History will be made at Climate Pledge Arena just after 1 pm Friday afternoon, when the Seattle Torrent begin their first ever PWHL home game (against the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost). The game is expected to set a U.S. pro women’s hockey attendance record.
Torrent coach Steve O’Rourke spoke with us recently about his personal journey with the Torrent, which began in Portugal, of all places, and everything that’s been built from scratch between then and today’s puck drop at CPA.
A Long Time, Then A Short Time
“It’s been a long time from that moment when Meg (general manager Meghan Turner) called me. I was in Portugal.
“It was about a 45-minute call. I got home, we met for two hours, had a great conversation there, and then bang, it was right to the draft. It’s been just go-go-go from that point. Megan’s been unbelievable, just the collaboration of it.”
Prior to Nov. 21’s franchise-opening 4-3 overtime loss in Vancouver, the Torrent had barely a week of training camp and just two scrimmages with the Goldeneyes.
“Doing an expansion team, there’s so much to get done, you don’t realize. Usually, you have a few weeks, a month. Eventually, the players are like, ‘Hey, can we get to a game? We’re done.’ In my past, we were trying to eliminate exhibition games. This is unusual, even down to junior and college. But these are professional players, so we’ll be ready (for the season).”
Finding An Edge
“There’s eight teams in this league, and they’re all one owner. And we’re all equal. We can’t go out and spend money different than anyone else. So, how do we find an edge? We’re finding that edge with the people. We find that edge with our athletic therapist. We found that edge with the equipment person, our strength coach. We found those edges with the people that we’ve brought into the coaching staff (Christine Bumstead and Clayton Beddoes), so that’s where it really starts to build.
“It was an intentional focus on who we’re bringing in and how we all work together. When I talk about being intentional and purposeful for how we’re connecting with each other, we have a performance coach that helps us with that, and helps us with the data of who we are, our strengths and our blind spots. We make sure that we stay on top of that, keep that communicated, and that goes into the players as well.”
Following 5-Time NBA Champion Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich
“Christine’s got the power play, the forwards. Clayton’s got the ‘D’ and the penalty kill. (Torrent players are) understanding that we’re connected with them and demanding of them, but I go back to the coach in San Antonio. He was demanding, but he loved his players, right? They knew that when that time came to put the hammer down, they knew there was care there. And that’s where we’re building from day one between the players and with our coaching staff.
“It’s just being honest, open, direct, and constantly, just learning. Learning from the players and just being open to that. Hard in practice, demanding in practice, so that when it comes to games, it’s way easier.”
Torrent’s Elite Support Staff
“Meghan had a slide up the other day, just to show the players how many (support) people we have here for them. That’s what’s so unique about this league. In the past, they’ve tried to create (women’s) professional hockey without that financial backing to have those people in place.
“Now, you walk around here (KCI). We’ve got people that are elite at their jobs, helping these players be the best they can be on and off the ice.”
(Trying Not To) Focus On Home Opener
“I try not to look at that. I try to just stay in the day, the day-to-day-to-day. But just to feel the energy – we had the opportunity to see the (WNBA) Storm play this year and felt the energy of that building, and I can’t wait. That energy is going to be outstanding.”