Posted at: 10/30/2009 5:45 PM

New Albert Lea Coach Opens Up

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The Albert Lea Thunder have gotten off to a slow start in their first year-plus of existence, but the team made a coaching change last week in an effort to shake things up.

Chuck Linkenheld is the new head man in Albert Lea, and recently, ABC 6 Sports Director had a chance to sit down with him to discuss his past, the present, and how he plans on improving his team for the future.

"I'm from Chicago originally. Played all my youth hockey and all my junior hockey in Chicago. I played college hockey at Meramec College. Got done playing at Meramec, and after that, I started coaching in 1987," Linkenheld said.

And Chuck Linkenheld hasn't looked back, coaching at pretty much every youth level, where he's enjoyed a lot of success.

"Several of the kids moved on, or young men, I should say, moved on and went to Division I schools all over the country," Linkenheld said.

And now, Linkenheld finds himself in the driver's seat, responsible for a team that has just two wins in 14 games this season.

"When you have a losing season, you have to get off that focus of 'What happened last year?' and you have to start over and get a new attitude and make sure the guys are thinking 'What's gonna happen tomorrow?' and not 'What happened yesterday?'" Linkenheld said.

Linkenheld also says his style won't wear on the players.

"I'm not negative because it's a fresh start for me. I wanna win. They wanna win. But it's a matter of keeping them positive, and yeah, I think they can win right now. I think they should be winning," Linkenheld said.

And in this down economy, with the threat of attendance dipping, Linkenheld has one message for his players.

"You know, the old saying: 'If you win, they will come.' And it's true. Everyone likes to see a winner. And it's the same thing with these guys. They all wanna move on and play college hockey. Well, to play college hockey, you've gotta bring scouts in to see you play. And scouts don't come to watch the losing teams as much as they come to watch the winning teams," Linkenheld said.

Which is why linkenheld says, "Just win, baby."

"If we do that, people will come. They'll say 'Hey, where's the excitement coming from?' I think they'll come. We'll be an exciting brand, anyway," Linkenheld said.