Capuano epitomizes Isles’ gritty persona

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SYOSSETT, N.Y. — Instead of the team bus, the New York Islanders should roll up to the rink in a stretched-out Pontiac Firebird.

In the mid-1980s, that car style was synonymous with Cranston, R.I., the hometown of current Islanders coach Jack Capuano. He owned one. It was maroon.

When a team takes on the personality of its coach, it’s an indication that the lines of communication are open and clear. That’s the case for the Islanders. Their gritty, profane, never-say-die, in-your-face mentality is a direct reflection of Capuano. As a player, he toiled in the minors and played only six games in the NHL. He spent plenty of time in the minors as a coach too, in places like Tallahassee, Fla., Knoxville, TN., Florence, S.C., and Bridgeport, Conn.

Now, in his sixth season as coach of the Islanders, Capuano, 49, has his team in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning hold a 2-1 series lead over the Islanders heading into Game 4 on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. If the Islanders did not beat the Florida Panthers in the first round, there was some thought that Capuano would be relieved of his duties. But the players have bought into his message and general manager Garth Snow trusts Capuano.

“John Tavares is our leader, obviously, but [Capuano] is the voice and we follow his personality and his character,” said Islanders forward Matt Martin, who also played for Capuano in the AHL. “The way we watch video every day, the way he talks, the way he carries himself, obviously that’s going to bleed into us a little bit. He’s a good example of a good coach and someone who, not only wants to win, but cares for us as players and individuals off the ice. He’s not afraid to sit on the couch with you in the lounge and talk for a while. He’s definitely someone who cares for you as people and that’s a good thing.”

Frans Nielsen, 32, also played for Capuano in the minors.

“He is hard and tough, but at the same time he’s a coach who really cares about his players,” Nielsen said. “No one wants us to succeed more than he does. He helps us and guides us. He truly cares about his players. You can [call him] a players’ coach.”

“He is hard and tough, but at the same time he’s a coach who really cares about his players,” said Frans Nielsen of coach Jack Capuano. “No one wants us to succeed more than he does.” Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

In 1981, Capuano’s bantam team won the national championship. He played two seasons of Interscholastic League hockey for Cranston High School East, before transferring to the Kent School in Connecticut. He later became an All-American defenseman at the University of Maine and captained the Black Bears to a national championship in 1988.

His high school coach, Dick Ernst, remembers Capuano’s personality on and off the ice. Ernst wasn’t surprised to see Capuano back on the bench …

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