15 Minutes with Manatee forward Bruce Watson

By Mark Fischel

One only needs to look at his penalty minutes with the Asheville Smoke in 2000-2001. In 61 games, Watson averaged over 6.5 penalty minutes a game, also scoring at a half point pace as well with 31 points. Better yet, in 26 games last season with the Cape Fear Fire Antz, Watson scored at a pace of 1.5 points per game and added over 250 minutes in penalties. These numbers are hardly indicative of a player who waits for things to come to him.

Watson sits down for the first of many upcoming "15 Minutes with�" features, which help to give Manatee fans an idea of what to expect this upcoming season.

Question: First off, welcome to South Florida. You have been down here about a week and a half now and you must be getting excited about playing hockey in South Florida?

Bruce Watson: Yeah, I am pretty excited. It is real warm down here though, this isn't what I am used to back home in Canada. But I am getting used to it now.

Question: I imagine the weather in your hometown of Pembroke, Ontario can get pretty cold.

Bruce Watson: In the summer it gets warm and can be pretty humid, so it is basically like down here but not as hot and the heat isn't as intense. In the winter, you don't want to be in Pembroke, you would rather be in Miami where I am going to be enjoying this year.

Question: So you got your first blast of humidity in your face here when you rolled down your car window.

Bruce Watson: I only rolled my windows down once. I just leave the air conditioning on so I don't get the sweaty armpits wherever I am going.

Question: You have been staying near the beach for the last few days. Last year you are living in North Carolina, and this year you are spending time on South Beach. What has that been like for you to come down here?

Bruce Watson: Yeah, I lived in Fayetteville and had a house together with a couple of roommates. It was in the country, which was good, because I had a dog and that worked out really well. This has been unbelievable, just walk to the beach in two minutes to go for a swim or a run, or head to the gym. I just can't wait for the season to start.

Question: Tell me about that gym? We signed a deal with Larry North Fitness, and I have heard it is a phenomenal facility.

Bruce Watson: Yeah, it is probably one of the best places I have been to, and I have been to a lot of good gyms since I have started play pro hockey and before that as well. Yeah, it rates right up there. The best one I had was in San Diego, and Larry North ranks right up there, except the one in San Diego wasn't right there on the beach. It worked out well and it will be good for the guys, they will love it and have a lot of fun here. We are going to bring a championship to Miami.

Question: You mentioned your dog earlier, and you brought down your new dog. You have a 10 week old Chocolate Labrador puppy. What did you name the dog?

Bruce Watson: I named him "Chaos" because as soon as I got him, we had a six hour car ride home from my friends house to my place in Asheville. Yeah, he was just going nuts the whole way home. Barking, crying, and he sat on my lap for five hours when I was driving and slept for three. When I got him home, he was just a bundle of energy, just going nuts. He is still a puppy, so he is doing the same now. But he is good.

Question: You name a dog "Chaos" and that is almost making it pre-destined that he is going to be a pain for the rest of his life. You sensing that right now?

Bruce Watson: Actually no, he isn't as bad as his name makes him out to be. He is really a good puppy.

Question: Has he had a chance to walk on ice yet?

Bruce Watson: He hasn't walked on the ice yet, but I pretty much will bring him to the rink every day, so he will be with me everywhere I go, especially the beach.

Question: Who did you live with in the house? Were you living with any of the teammates who will be coming down here?

Bruce Watson: Yeah, I lived with Matt Kohansky and . I got Matt to sign down here, and actually got one of my former teammates, Ryan Kiley, to sign down here with us too. They are pretty pumped to come to Miami, and Matt is coming in next Monday and he is going to help out in the office. They are really excited to come down here, and we had a good time in Cape Fear when we were together. We are going to have a good time down here.

Like I said, we didn't win a lot of games in Cape Fear, but that wasn't for lack of talent or lack of effort. That was just catching lots of bad breaks in a lot of games. Matt is a great player and so is Ryan, and they will help us tremendously win a lot of hockey games.

Question: Do you think coach Boyer is going to play you guys together most of the time?

Bruce Watson: I believe I will be playing with me at center, Matt on the left, and Kevin Swider on the right. That is supposedly going to be the top line, but I am just a player first and the assistant coach second. I am just going to be taking orders from Zac just like everyone else, and than I am going to be the middle man between Zac and the players. That will be my job totally.

Question: Tell me a little bit about your game. If you were to describe your game like a scout would, what would be a description of your game be like?

