hockey
04:00as a sport it's your national sport it's ingrained into your dna how standard is it is it for someone
04:04to play yes definitely uh definitely very common um big part of our our media who we as kids look
04:12up to
04:12be um definitely a lot of kids want to play hockey growing up um it is a privileged sport not
04:17uh the
04:18chief of sport to play by any means so the Canadian government you know tries to have good initiatives
04:23to to make that more accessible but I would say um yeah I think there's probably more kids that want
04:28to play than are able to um so it's definitely something to acknowledge but yeah growing up like
04:33the NHL is kind of who we look up to um a lot of kids aspire to be pro hockey
04:39players NHL players um
04:40yeah it's huge for us absolutely I didn't know that it was had that kind of privilege attached to it
04:45is it in that sense almost a a pay-to-play thing or is it the cost of the equipment
04:49the skates the
04:50the stick the mask the all of that where does that come from really I think yeah all those I
04:55mean
04:56Carl can attest to this he's got a son in sports it's um the equipment the travel for a lot
05:01of places
05:02um definitely the registration fees too I mean just the nature of having to pay for the ice sheet to
05:08be
05:08out on um obviously kids are growing through new skates sticks are breaking gears you know
05:16you're running through it so it all adds up over time not so simple as getting a ball and going
05:20out on the court or going going out on the field so um yeah it can it can add up
05:24quite a bit yeah
05:25and maybe to add to that you know the geography of hockey in Canada there's rinks every five minutes
05:31right whereas here it's a little more sporadic I think our closest rink is about an hour away pretty
05:36much so like Danny said you're traveling across the country to fulfill a sport a passion that you have
05:42and you really have to love it in order to sort of maintain your way through it and yeah I
05:47can
05:47testify as a parent it's not cheap and you're you know you're constantly replacing equipment um but
05:53it's you know it's even the entry to the game can seem quite daunting and challenging because it's
05:59you know you're putting skates on your feet you're holding a stick um all of those things you're trying
06:03to process we have um learn to play um at the junior mice bowl at um planet ice there and
06:10so players can
06:11come along test it out there's parts and pieces that they've got to try um and the only thing they
06:17need is skates otherwise you know we can give them a helmet for a session just so they can get
06:21a feeling
06:22for it if they like it and what's amazing is that the majority of kids that do go on they're
06:27just hooked
06:28because it's so different from anything else you do um and yeah I mean for me it was the same
06:33way
06:34all the way back when I did it and my son when he did it more recently now you still
06:38remember those
06:38moments of when they go first on the ice and how powerful that can be for for their love of
06:43that
06:43sport absolutely I remember once I played underwater hockey for a piece which was very difficult and
06:49the main thing they told me for that was you have to first work out how to breathe properly
06:55because you have a snorkel and you have to kind of have enough breath left to push up and then
06:59blow the water out of the snorkel but my point is with ice hockey would you say that that being
07:04on
07:04the ice the skating that's the kind of biggest obstacle at first because I feel it's it's a lot
07:09of unnatural movements hitting a sort of how big would you say a puck is like sort of uh yeah
07:14like
07:15three three inches maybe something like hitting quite a small target with a stick you know on skate
07:20it feels all quite what would you say the biggest hurdles for new players without question the first
07:24part is the skating like that has to be good otherwise it's going to be a struggle for anyone
07:29and actually some things sometimes can be overlooked on that part so you know kids want to get straight
07:35into you know a stick and a puck and everything and that's great but actually I almost say to my
07:40son
07:40often like take it back skating's the fundamental part of it if you can't move around the ice you have
07:44no you're gonna have no success so that's number one thing and to be at a certain level before you
07:48even
07:49start to do anything with the stick is is helpful because all the while the mind is thinking about
07:54the feet it can't think and process the hands and the the stick and the pluck on the end of
07:58it so
07:59that's where you've got to kind of break it down into those those segments in my opinion um and that
08:05makes the biggest difference and then there's a moment you see and it happens at different times
08:09different ages for all kids is the penny drops and they stop thinking about their feet and they start
08:14only thinking about their hands and then all of a sudden everything opens up because all the while
08:19that you're doing this sport remember certainly at an older age level someone's trying to knock you
08:24over as well so that awareness also has to come into play and so when you're younger it's non-contact
08:29probably around the under 14 mark and then after that it starts to dial up and that's that's where
08:34you really have to start to focus on all of the different aspects of the game absolutely is that
08:38something you can attest to danny as a defender the physical nature of the game yeah yeah it's
