Back in the late 1980's, when Lou Nistico was a coach in the old South Nation Chiefs minor hockey association - which covered the area from Cumberland to the Quebec border - and his son Justin was playing minor atom - Lou spearheaded the formation of the Cumberland Barons Association. It was a bit of a controversial move at the time. As in most minor hockey circles, everybody had their own opinion pro or con, everyone spoke at once - except Lou.
"He was not a person to hold anything back from you and he didn't have grey areas". That is Lou to a "T" and was exactly the kind of person we needed at the time - with both a solid hockey background and the strong personality needed to pull it off. He was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time.
In creating the Barons from scratch, among many decisions to get the organization up and running, Lou picked the Washington Capitals uniforms as the colours for the organization, he chose the Barons as the name from the old Cleveland Barons of the AHL, declared that all players and coaches would wear shirts and ties to and from games, that all players - not parents - from novice to midget would carry their own bags to and from the rink, and would select one tournament each year where the entire organization would enter - and stay in the same hotel. In doing so, Lou gave the organization structure and rules right from the start - and any coach who forgot to wear - or do up his tie - realized this pdq.
As a AA Barron's Coach, at try out time, Lou went out of his way to select the most deserving players from the organization for his team and - despite the usual pressure from parents - was not adverse to sending a player back to the A level if he felt a more deserving player had earned a chance. He knew the game, ran the bench as if he knew it and had his players' respect.
Lou also had a well kept soft touch for his players. In one game, not wanting to run up the score, he told the team he "didn't want them to score any more - shoot to miss the net - the next guy that scores is benched." Sure enough one of his better players went in, tried to shoot wide but the puck hit a defenseman's skate and went into the net. The kid came back almost in tears - "I'm sorry Coach, I'm sorry - I tried to miss" and headed for the end of the bench. Lou went down the bench, patted the kid on the back and sent him right back out. I was there along with a large group of parents. No one missed Lou's soft moment - everyone recognized it.
Today those Barons have grown up - have families of their own - and many are back in the rinks with their own kids - or will be when the pandemic ends. Some such as Stephane Yelle went on to play in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup, another has become a top surgeon at a major Toronto hospital, several others now own their own companies, one is a top tennis coach, another is a golf pro, others have moved on to positions in financial institutions and I suspect several are also minor hockey coaches.
In the process of growing from a minor Barons hockey player to a successful adult - a strong sense of character is needed. Above all, Lou Nistico was one of those extraordinary people who went well out of his way to help his players develop the kind of character they needed to succeed in life.
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