Bruce Watson: I am pretty hard on myself, but I had a real good coach in San Diego last year who helped me a lot. Steve Martinson, he helped me a lot and just said that I work hard, have a lot of energy for a big guy, skate well, shoot the puck well, and take the body well.

I do whatever it takes basically to win, and we won in San Diego last year and a big part of that was 21 guys buying into Coach Martinson's system, doing all you can do and nothing more, and not trying to do too much. Sometimes I try to do too much and that affects the game in a bad way with silly penalties or doing whatever. I worked pretty hard on getting better on that last year.

I am just going to come out, score goals, take the body, I am going to stick up for my teammates, and see where it goes from there.

Question: You touched on the pugilistic style of your game, you don't fear anybody, do you?

Bruce Watson: There really is not any reason to fear anybody. I fought 4 or 5 guys who were tough guys in the NHL, and I did fairly well against 4 of them, and the other guy did a good number on my face (laughs). But other than that really, how badly can you get hurt in a hockey fight? Not too badly. It just comes with the territory, and my teammates are my friends and I will protect my friends just like in normal life. People do whatever to protect their friends.

If nothing, it helps build team character and build momentum in a game. If something happens and I win a big fight in a game, it gets all the guys all pumped up. Two or three minutes later, we score a goal that wins the game, I believe I did just as much good as the guy who scored the goal by having the fight and getting everything on a roll.

That is what happens in hockey. Teams go on runs and it could be from a big hit, it could be from anything. It could be from a bad penalty call or a good penalty call and you get a power play goal. Next thing you know, you rack off five or six wins in a row, and this is a game where the ball keeps rolling depending on how you are playing.

Question: The fans are going to want to know who the 4 guys you fought with are. Do you remember them?

Bruce Watson: Oh geez! Darren Kimble who used to play for St. Louis, I did a good number on him. Pete Vandermeer is up and down with Philly. He is the guy who did a good job on me, and I fought Sean Legualt who was in Edmonton last year, we had some good fights. There are a couple more, but I can't remember. Fans would know who they were, they are up and down. I got in a lot of fights and I got hit in the head a lot, maybe too much!

Question: One thing I noticed though, not a lot of scars on you. Your face is pretty clean, and your hands are too. Is that just luck, or are you just extra careful?

Bruce Watson: It's my heritage! I am half-Polish and half Irish, so I am pretty tough skinned actually in my face. My knuckles too, there isn't too much wrong with them. I guess I am just lucky.

Question: After about 5 seasons of playing professional hockey, that is a pretty good accomplishment.

Bruce Watson: I could use some war wounds, but I should pass on those.

Question: So now you are going to be playing for Coach Boyer. Have you ever had the chance to play against him a few times?

Bruce Watson: I actually haven't had the chance to. When I got into Cape Fear last year, Zac was already put on the reserve list with the season ending concussion. I played with one of Zac's good friends and he was my linemate, R.J. Inga. That is how I ended up here. Zac called RJ to see how I played in San Diego, and I guess RJ put in a pretty decent word for me and that I played pretty well. I guess Zac wanted me pretty bad, and owner David Waronker wanted me down here to help get the team off the ground. I am going to do my best and help this team win a championship.

Question: You had the chance to walk around the Miami Arena a few times. Was there any buildings this nice in some of the teams you played on? What do you think of this building?

Bruce Watson: In the minor leagues? No, not really. Well, Bakersfield in California had a pretty nice arena, it is just a smaller size than the San Jose arena. Oooh, I don't know, this is pretty nice! I like this comfy seat (pokes back of chair), especially for the fans. I like the dressing room a lot, and I just want to get a lot of people in here and have a winning team because winning is pretty much everything in minor pro sports. Fans don't want to be associated with a losing team, not too many people do. So we are going to work as a team of players and try to do our best to bring a winning team to Miami.

Question: Let's talk about the winning team at the Pines Ice Arena. You recently became a coach of a traveling squirt team, the Golden Wolves. How did that come about? You were down here for a couple of days, and next thing you know, you are a coach!

Bruce Watson: A freak meeting with a hockey coach who travels a traveling team down here. Gerry is his name and he knows a friend of mine, Sean Ulrich, who was my coach in Cape Fear for about 3 months. He came up to me, started talking to me and said he played in Alaska, and I asked if him if he knew this guy or this guy, and he said yeah.

So I asked him who I could talk to about coaching a summer league team next year, and he told me he had an opening right now in a squirt team. I usually like to coach a little older group because I know little kids can get frustrated with a guy coming in and telling them to do stuff. I have a group of good kids though, we had a game Sunday and we lost 6-1, but there were a couple of kids on their team who were my size at 8 or 9 years old playing on a squirt team.