08:44definitely uh definitely a big part of it um i think carl's point about the skating is huge
08:49it's probably the biggest separator between players um yeah definitely as you get older you got to
08:55keep your head up um i mean some of the smaller guys you see they're great skaters and they can
09:00kind of evade and avoid that contact um but uh yeah definitely in our leagues uh the guys like to
09:07throw their hits but it's fun out there yeah absolutely and is is that kind of the physicality
09:13of the game something that's across board is not just here in the uk is that the same in canada
09:17as
09:17well definitely definitely um i'd say maybe the game now is is tending more towards the skating and
09:24the skill that maybe it did um in decades past um but if you watch the nhl you watch the
09:30olympics clearly
09:31like incredibly physical hockey um big strong players that uh it's just an integral part of the
09:37game that i don't think fundamentally is going anywhere but um definitely more of a focus on
09:42on skill and finesse nowadays you know absolutely and um tell me sort of the pattern as a defender in
09:49terms of like getting into that position was that something that you wanted from the outset was that
09:53because of your height where did that come from for you personally um it's kind of like a running joke
10:00about if you can skate backwards they'll put you on d when you're a kid um because as carl was
10:06saying
10:06that skating is is really one of the most important things um and there's a big focus on just being
10:13able to skate forwards um so a lot of the kids if you can skate backwards you're on d or
10:17if you start
10:18growing a little bit yeah and you're taller you know you're a d man so um i think i used
10:22to play
10:23weighing as a kid um and then at a certain point maybe it was a gross bird or something but
10:28my brother and i both started playing d and and that was it really yeah okay brilliant and um
10:33carl just we haven't got much time left but just curious what positions did you play when you were
10:36a player uh i played center but i started actually as a d man as a junior so don't let
10:40the hype and
10:41fool you but uh no i started as a junior d and then progressed to a sentiment which is kind
10:46of like
10:47the best of both worlds so you're the guy that's helping out in defense when you're in your own zone
10:51and
10:51then supporting the attack where you can as well too see and in general in ice hockey would you say
10:56it's
10:56easier to disrupt play than or to create play i would say i mean the scoring part of the game
11:04is always the most difficult part um and defending should be a team activity not just uh individual
11:11so often helps but you do look for those moments of creativity to open scoring opportunities and that
11:16often is the the bit that brings you the game and don't forget you can keep up to date with
11:21all the
11:21latest football news by reading kent online but did you also know you can have your weekly digest of
11:26non-league and gillingham news from around the county sent directly to your email inbox just search
11:31kent online email alerts and sign up on the website for all the latest written transfer news match reports
11:35and interviews well that's it for part one join us after the break as carl danny and i talk about
11:41the
11:41current state of the game and how it's been impacted by the success of the recent winter olympic games
11:46and its emergence in pop culture like books like heated rivalry for all that and more see you in
11:52just a moment
12:23you
12:53you
13:23you
13:53you
14:23you
14:50you
15:07hello and welcome back to invicta sport right here on km tv today we're continuing our chat with
15:14carl lennon head coach of the invicta dynamos and danny gatenby their player from canada let's have
15:20a look at the rest of that interview thank you both so much for rejoining me i'd like to talk
15:25a
15:25bit about the winter olympics the kind of impact that's had on ice hockey i think ice hockey is always
15:29a known sport but it's very niche as we've been talking about getting into it becoming a player
15:34especially here in the uk where there's less rinks do you think that recently the winter olympics
15:40and the ice hockey has really boosted the kind of participation the awareness of the sport
15:43what happened to you first call have you been noticing that among people yeah i mean i think the
15:48initial few weekends after um people haven't watched i guess the olympics the games especially
15:53the hockey uh the attendance is increased there's no question about that um we played two or three
15:59away games sold out we have a slightly larger arena than than the other teams in the division
16:05and we were getting good crowds as well as a result of the of the coverage i guess and just
16:10the
16:10awareness i think of the sport um i think also the heated rivalry book played a little bit of part
16:16into that as well too so there's kind of multi-angle approach on that we always used to see it
16:21when
16:21the dancing on ice show was on that period of time you'd also get like an upturn just in people
16:26skating
16:27generally so anywhere there's attention um and awareness it does help the sport there's no question
16:32i see yeah i didn't even think about heated rival i guess it's wherever pop culture kind of points
16:37yeah yeah all right and then danny you were actually in attendance at the was it the final
16:41it was yeah tell us about that so i got pretty lucky really uh carl and i on the on
16:47the saw
