May 27, 2022
In episode #180 of the Glass and Out podcast, Chris Lazary Head Coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, stops by.
Lazary
was named Saginaw Head Coach on November 18, 2018, after serving as an Associate Coach for
over two seasons. He
led the Spirit to
back-to-back West Division Championships (2018-19, 2019-20)
for the first time in
team history, and in the process, his team put up a ton of
goals.
As
you’ll hear, Lazary is clearly passionate about providing his players a framework to play
with the puck on their sticks, and creating space to get creative and make
plays. Get your notepads
out!
He got his start in junior as an Assistant Coach with the St. Michaels Buzzers in the Ontario Junior Hockey League during the 2010-11 season, following several years of coaching minor hockey in the Toronto area. After two seasons with the Buzzers, Lazary moved on to be an Assistant Coach at his hometown York University. He made the jump to the OHL in 2014 with the Sarnia Sting as an Assistant Coach, where he spent two seasons prior to joining the Spirit.
While
last season was a rebuilding year for the Spirit, the future is
bright as they’ll return
a roster of young talent, including incoming rookie Michael
Misha, who was selected
1st overall in the OHL draft after having
been granted exceptional
player status, meaning he will play his rookie season in
Saginaw as an underage
player.
Find out
Lazary's philosophy on teaching offensive tactics, how he handles
the junior hockey balance of development and winning, and
what he’s picked up from a
systems and tactics perspective from this year's NHL playoffs.