NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — Just a few weeks into his tenure as Norfolk Admirals interim head coach, Jeff Carr was realizing how much work was ahead in order to rebuild the team's fortunes.
"I looked out of my hotel room when we were 1-13 in Trois-Rivières last year," Carr remembered. "I asked myself, 'What did I get into?' And I just heard this resounding voice say, 'Get to work.'"
That reassurance in the vision he wanted to see come to fruition has paid off.
The Admirals play their first home playoff game since 2014 on Wednesday night, leading Trois-Rivières 2-1 in their Kelly Cup Playoff first round series.
After pushing its way through a 20-win campaign in Carr's first year, the turn around has been staggering. Norfolk tallied 41 wins during the regular season, the most for the organization since the 2011-2012 season when it won 55 games.
That was the same year Norfolk took home the Calder Cup.
"Playing for (Carr) before, I knew this team was going to get back into it," said forward Brady Fleurent. "First time head coach with a full year and to go from the bottom to the second place team in the division, it's pretty special and says something about him."
When Carr took over, his rebuilding vision had three pieces: get his coaching staff full autonomy to make decisions on the roster, acquire players who wanted to play in big games, and gain assurance that they would be afforded enough time to see it through.
"We needed the patience of last year to fully rebuild this the right way," he said. "With the right affiliates, with the right infrastructure, with the right trades. We got allowed clearance on that and the rest is history."
That new way of life for Norfolk felt from day one of the head coach's tenure, from players who had known Carr before to the new arrivals.
"You're not going to get pushed around," said forward Brandon Osmundson, a Chesapeake native. "You're not going to back down and that just comes from him and that's just part of his culture and the way he's turned this program around."
"We want players who want to play in pressure situations," Carr said. "If you get those guys, they're going to hold the line on winning at all times."
In a season with a rejuvenated feeling around the sport in the community, the coach not allowing himself or his team to get complacent.
"We've done a lot of good things, we have don't great things yet," Carr said. "As an organization, we've done a lot of good for the area but there's so much more that we pull out in big moments."
Norfolk has the chance to take one of those opportunities over the next week, needing just two more wins to advance in the postseason.
When the chance arrives, Carr's aim will be on moving forward rather than reflecting on the path to get here. It's the only way the coach knows how, never wanting to have that same feeling he did back in 2022 in that Trois-Rivières hotel room.
"The complaining side got removed, got to work, and everyone has latched on and done their job," he said. "You just got to get over the hump and keep climbing, and that's what we're doing right now."