16:49canada win in the semi-final and we're so close um and i don't think i can describe how important
16:55the
16:55olympic uh hockey is to canadians so i thought um i had a couple buddies that were actually in milan
17:01so
17:01like well might as well go see what happens um super fortunate one of my buddies had an extra ticket
17:07so he calls me after the first intermission i drop everything get an uber get there um
17:15i crazy experience i still can't even believe it i mean carl saw me when i came home like beside
17:20myself
17:21um yeah it's it's uh like we had the 2010 vancouver olympics so for me as a kid um that's
17:30probably the
17:30most iconic sporting memory um you know they they play the clips of said scoring in ot still get
17:37chills still something that you think about all the time um so to have the opportunity to be there
17:44watch so many guys that you've seen on tv um yeah definitely bucket list opportunity not the
17:49outcome that we wanted um but on a personal level i'll i'll remember that forever absolutely absolutely
17:55i mean people were comparing it uh as a sort of as a game as a spectacle to uh the
18:00miracle of
18:0080 and things like that and that kind of underdog story obviously maybe not for your side but you
18:06know uh still a very great experience and um do you think that that kind of that tendency we're talking
18:11about carl that might drive more young people especially to to make their way into the sport
18:15whether it be the olympics or heated rivalry yeah i mean i think probably more the the the olympic
18:21route is kind of inspiring you know athletes to to take part in the sport itself and there's no question
18:28i think when you have moments you remember as a kid and i had different and probably way earlier than
18:34vanney did right moments i remember watching on the olympics on tv from afar right because we don't
18:39live and breathe the culture of hockey here in the uk quite the same as as canadians or north americans
18:43do generally um but they live with you and they're moments that you you kind of keep with within
18:49um and it serves for inspiration so like my son was he's he's 10 was following the sport very very
18:56closely watched every game that was on and it was fortunate for us because they were all at times
19:00that we can watch them often the nhl games are on from anywhere between 11 p.m until you know
19:06two in the morning let's say and so you you don't really get to watch it in the same way
19:10you might
19:10watch the highlights but to watch the games live it just gives a different perspective which is which
19:14is great absolutely i think people might not be aware that uh team gb actually won gold in ice hockey
19:20back in 1936 i think that's right yeah um i don't think we feel that the team for the winter
19:26olympics
19:26this year i could be wrong about that but what do you think people don't know about the uk ice
19:31hockey
19:32scene are there any things like that like if you'd have told me that we won gold in ice hockey
19:35i wouldn't
19:36i wouldn't really believe i mean i i didn't even know that obviously speaking no i didn't know until
19:40um somebody mentioned in the dressing room before one of our games and uh i mean obviously it's an
19:45an incredible achievement something that english people british people should be very proud of
19:50um but again it's not our our um staple sport in the uk so it's not something that most people
19:57would
19:57know what what we do know is that week on week there is great attendances that flock to watch games
20:04across the country you know we have big teams in belfast in sheffield in nottingham in cardiff
20:10that are getting thousands of people every week to go and watch games so there definitely is an
20:14appetite for that um and it's definitely um at our level at least as well too which is the third
20:19tier
20:20of of british ice hockey is is growing there's no question about it at all and the competitive nature
20:26of the sport at this level as well is helping that too so there's definitely been an impact and there's
20:31definitely um a growing attention to the sport and i think that's something that you know we're long
20:37hoping will stay so amazing and uh danny what do you what do you make of that what do you
20:43think
20:43about the kind of uk scene seeing it from this perspective of someone from canada
20:48yeah i mean i wasn't exactly sure what to expect coming over here when it came to um maybe the
20:55the
20:56fans or the league setup um back home we have like senior hockey that's after university for a lot of
21:03guys um similar sort of age group but i was blown away with the support for the local groups here
21:09um you go on the road like our fans are i think some of the best in the league um
21:14come and support
21:14us no matter where we are something that um you really appreciate uh and clearly like the love for
21:20the game i think there's definitely seeping in from football culture when it comes to how they support
21:26during the game um i would say back home in canada a lot of times it can be a bit
21:29more reserved
21:30um i think there's more familiarity with the game um so it just tends to a different maybe style of
21:37uh
21:37supporting but it's been awesome here yeah like very loyal um very supportive of their team um and
21:44definitely our dynamos fans are are amazing every weekend i see i'm also quite curious about the
21:50dynamos kind of play style so i don't know much about ice hockey i'm not too aware if you were
21:55to ask me
21:55for instance about the england football team i'd say you know long ball short passing possession based how
