HELSINKI – Mike Babcock holds a special place in hockey history. He is the only Triple Gold Club coach for his victories at the World Championship (2004), Stanley Cup (Detroit, 2008), and Olympics (2010). If that weren’t special enough, he also coached Canada’s U20 team to gold in 1997. Today, he is in town as a special guest of Team Canada, watching the World Championship and thinking and learning, the two things he does better than any coach. “Every time I come to the World Championship it feels special because I’ve done it. I’ve been here,” he begins a conversation which sheds light on just how he does what he does. The start, then, is the U20s, his first international opportunity. “When I got the World Junior job in 1997, Canada had won four in a row, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I have to make it five.’ The streak is going to stop eventually. You have to keep doing well to be reinforced to get the next opportunity. I’ve been blessed to have had really good players. I know there aren’t many players who are Triple Gold Club members, and to do it as a coach is tough. And to win the World Juniors as well, which isn’t part of the Triple Gold, is very special. I feel honoured.” Of course, Babcock is also in Helsinki paying special attention to Canada’s young stars. Players such as Jordan Eberle, John Tavares, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, among others, are sure to be considered for Sochi, but what they have in skill they lack in big-time experience, right? How will they handle Olympic-sized pressure? “There’s lots of debate coming,” he began. “The reality is that those kids have another year, and then they have the first three months of the following year. [Drew] Doughty hadn’t played anything, and he was a key [in the 2010 Olympics]. He played great. In Vancouver, we had Niedermayer and Pronger and Iginla, and then we had a whole bunch of kids. We won’t spend any time worrying about experience. We’ll focus on if they’re good and if they can help us. No experience? They’ll have been to Memorial Cups, World Juniors, maybe Stanley Cup playoffs, World Championships.” Babcock has coached in Canadian junior hockey and university hockey, coached in Great Britain, in the AHL and NHL. What is it that drives him? What is it about a job that can be so thankless that he embraces so whole-heartedly? “The people,” he replies, without hesitation. “Think about it. You’re around the best of the absolute best. You’re around a bunch of hard drivers who are trying to maximize their potential. You’re in a team game in which everything has to work together for you to be successful. And the other thing I like about it is that you’re only as good as your last shift, your last game. What have you done for me lately? The best of the best in all fields, if they have that attitude, they’re maximized. The rest are getting way too comfortable and probably are not getting every ounce out of themselves that they could.” Babcock’s energy and drive are the stuff of legend, but his philosophy allows him to stay younger in mind and spirit than perhaps many of his colleagues. Nonetheless, he takes a needed respite to rest his active hockey brain. “I take a break every summer,” he explains. “You’d be amazed when I leave the rink and I go home to my family, they energize me. I think about them. I live in the present. When I’m at hockey, I think about hockey. When I’m home in the summer chasing bears or moose or hunting or water-skiing at the lake every morning at six-thirty, I think about that. I work, and I work hard, but it’s not even work – it’s what you do. But it’s not like I’m thinking about that 24/7. I’d be worn out and dead.” Despite Babcock’s incredible success, the idea that if he never coached again he’d have accomplished all there is to accomplish doesn’t wash. “Nah. I want to win the Cup again, and I want to have a shot of going back-to-back at the Olympics. The way I look at it is this: some people would say from the outside that type A personalities are never happy. To me, that’s where the fun is. You’re in the action. What could anyone do that is better and more fun than what I do?” Did Babcock say he wants to coach at Sochi? You better believe it. There’s gold in them thar words! ANDREW PODNIEKS This is the first of a two-part series. The second part will appear tomorrow (Saturday)