RinkWise podcast: Dartmouth’s Troy Thibodeau on the benefits of playing multiple sports

Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass.) is in his first season as the assistant men's hockey coach at Dartmouth College. (RJB Sports)

Troy Thibodeau, assistant men’s hockey coach at Dartmouth College, joins Kirk Luedeke on the latest episode of New England Hockey Journal’s RinkWise.

Thibodeau, a native of Danvers, Mass., is in his first season with the Big Green. He was hired to join the staff of first-year head coach Reid Cashman in June. 

Prior to his role at Dartmouth, Thibodeau spent the last three seasons on staff with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, with previous stops at UMass Lowell, Merrimack College and Wentworth. 

In his playing days, Thibodeau played one season at New Hampton School and three years of college hockey at the University of Southern Maine (where he also played baseball) before graduating in 2014. 

With perspective on both sides of the bench, Thibodeau joins the podcast to talk about his roots in the game, the benefits of playing multiple sports growing up, transitioning to Dartmouth, and more. 

Thibodeau wasn’t always engulfed in the game of hockey like he is today as a D-1 assistant. As a kid, he played every sport possible growing up. 

“I was more of a sports fan in general,” Thibodeau told Luedeke. “I played very little video games, I was outside all of the time and I played every sport imaginable until I had to pick three getting into high school.

“I just loved competition, loved being on a team, competing with my teammates and playing in games. It’s interesting now that I’m on the coaching side, but I didn’t necessarily love the day-to-day and the offseason training and practicing. I loved playing games.”

When he was on the ice during the winter season, he had an interesting experience in his minor hockey days with one of the all-time greats. 

“Ray Bourque, at the end of his time with the Bruins and going into Colorado, got linked up with my dad and they kind of got talking. They were starting up a program, Top Gun Hockey out of Salem, N.H. (Ex-Bruins head coach) Steve Kasper was actually the head coach at the time and Ray had helped out so we were pretty fortunate to be a part of that coaching staff and I learned a ton with those guys.”

Outside of that unique hockey experience, Thibodeau still harped on the importance of doing a variety of activities at a young age before specialization kicks around high school. 

“It puts you in different settings as far as overcoming adversity in each sport,” he said of the pros that come with playing multiple sports.  

“It’s different in hockey than it is in hockey and basketball and golf, but (it’s important for) just being an overall rounded athlete. Hand-eye coordination, balance, agility, things like that, that if you just jump on skates 12 months a year you don’t really get that. You don’t get that hand-eye coordination I got when I played baseball, you don’t get the footwork I got when I played soccer.”

The youth landscape is much different today than it was when he was growing up, Thibodeau said.

“The fact that these kids are playing hockey 12 months a year, the wear and tear it takes on their body and their hips, and just their love for the game … For me, when I put those skates down, when it was time to put them back on I was rejuvenated, I was excited.

“You’ve got kids who have been playing summer hockey all summer for 15 different showcase teams and traveling. Now they’re getting ready for their prep school season or their junior hockey season and they’re almost taking a couple of weeks off now to recover before their season starts. For me, this time of year they should be 100 percent physically in the best shape they can be leading into a season and I feel like there’s wear and tear from all of this summer stuff.” 

Naturally, a time will come when hockey becomes a players’ main focus but, at a young age, Thibodeau said, it can be key to your development down the road.

“People say it all the time but it’s true. Being athletic and being able to do different things on different teams, go through different adversity in different sports, it benefits you a lot.”

For more from Troy Thibodeau on playing multiple sports, his coaching experiences, and more, listen to the full podcast today.

The podcast, which is typically dropped on Friday mornings, can be streamed on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or online at hockeyjournal.com/podcast.

RinkWise is brought to you by Sacred Heart University, University of Nebraska High School and Bruce Haas’ “Great Game!: D-1 College Hockey: People, Places, Perspectives.”

(Previously on NEHJ’s RinkWise: Mark Divver, Paul Cannata, Jeff Cox, Jordan Harris, Bobby Farnham, Steve Jacobs/Paul Pearl, Kent Hughes, Mark Dennehy, Ben Barr)