Anthony Noreen trying to define success for the Orlando Solar Bears

A new coach means a new philosophy and new goals. As the Orlando Solar Bears start their season, Anthony Noreen is defining what success means.

Anthony Noreen has an energy about him. You want to believe everything he says. Even in the first time you meet him, there is a confidence that exudes from him that should not be coming from someone who looks like they just graduated from college.

No, Noreen did not just leave campus at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Although it was not that long ago — he became an assistant for his alma mater after graduating in 2007.

This is the guy who is here to lead the Solar Bears. To what though?

That is always the most difficult job of a minor league coach. Winning is a goal in and of itself, but it is not everything in the minor leagues.

The development of players for the home club — in this case the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies — is still pretty important. A coach in the ECHL has to do a lot, managing both the team in its season, developing talent and some scouting, recruiting and administrative tasks.

There was a lot of work to do to get to this point — Saturday’s season and home opener at the Amway Center against Greenville.

Anthony Noreen was coming to a program that already had begun tasting success in back-to-back Playoff appearances. It was a program that already had tremendous support in the community for a minor league team. It was a program that has been fortifying its ties to NHL clubs to become that pipeline.

Now, as Noreen noted at last week’s season-opening press conference, it was time to get to the work that really matters.

“For me, I was counting down the days to the first practice,” Noreen said last Thursday as his team gathered for its first full day of training camp. “From the day I got the job, it was great doing all the recuriting and moving and all that stuff, practice is my time to work. That’s what I love the most. Being up in Toronto for a month was great. I was ready, it was time to get back here and get going with our group. The guys standing in the back probably think I am a bit psychotic because I have been running around like a kid on Christmas for the last three days on the ice in practice. That’s what we love to do. That’s what we’re here for.”

The energy coming from Noreen was infectious. He may have been around the community since he was hired in late June, but now here he was in front of his team and the season ticketholders for the first time. It was hard not to want to lace up the skates right then and start playing for him.

In his short four-year career as a head coach in the USHL, Noreen missed the Playoffs just once. In a short amount of time, he has accomplished a lot as a coach. It was enough to get him the bump up to ECHL.

And here, Orlando has big ambitions. During the season-opening press conference last week, the Solar Bears made it clear they want their team to be both a program that develops players and wins championships. They seem no longer satisfied with a taste of the playoffs. They want to win in the Playoffs and then win consistently.

With a Kelly Cup Final MVP now in net (at least for the start of the season), those expectations seem to be getting a little more real. This is a talented group of players that has produced at the ECHL level with several players who have played together already in Orlando.

Winning consistently at the minor league level though is a bit more difficult. Players who perform well get the opportunity to move up the farm ladder. Consistently having the same team is difficult because of that proposition. The coach’s goal is not only to win games but also to help players achieve those dreams and make their way up to the Marlies and then to the Maple Leafs.

Noreen believes his program needs to win and focus on development. And that will help the program become self sustaining.

“I’ve been on the ice with him twice now besides being up in Toronto camp,” veteran defenseman Eric Baier said last week. “Like he said, his passion is to develop and teach and win games. Not just grow us as hockey players but as people. From what I’ve seen, it’s all there. He is giving us all the tools we need to succeed. It’s up to us to use those tools and make this a successful hockey team.”

Noreen does seem like the complete package. He has the charisma and energy to push the team further than it has gone to this point. Of course, none of it is proven.

This Solar Bears team is virtually an entirely new squad. The opening night roster features 11 players sent down from the Marlies. This is a talented group that should have expectations to accomplish their goals.

Winning is not everything in the minor leagues. It is a nice bonus and is usually a byproduct of the success of the minor league coach. In the structure of the team and the farm system it exists in, improving the players on the roster to move them along up the chain is important.

These are mostly young players just breaking into their professional careers. Noreen is certain developing those players is a primary part of his goal.

“At the end of the day, we’re here to help those guys out,” Noreen said. “We’re here to help them grow up. We’re here to help them mature. We’re here to help them be pros, help them on to the next level and make sure that everything that they do is done with the right attitude and right effort level every single day.

“I think that’s the difference between being good and being great is being able to do it every day. No matter what the circumstances, you’re sick, you’re sore, you’re tired, you’ve been on a road trip, you do it every single day. We’re going to instill that in these guys.”

And if Noreen is successful, in the process the wins should come. And with that comes the establishing of a program that should lead to success. Noreen is going to spend this year establishing his program. Like his players, he should have some things to learn too.

The Solar Bears though are providing him the full support. Few franchises have the resources and the facilities available to them like the Solar Bears. The Amway Center is undoubtedly the nicest arena in the league, probably the only one that shares a home with a “Big Four” sports franchise.

The support from the front office is there too. They were proactive going after players to supplement the roster, not simply relying on the Marlies to supply them with quality players.

The pieces are all in place for Orlando to have a special season on the ice.