GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Having someone stick around a franchise in professional sports is very rare. To do that, you have to be good at doing your job, and be good at helping others do theirs.
Brian Lashoff checks both those boxes with the Griffins.
"Oh, he's awesome," raved Griffin's Captain Josiah Didier. "You know, Lash is. He's a great coach. He's a great players' coach.”
You will hear that a lot if you ask about Lashoff around the Grand Rapids Griffins.
“Unbelievable person, unbelievable character,” said Grand Rapids Griffins President Tim Gortsema.
"He's just got that mounds of experience from, you know, his championships, his playing career,” added Didier.
As a player, the former captain spent 14 seasons with the Griffins, where he helped bring home two Calder Cup championships, and skated seven campaigns with the Griff’s parent club, the Detroit Red Wings.
So, he’s seen a lot, done a lot, and can help a lot.
“I think having a good support system around you, I think, is huge," Lashoff told FOX17. "You know, the demand as a pro athlete is high, and year after year, I think the biggest thing is to try to surround yourself with people that you trust, that you want to prove right on a daily basis.”
That kind of advice is why he is as good a fit on the staff as he was a player, and in his second season as an assistant coach, it's advice the team is picking up on heading into their second straight playoff run.
The understands what you're going through," said Didier. "He can relate to you very easily, because it's very fresh in his mind.”
It helps that he’s with an organization that means a lot to him.
"I think it's just had a great experience here for a number of years," added Lashoff. "You know, to be able to stay in one spot. Definitely, it speaks to the people that were around me."
West Michigan is a great place to live and to work and to put down roots," Said Gortsema. "For me, it's always satisfying when I look at players or staff that have come here from somewhere else and stayed here. And Brian is an example of that, a guy from New York who came here to play hockey, met his wife, and now this is his home."
Hopefully, with Brian’s help, the Calder Cup will also be calling West Michigan home soon.
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