They played real hard and I am pretty excited for the next game on Saturday. I just want to help them become better hockey players because I know I got help growing up from my dad. He was my coach until I got up to Bantam, and than he said he couldn't take anymore, that it was too hard for him to be on the bench having to yell and scream, and doing all that stuff. He just said I am going to sit in the stands and let someone else take over. I just want to help these kids like my dad did for me in becoming a better hockey player and person.

I am just going to let them do what they want and try to teach them enough things so that they are learning and getting better as hockey players. I am not going to try to re-invent the wheel out there with the kids, I just want them to have fun. If you aren't having fun, than you shouldn't be playing. I am still having fun and I am 26.

Winning is fun and I would like for them to win the rest of their games all summer, but if they don't win and have fun, that is all that matters is learning something and becoming better hockey players and better people. That is more important than winning.

Question: And your Assistant coach is none other than?

Bruce Watson: Andrew Dvorak, my roommate on the couch at our hotel, who also happens to be the Manatees equipment guy. He is going to help me out on the bench as well and we are going to try to get some hockey schools going and run some practices for the kids. It should be exciting!

Question: What has been your general impression of the kids down here? You jumped on the ice last week and they were all over the place, skating all around you. You commented to me that these kids were very quick. Were you astounded at how good some of these kids were skating?

Bruce Watson: I was actually very surprised to see how much US Hockey in general has gotten much better because of the programs. I haven't been back to Canada in the winter, and only once for a friends wedding last year. I caught a couple of games and I have to say that I saw more talent in Florida this past week than I saw in Canada in the three or four days during this Silver Stick Tourney in my hometown.

There are some good players in the Pembroke Pines and Kendall area, and the US Hockey development program they are running down here is doing a good job. These kids are all fast, they can all skate, they are emphasizing more of the skating and puck-handling ability than teaching them the game and throwing them out on the ice like they do in Canada. You have a practice, than it is right into a scrimmage. Here they are doing a lot more fundamental work with these kids, and it is obviously paying dividends with the amount of talent these kids have.

Who knows? Maybe you will see a first round draft pick from Coral Gables, Hollywood, or Aventura in the 2020 draft.

Question: Hopefully when they get drafted they will look back at Coach Watson in 2003 helping�

Bruce Watson: Call me up and make me their agent!

Question: Well, there you go! Future agent as well. Is there anything else you are looking forward, want people to know, or any predictions?

Bruce Watson: Zac has predictions that he wants to win 50 games. I am going to go with 45 games. It is going to be a tough, good league and we are going to have some fun out here. I want to have fun and I want to win. I want to win more than anybody, I want to win more than Zac. Getting a taste of a championship last year in San Diego, I missed two championships, and the third one was the charm.

I just want to win. I got in good shape and I am hungry to win and I worked hard as I can in the summer. I let me eating habits go for a bit living in the hotel and went back to the old ways, but I got that under control now and I have been back to the gym, eating well and ready to play.

Question: Your love of the Publix Deli has been noted, there every day!

Bruce Watson: Yeah, I am just going for the cheapest thing possible. Publix, if you are out there, we would like a corporate sponsorship. I think I can own half your store right now. Myself and the Equipment Manager Andrew. That is all I have to say!

Question: Last thing, you went to the Marlins game on Sunday and got to see the phenom Dontrell Willis and your hero Sammy Sosa. You anticipate wanting to go see more games?

Bruce Watson: I am actually going to go a lot to sporting events in the Miami area. I got some Dolphin dates already lined up that I am going to. A couple of guys I know well from Boston will come down for the New England Patriots when they play. I want to go see them and I want to go see Atlanta in the pre-season, go see Michael Vick.

As far as basketball, I am a huge Dwayne Wade fan, so I am pretty excited about him being in Miami, and me being in Miami. It is going to be pretty good.

Question: Didn't waste any time getting down here, didn't you? Got right into the community and just jumped right into the activities.

Bruce Watson: Oh yeah! If you are going to live in this town, you got to do stuff in this town. You got to go out, go to the malls, meet people. Not knowing too many people here except for the office staff, Andrew, and my dog Chaos. You got to go out and meet people, form friendships, and become part of the community with involvement. That is what minor pro hockey is all about.

If you don't have fans, you don't have a job. The people here are the ones who pay our salary, and we appreciate them coming to watch us. We just want to put a good team on the ice and win a championship for our fans.

Time�s Up!

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