It’s no secret in Golden that Doug Barrault has been involved in local and national hockey for most of his life, and he continues that trend with assisting in skills coaching for the Golden Rockets again this year.
Head coach Jeremy Blumes is excited to have Barrault on the ice to help the young players hone their skill and become the best they can be for the upcoming hockey season.
“I’m going to be helping them out as much as I possibly can,” Barrault said. “The new coach (Blumes) came in to ask me if I would help out with some skills, and stuff like that, just to go out onto the ice and help the kids out a little bit.”
Barrault has a long history of playing hockey in Golden and nationally. He started playing the sport when he was four years old, and retired from the International Hockey League in 1998. He returned from playing with the Chicago Wolves, and began helping out with skills coaching for the Golden Rockets. He began playing in the Western Hockey League as a teenager for a few different teams before he began playing in the International Hockey League. In 1992, he began playing in the National Hockey League, and played for a handful of NHL and IHL teams before retiring in 1998.
“My last couple years were in Chicago. We were all over the map,” he said.
Barrault began playing with the Brandon Wheat Kings in 1988, but soon after made the move to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Then, he played with the Seattle Thunderbirds for his final season in the Western Hockey League.
From there, Barrault played in the IHL with the Kalamazoo Wings, then the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars and the Floria Panthers. Back to the IHL, he played with the Cincinnati Cyclones, the Atlanta Knights, and ended his hockey career with three years playing for the Chicago Wolves.
“When I got back, they just needed some help,” he said.
Barrault will assist the Rockets this year as his schedule permits, but he hopes to make it to one practice each week to give tips and pointers to the players.
“We’ll just go through some skills, talk to the kids, get their minds straight,” he said. “It’s just good to get out there and help them out.”
For many years, running his business kept Barrault very busy, and he wasn’t able to help out with the junior hockey team in town.
Barrault may be a familiar name to those in Golden who are not part of the hockey community. He owns and operates Barrault BrandSource Home Furnishings, which keeps him quite busy.
Now that he is able to get away from work a bit more, he says he will be able to help out with the team again. He said he will be happy if he can make it out once a week to give a helping hand to the young players on the Rockets team.
