A New Role

WASILLA — Larry Kincaid suffered through the hockey version of an identity crisis last season.

Kincaid, a standout during his days at Houston High School, was recruited by the Alaska Avalanche to be one type of player, and after a coaching change he was asked to play another role — all while he was trying to adjust to the Junior A level.

But now a veteran of junior hockey and the North American Hockey League, Kincaid spent his off season working to become they type of player he wants to be, and believes he has finally found his role on the team.

In the last two years, Kincaid has gone from being the untouchable star at Houston High, to the grinding fighter bouncing between the third and fourth lines, to a legitimate first-line power forward at the Junior A level.

Nobody knows the evolution of Kincaid as a hockey player better than Jamie Smith, the first-year head coach of the Avalanche.

Smith coached Kincaid in youth hockey and throughout Kincaid’s four years at HHS. After the end of the 2006-07 season, Smith said he sat him down and told him what the Kincaid needs to do to take the next step in his hockey career.

“I told him Larry the legend at Houston High School, that’s over,” Smith said. “When you’re putting six points on the board as a 19-year-old, that’s not enough.

“Number one, I don’t need you fighting every other game,” Smith said he told Kincaid. “You’re not going to move on to the next level, playing college hockey by being a fighter. Second thing, you’re 5-foot-10, you can’t weigh 205 (pounds).”

Smith urged Kincaid to drop about 20 pounds.

“If you can’t transition into becoming a first-line guy — a guy who’s going to be dynamic with the puck, an assist guy who’ll punch in a few goals — then you’re going to be a third-line player. Put you’re 20 pounds back on and be a fighter,” Smith said.

Kincaid took the advice, spent his off season training and working on skills such as stick handling, and arrived to the team’s training camp at 190 pounds.

“I trained really hard this summer getting into shape,” Kincaid said after practice last week. “I really want to have a good season so I can get to college.”

Following his senior season at Houston, Kincaid was signed by the Peoria Mustangs, a Junior B squad in the Central States Hockey League. He skated in more than 20 games for the Mustangs, before he was signed by the Avs during the summer of 2006.

Kincaid said it was good to get the chance to play hockey at the Junior B level before making the leap to Junior A. But he was still marveled by the difference between juniors and high school hockey.

“The speed, from high school to this is (a difference of) like 10 steps,” Kincaid said. “It was hard at first, but I got the hang of it. By the end of the year last year, I was getting the feel of it.”

It didn’t help that Kincaid’s role on the team changed dramatically.

“[Former Alaska head coach Dean Larson and assistant coach Corey Millen] brought me in as a fighter, to be a tough guy and help them out as a grinder,” Kincaid said.

After Larson and Millen left the team in November, the then interim coach and general manager, Keith Morris, who is now the director of hockey operations, saw Kincaid as a different type of player.

“Keith Morris wanted me to be more of a power forward,” Kincaid said. “My role changed from getting into the corner being the nit and grit guy, maybe taking on a guy — to driving the net hard, trying to get those hard passes, and going into the spots where the other forwards don’t want to go.”

Smith saw Kincaid’s ability to be a true power forward, and pushed for the change.

“That’s how he’s going to elevate, move to the next level of his game,” Smith said. “And he did.”

Late last week, Kincaid was named an assistant captain on the squad. He is skating on Alaska’s top line, and recorded an assist during the team’s first game of the year on Friday.

It happened to be the first assist of his junior hockey career. He recorded just six goals, and didn’t have a helper in 44 games last year.

Kincaid also feels more comfortable in his new role.

“I didn’t really like the first role,” Kincaid said. “But the second role, I really feel it fits.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.