He's driven to succeed
DETROIT — Retired high school golf coach Cornie Vantol isn't surprised that Dan Bylsma has led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup finals in his first season as a head coach.
Vantol remembers Bylsma, who's from Grand Haven, Mich., making an impact in his freshman year on the Muskegon Western Michigan Christian varsity golf team. Scott Bylsma, one of Dan's older brothers, won the Class D individual state championship in 1980 with a score of 78. Dan took home the individual title four years later with a 72.
"I can understand that he's a great coach," said Vantol, who was the golf coach at WMC from 1984 to 2002. "He was a bright student. He knew the golf game very well. He didn't need much coaching. "
Bylsma, now 38, played only one season of golf for Vantol. Hockey was Bylsma's passion.
After his freshman year, Bylsma began playing hockey for a Junior B team in Canada. He'd spend the first half of the school year in Canada and would return to Muskegon to finish up at WMC once the hockey season was over.
Jim Gorman, who still teaches at WMC, remembers having Bylsma in his sociology class.
"We had this experiment for marriage and family," Gorman said. "We'd work on problems for a husband and wife, and the first thing they had to do was determine what their profession would be and they'd have to look up the income. He said, 'I want to be a professional hockey player.' I said, 'Normally, I don't allow that because it's a pie in the sky. But knowing you, you'll probably get there and we'll let it go.' So he was a professional hockey player in my sociology class. He had that mindset."
Bylsma followed brother Scott to Bowling Green State University in Ohio to play college hockey. Scott Bylsma, now a wealth management adviser for Merrill Lynch in Grand Rapids, walked on at Bowling Green and earned a scholarship as a senior in 1984-85.
Dan Bylsma played four seasons for the Falcons (1988-92) and was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. Dan went on to play in 429 NHL games with the L.A. Kings and Anaheim Ducks, scoring 19 goals and 43 assists.
Bylsma became an assistant coach with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in 2004-05, then an assistant with the Islanders the next season. He was in his first season as head coach for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when he replaced Michel Therrien as the Pittsburgh head coach in February.
Scott Bylsma said his daughters, 17-year-old Kasey and 13-year-old Mallory, send text messages wishing their uncle good luck shortly after the start of each Penguins game.
Scott and his family plan to be at Joe Louis Arena for Game 2 Sunday. He's already hearing about the series at work, as well as from neighbors and friends at the local golf club. The folks who had been cheering for his brother to do well in the playoffs aren't backing the Pens against the Wings.
Scott always thought his brother might coach in the NHL someday.
"He started saving drills he did in college in a notebook," he said. "He had a timeline.
"Every time I call him, he'll say, 'I'm living the dream.'"
