ROCHESTER, NY - He started and finished his career as a member of the Rochester Americans. Randy Cunneyworth finished 19th on the all-time Amerks points list (239), 12th on the franchise all-time games played (366), and 17th in goals. Every year since he coached the Amerks back in the 2000, Rochester has made the playoffs. He currently is third all-time in franchise coaching wins. He also played professional for 20 years with six NHL teams, including five seasons with the Hartford Whalers, and two AHL teams. MOFO Sports caught up with Randy after practice as the Amerks get prepared for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks on Friday.

Randy Cunneyworth: We consider ourselves a very speedy team. I think we go guys that can really move. I think we got at least a player on every line that can really motor and go quick. So we really want to be a team that will pack the opposition. I think we are good at that and we will continue to get better; solid goaltending [from] Tom Askey and Ryan Miller. Good tandem there that are able to stop pucks; and there our defense. We like to take a lot of pride in stopping the opposition, shutting them down. We think we are a complete team. We think we are able to play in all areas, plays both ends of the rink offense and defense. That’s the type of team we need in the American Hockey League in order to be successful. That’s what we think we are.

RC: I had several in over 20 years or so. You’ll end up with a few good coaches and one of the early influences was Mike Keenan. Mike Keenan was here at Rochester; we won that Calder Cup because of Mike Keenan. I consider him an influence I think early in my career. To me, he is a disciplinarian and he is a guy who demanded perfect work. He wouldn’t tolerate non-perfect work. It’s really is demanded that you need to be ready and willing to go through walls and be that type of a team and that type of a player. Guy at the end of my career is Jacques Martin; was in Ottawa until last year. Another good coach that I really felt that he handled his teams very appropriately, fairly, and demanded a lot of structure and discipline as did Mike Keenan. Interestingly enough, those two worked together. Over a few years, they actually crossed paths and they are now again together in Florida; so too interesting that those two, one at the beginning one at the end, were part of my influences.

RC: I played hockey all my life. I think even from the time I was four or five years old, I played hockey and got to a good level; obviously played American Hockey League and the NHL for 15 years. Over those years, you collect at lot of knowledge and experience and it was a natural transition to getting into coaching. Knowing so many tidbits about hockey and having the experiences that I had had with so many teams. I played with six National Hockey League teams over the course of my career. It was all those experiences that allowed me to kind of get into coaching and try and pass on some of the things I’d learned over the years to the young players here just starting out.

RC: I guess for different reasons, they were all good coaches, but I think the fact that we won the Calder Cup under Mike Keenan. So I think he would have to be [it]. I’d never won anything at a higher level other than the Calder Cup. I’d been close winning the Stanley Cup couple of occasions and we just couldn’t poke through, but Mike Keenan probably was the best coach at that time for winning a Calder Cup. That was back in 1983-84 so that was a long time ago. He is certainly one of my biggest influences.

RC: Oh absolutely. I think most coaches here in the American League are training to become NHL coaches and I’m no different. It’s something that I inspire to and I hope that it will become reality one day. You just continue to work hard and wait for your opportunity to make that transition.

RC: I think so. I think that there are several players [like] Chris Taylor, Jason Botterill, and [Jeff] Jillson. These players have played at the NHL level so they had the opportunity to pass on the experience to the younger players that we now have and are learning. Lot of these players it’s their first or second year pro and they’re learning a new game. It wasn’t like college. This game they are now learning is similar, but it’s not quite the same as what goes on at the professional level. I think the intensity and the frequency of which they have to come to work each and every day is much great than at the school level or the junior level where many of these players come from. This is a job now. They’re paid to do a job and they have to do that job at this time. When they were younger and not getting paid to do it, they’re allowed a few more mistakes and they can make the mistakes without hurting the team. In the end, once you paid to do something, you’re expected to do it and that’s what pro hockey is about.

RC: No. I think the two go hand and hand. I think there’s always the need to develop and improve and gain experience, but part of gaining that good experience and confidence, you need to win your share of games. You have to have that confidence to know that you are competent and know that you have done a good job. I think that’s a measuring stick to developing. You still develop if you lose on a more regular basis, but I think you’ll develop more as a winner.

RC: I think my most memorable would’ve been a few years ago going back against the Dallas Stars playing with the Buffalo Sabres in the [Stanley Cup] Finals. Playing that series, we [the Amerks] had just finished off here at Rochester. I think I was called up to the Buffalo Sabres to partake in their final series. Unfortunately, we lost in six games, but that was the controversial "No Goal" season. Had we finished that game and won it, on to game seven back to Dallas. I think it would have been that exciting opportunity for the team, but it didn’t go our way; it was that memorable to go that far in the Finals and be a part of it. Very exciting.

Photo from www.whalershockey.com.

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