Worlton steps behind Dells Ducks bench

The Dells Ducks junior hockey team will enter its seventh season this fall with a new Head Coach at the helm.

With Bill Zaniboni moving to the east coast, team owner John Schwarz made the decision to bring in a familiar acquaintance and welcomed Jeff Worlton, to the Ducks.

Worlton, a 37-year-old native of Rochester, MN played hockey at the junior level with the WSHL before embarking on a six-season professional career with stops in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio and California where he played with teams in the Central Hockey League, East Coast Hockey League and United Hockey League.

He stepped behind the bench at Marian University in Fond du Lac as an assistant coach for the 2006-07 season and has been a mentor now for 11 seasons. He still calls Fond du Lac home as well.

Before coming the Dells, Worlton has had stops in Bradford, ON where he spent a couple of seasons, first as an assistant and eventually as a Head Coach. He moved from there to Tri-City IceHawks – then of the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League and now a team in the USPHL Elite Division.

He spent a couple of seasons coaching the Flint Generals, the first season in the GLJHL and then in the Central States Hockey League, a league that eventually formed a core of the NA3HL.

After spending a couple of seasons as an assistant in the North American Hockey League with the Corpus Christi Icerays, Worlton spent a couple of seasons as a Head Coach for the Breezy Point North Stars before making his most recent move, to Alaska where he took on the Head Coaching position with the Kenai River Brown Bears.

Worlton has crossed paths with the Ducks over the season as a friend and fellow coach with Bill Zaniboni and a business acquaintance with Schwarz. That connection played a part in one of the greatest trades for the Ducks when Worlton traded Crosby Steen to the Ducks in the winter of 2015.

Steen came to the team late in the regular season and later helped the team claim a Bush Cup championship before joining the team at the National Championships.

In Breezy Point, Steen was a team captain and something of a legend in town. He was with Worlton and helping the team in a trying season before Worlton traded him so he could enjoy some success at the end of great junior career.

Worlton and Schwarz both attended a Showcase tournament in Sun Prairie on the weekend by the Janesville Jets of the NAHL and took some time Saturday to discuss the upcoming season.

Worlton is pleased to get a chance to carry on the successful tradition in town started by Schwarz and with Zaniboni behind the bench for the past five seasons.

“Yeah, I am extremely excited. I think John and Bill have done a good job running a program at a high level and keeping it there,” said Worlton. “As a coach, this is a new thing for me. My niche has always been that I go to a place that’s run down and then I rebuild it and I leave, so this is a new thing for me and an exciting challenge.”

Schwarz is just as happy to add Worlton, a coach he met five years ago when he hired Zaniboni and became familiar with this past season when Zaniboni accepted a position as a scout for Worlton and the Brown Bears.

“We were really lucky. Last year every time Bill (Zaniboni) did an email at the bottom it would have Dells Ducks and Kenai River Brown Bears. Bill scouted for Jeff and it was a very exciting opportunity for us.”

In the Dells, Worlton finds himself in an exciting, but different position. Having built a reputation as a guy who can turn a struggling program around, Worlton said the process only works if the ownership buys in to the fix.

“I think it just takes a good owner, that’s going to support a guy like me that just goes in like a Hurricane and wrecking ball and stirs the pot, putting the energy back into the program, “said Worlton. “Usually when a program is run down, that’s what it needs is a guy with energy that cares about it. I have a lot energy, a lot of passion. I can translate to a program trying to rebuild itself. It’s not me, it’s the players and the owner.”

Worlton said in some places he’s been in the owners have bought in and in others, the owners have not agreed with the system that he said, is a two-year job.”

“The first year is getting everyone and believing in the process and finding the ones that believe in the process and then the second year, hitting your stride and just go. It takes a good supportive owner when you are rebuilding a team.

In the Dells, Worlton is joining a team that has a solid reputation already, but with a host of graduation and transfers through the off season, this will be a team almost entirely put together by Worlton over these summer months. It’s a different process and something he is looking forward to.

“This is uncharted waters for me, so I don’t know what my expectations are. We’re looking for a team that is going to do well in the community and well on the ice,” said the coach. “That’s our focus right now, just find the players and continue the tradition of the Ducks along the way.”

Schwarz is aware of the challenges facing his coach and made it clear he is on board from the start.

“Jeff comes into a team where, you Bill likes to have one of the older teams in the league vs the (Chicago) Cougars who might have one of the younger teams,” said Schwarz. “So, for Jeff, there’s so many commitments this year, the process, you start from scratch a little bit, no matter what the reputation, so it’s tough.”

Worlton said have a new team doesn’t necessarily mean having a young team.

“I’m looking at anybody and everybody,” said Worlton. “Just recruiting, through the masses. We got a goalie from the NA3HL and I feel really good about him. It’s just, building through the masses. Just mass recruiting the best that we can.”

Schwarz was new to junior hockey when he first brought the Ducks to town six seasons ago. Since then, he has quickly transformed into a successful multi-team owner. Since the beginning thought, he has shown a great knack for finding the right guys for the job of coach. Zaniboni was named Coach of the Year for four straight seasons and his reign came to an end when Marty Quarters, Head Coach of the Wisconsin Rapids River Kings accepted the honor this past spring. The Riverkings are also owned by Schwarz.

Others don’t always agree with Schwarz’s selections – at first. He is confident Worlton is the perfect person for the job of Ducks’ Head Coach.

“I met Jeff about five-six years ago, when I got a recommendation to hire Bill, “said Schwarz, adding Zaniboni returned the favor recommending the hire of Worlton this summer as well.

“Anytime, it’s someone at Tier 2 coming back to Tier 3, that’s like a gift. I am very fortunate to have that happen. It doesn’t happen a lot. This is a great opportunity for a community like Dells, to have someone that is coming back. He knows this level really well.”

As for a team identity, local hockey fans should expect a team similar to those that Zaniboni put on the ice.

“Blue collar, hard-working honest,” are traits Worlton said are part of his teams’ identity. “They play hockey, right?” I think Bill and I are probably the same people. When it boils down, I think we’re probably identical in what we believe in as a coach.”

Worlton will be attending regular camps throughout the summer, including the Ducks’ which this summer will be held at the Leafs Center in West Dundee, IL June 30-July 1. Cost for this event this season is just $59 and once again will be a three-team effort with the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings and Chicago Cougars. Also, this season will be in attendance from the NCDC, the new free to play league being run on the east coast.

The Ducks will play in the United States Premier Hockey League’s Premier Division beginning this fall and realignment will see an additional Wisconsin presence in Spooner perhaps a few other surprises in the days and weeks to come.