No Minor Role

Moe Mantha’s “Rink Rats” are in for a surprise this week. The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks will be practicing--trading checks, maybe a few shoves--and working up a good sweat.

Then there will be cake.

“We always bring in a cake for a guy when it’s his birthday,” said Mantha, the Ducks’ coach. “We try to make it a family atmosphere around here. We have another one coming up, I just can’t remember whose dang birthday it is. One of the young Russians, I think.”

Ah, nothing says lovin’ like something from the oven.

This, though, comes straight from Mantha’s mantra. It’s player development with a human face and, sometimes, a swift kick.

In Anaheim, they wouldn’t have it any other way. For the last three seasons, Mantha has coached the Ducks’ minor league affiliate--one year in Baltimore and the last two in Cincinnati. He has sent Matt Cullen, Mike Leclerc, Jeff Nielsen, Pavel Trnka, Antti Aalto and others to the NHL.

They learn from a man who spent 12 years banging around the NHL. He’s a guy who, while playing for Team USA in 1994, started a minor international incident after a French player spit on his jersey.

And he’s a coach who knows the value of pastry.

“We had a couple guys who had birthdays during training camp,” said Mantha, 38. “Basically, I want to treat them like I wanted to be treated. I want them to learn about the game, but I want them to have fun.

“I lived out my dream. I was a player in the NHL. My job is to make these guys realize their dreams.”

It is not some half-baked scheme.

Motivational Tools

There are photos at the entrance to the Mighty Duck dressing room at the Cincinnati Gardens.

Each photo is a player who has come through Cincinnati and is now playing in the NHL. Next to them is a sign: Don’t Lose Sight of Your Dream.

Not too subtle, but effective--just like Mantha.

“I think I can relate to players because I’ve been through the process,” Mantha said. “I’ve been sent down to the minors, I’ve been put on waivers, I’ve been claimed on waivers, I’ve been traded, I’ve played for different coaches and had to learn different styles. The players know I’ve been through it.”

If they don’t, they soon learn.

His style is very much “hands on,” right down to helping the Ducks’ two new Russians, Maxim Balmochnykh and Vitaly Vishnevski, with their English.

“Well, we get them a translation book so they can go to stores and restaurants,” Mantha said. “But with the hockey stuff, we get them to understands things like ‘forecheck,’ and ‘backcheck,’ and ‘heads up,’ all the key words.”

Mantha never envisioned running this team. Sure, he saw himself coaching once his playing days were over. He just thought it would be on a lower level.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be here,” Mantha said.

Duck officials didn’t need to stretch their imaginations too far to come up with Mantha.

“Moe’s best quality is his teaching ability,” said David McNab, Anaheim’s assistant general manager. “He’s very good with dealing with players individually. He’s able to identify their strengths and weaknesses and can help them one-on-one. That’s exactly what you want in the minor league coach.”

The Ducks wanted something. One hockey publication had slammed the Ducks’ minor league system, calling it thin.

“That was very frustrating and not very popular,” McNab said. “But it’s funny how it goes. They wrote about what a bad system we had and in that group was Cullen, Trnka, Leclerc, Aalto. Those players are in the NHL right now.

“It was the only publication that said Matt Cullen couldn’t play in the NHL.”

Cullen is the center between Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya. McNab is also quick to point out that Mantha has done a lot to change that perception.

“I used that story to challenge these players to prove that writer wrong,” Mantha said. “Look at the result.”

Leclerc, a left wing, is the latest to strengthen that case. He was so impressive in training camp that center Johan Davidsson was shipped to Cincinnati instead.

Leclerc has been solid on the Ducks’ third line and has two goals in the last two games.

Been There, Done That

When Mantha steps off the ice and onto the team bus after games, things get very quiet.

“I start walking to the back and I hear guys going, ‘Sssssh,’ ” Mantha said. “One night I told them, ‘You clowns, I used to sit back here and talk about the coach too.’ I’ve been beaten one-on-one in corners, I’ve had broken bones, I’ve made the bad mistake in a game. I think I have a good understanding of these players.”

Mantha started as an assistant with Hershey in the American Hockey League, then was the head coach two seasons for Columbus in the East Coast Hockey League. Coming to the Ducks in 1996 was easy and there was history.

Jack Ferreira, then the Ducks’ general manager, once traded Mantha from Minnesota to Philadelphia after being told to cut payroll. McNab’s father, Max, was the general manager for San Francisco when Maurice Mantha, Moe’s father, played there.

His uncles, Sylvio and Georges, had long careers in the NHL. Sylvio Mantha is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Yeah, hockey is in my blood,” Mantha said. “My son is a rink rat. The guys I coach are rink rats. I was a rink rat.”

Mantha parlayed that passion into a 12-year career, from 1980-92, with stops in Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Minnesota and Philadelphia.

He went from the NHL to the international scene, playing for the United States in the 1992 Olympics.

And no professional moment can paint a better picture of Mantha as a player, coach, and person than the pre-Olympic game against France. When a French player spit on his jersey, Mantha started a brawl.

“[Coach] Dave Peterson called me in the hotel later and said, ‘I told you to bring the team together, but did you have to start an international crisis?’ ” Mantha said. “Hey, the guy spit on the red, white and blue.

“That’s what I teach young players now. When you put on that jersey, you’re putting on a flag representing your organization and yourself.”

Talented Group

Mantha has never had better talent.

“This might be the most important year we have ever had, as far as the minor league team is concerned,” McNab said. “We have four or five players down there who were drafted high and given a considerable amount of money.

“These guys are important to the franchise, not as depth players, but first line players and goaltenders.”

With Balmochnykh, Vishnevski, Davidsson, defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski and goaltender Gregg Naumenko all in Cincinnati this season, Duck officials rest easy knowing Mantha is there to guide them . . . or push them.

“When I was with Edmonton, I saw [Coach] Glen Sather yell at Wayne Gretzky,” Mantha said. “I tell these guys, ‘If he could do that, then I can yell at you.’ ”

Besides, it’s a safe bet that Sather never brought Gretzky a birthday cake.