Podcast: Brian Durocher on his legendary career, the future of women’s hockey

Brian Durocher salutes the crowd at his final game. (Iman Zarrinkoub)

In 2004, Brian Durocher was tapped to lead Boston University’s first varsity women’s ice hockey team. He was to switch from coaching on the men’s side to the women’s.

He was a smashing success on the job.

Eighteen seasons later, Durocher won 338 games and ranks 10th all-time in Division 1 women’s hockey wins. He announced his retirement in February.

In a fascinating interview, host Stephanie Wood talks with Durocher about a wide variety of topics such as his career, recruiting and advice for student-athletes hoping to get recruited to college programs in the future.

On switching from recruiting men to women in college hockey…

Durocher: “Because I was probably in year 27 when I started [on the women’s side], I had been in a lot of hockey rinks. …I still had to learn a lot about women. Now, I have three daughters at home and a wife, but I still had to learn about them as athletes because none of my daughters were the highest-level athletes and didn’t play on travel teams. That’s where, again, Kerstin [Matthews] and Erika [Silva] helped me a ton but the game was the same. …Once I learned where people were and what I thought was the landscape, it made it that much easier.”

On offseason training for younger players…

Durocher: “Make sure you know a little bit about nutrition, know a little bit about strength training. If you educate yourself on those areas, you’re giving a good start to the game. I also believe there’s a time and place for rest. You’re still training when you’re riding a bike, when you’re learning to list some weights and when you’re studying how to eat properly.”