22:00would you kind of describe the dynamos play style compared to other teams in the league
22:03um i mean the i think i mentioned earlier for me the the biggest learning i think i've had as
22:09a
22:09coach over the last few years of being part of the team is that defensively you need to be really
22:14strong and structured and that was uh i mean part of the recruitment process with danny was to bring
22:19in somebody that could also bring that um to our game and also support the development of the younger
22:24players that we have here um i mean the bulk of our lineup is is local players right people that
22:29have
22:30grown up and been part of in victor hockey for for a number of years and they also are exposed
22:36to a
22:36certain level of coaching but then when you can bring in the experience of someone that's been
22:39doing that in north america it makes a big big difference to to us as a team so that's been
22:44the
22:44solid foundation of how we're doing things and we have on top of that quite a young core of players
22:52that are bringing a really positive energy to how we want to play on the front foot so i think
22:58with
22:58that solid foundation of of our defense and a strong netminder our netminder has been outstanding
23:04all year um and then on top of that bringing the quality in offense has been been um the success
23:11that we've had so far um we've positioned one place higher than we were last year which is
23:16a step forward um still a little disappointed that we couldn't take it to the next um step but
23:22nonetheless uh plough's around the corner and anything goes there so we're looking forward to that part of
23:27the season absolutely and how exactly do playoffs work in in the league is it is it similar to
23:31football where it's sort of the top let's say five teams will enter into a sort of you know uh
23:36almost
23:37like a bracket is that how it sort of works yeah so you have um well there's eight teams in
23:41our division
23:41so all eight will qualify um it's more about the positioning in in terms of then who they would
23:45play so one will play eight in the first round two will play seven and so on so forth um
23:50so we will
23:51play against the fifth place team that's not been decided who that will be yet because we've secured
23:56fourth spot um you play home and away in a quarter final the following week is the the semi-final
24:02if
24:02you progress and then there's a finals weekend in sheffield where the finals of the south the north
24:08both divisions one and two are all played across one weekend so you have you know um a number of
24:14teams there that are all battling out for their division level to to win the playoff championship okay
24:18um we've got a question we ask all our guests on the show and i'll come to you first danny
24:22if you could speak to yourself as a younger player and sort of almost guide them on the
24:26journey they're going to go on what would you say to them um it's difficult um it's going to be
24:32stressful um it's going to be hard uh but you'll get through it um try to enjoy it uh through
24:39the ups
24:39and downs um because it goes by fast and a lot of cliches in there but it really is true
24:45um some of my best
24:47memories some of my uh i would say biggest learning moments in my life come through hockey um yeah i
24:54mean just enjoy the time you have because it goes by fast absolutely and carl if you could speak to
24:59yourself when you were a young player coming out in the ice for the first time what would you say
25:03sort of to prepare them for the journey ahead i think find your love for it i mean i i
25:08think if
25:09if you want to do this sport in this country especially then you have to have great love for it
25:14and that means also you know applying yourself in the right i'm constantly saying this to my son
25:18is like you know you have to be able to go outside when you get home from school and shoot
25:23a few pucks
25:23on the net and make sure that you find that passion you you have behind it um because ultimately that's
25:29what will shine through in the longer term because if you put the hours and minutes into um the sport
25:36it will reward you and it is definitely a sport that rewards you as a person um i mean i
25:41think about my
25:42professional life now and almost all of the lessons that i apply to that have come from hockey and so
25:48without question it's something that is is vital for anyone's development not just on the ice ball
25:53fit as well i see and uh very quickly before we go if there's anyone watching this who's never played
25:58a
25:59single minute of ice hockey in their lives what advice would you give them to start what's the best
26:03place they can start first come and watch it live watching on tv is one thing watching it live is
26:07very
26:07different we play at home most sundays so check out the fixtures and come see that um and then yeah
26:14like i said earlier the learn to play session is a great test point for people to do that i
26:19think
26:19first get on the ice have a skate but then look to do that and pick up a stick and
26:23see how you feel
26:24there amazing thank you both so much for your time thank you well that is it from us on today's
26:30episode of invictor sport don't forget there's plenty more sports news interviews and features from right
26:36across the county available on our website that's kmtv.co.uk just click on the programs tab and go on
26:42invictor sport but that's it for now see you next time
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