Steve O'Rourke returns to his old stomping grounds

Steve O’Rourke had not been to the Tri-Cities since his older brother Dan’s wedding in 1995. It had been even longer since the former Tri-City Americans defenseman roamed the Toyota Center halls.

O’Rourke, who will turn 40 on Thursday, got to check out his old haunts Friday. Now an assistant coach with Red Deer, O’Rourke is in Kennewick with the Rebels for the Red Lion Hotels Preseason Tournament.

“The one thing I wanted to see, was how much the town had changed,” O’Rourke said before the Rebels’ game Friday against the Americans. “When I was here, you could see from Cavanaugh’s (now Red Lion) to the rink. My billets lived out by Meadow Springs, and when we would get back late from a road trip, we’d race down the back roads home.”

Not anymore.

“I was trying to grab landmarks,” O’Rourke said of his arrival with the team Thursday night in Kennewick. “The footprint is still there, but things have changed a lot.”

The addition of Toyota Arena, for one.

“It’s nice to have a practice rink,” O’Rourke said.

A native of Summerland, British Columbia, O’Rourke played 103 games for the Americans over two seasons (1991-93), scoring six goals with 26 assists and 149 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound defenseman played one season in Kennewick with his brother Dan before the elder O’Rourke asked for a trade and was sent to Moose Jaw.

“We were off to a slow start, and he asked for a trade,” Steve said. “He went to Moose Jaw and played for Mike Babcock.”

Dan O’Rourke now is an NHL official, a road Steve did not want to travel.

“That’s not the way I wanted to have an impact on the game,” O’Rourke said. “He’s been doing it full time for about 12 years. He’s done two Stanley Cup Finals. He’s good at what he does.”

Though O’Rourke hadn’t been back to the Tri-Cities for years, he still has fond memories of his time with the Americans.

“I loved my time there,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a smaller, intimate city, and it’s easy to get around. I had great billets, and I stayed in touch with them for a while. I was 17 when I got there, and I had a home open to me. I was fortunate.

“Back then, the building was still pretty new. I went to my first (New York) Islanders camp in 1992, and Nassau Coliseum was not in the greatest of shape. I wanted to go back to juniors. We had a sauna and a hot tub, which was well ahead of the time back then.”

O’Rourke found himself on the trading block during the 1993-94 season and, like his brother, ended up in Moose Jaw.

After leaving the Americans, he played 12 games for the Warriors before being sent down to the Penticton Panthers of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League. He also played for the Panthers during the 1994-95 season before playing for the University of Lethbridge, where he earned a degree in kinesiology and an MBA in sport management.

“I’m putting that degree to good use coaching,” O’Rourke said with a laugh.

After college, O’Rourke bounced around in the pros for several years. He played in the English Premier Ice Hockey League with the Bracknell Bees (three seasons), the ECHL (Mississippi Sea Wolves) and the UHL with the Adirondack Frostbite, the Muskegon Fury and the Quad City Mallards. His playing days ended in 2006.

The Islanders selected O’Rourke in the seventh round (159th overall) in the 1992 NHL draft, but he never played in the league.

In 2009, O’Rourke took an assistant coaching job with the Abbotsford Heat of the AHL. He spent two seasons with the Heat, then coached a year at the Okanagan Hockey Academy before the Rebels came calling.

“I met Brent (Sutter, Red Deer’s coach) when I was working for Abbotsford,” O’Rourke said. “You get that family feeling from all of them (the Sutter brothers).”

It took a little convincing to get O’Rourke to Red Deer, but he hasn’t regretted the move.

“He was so generous to give me a chance here,” O’Rourke said. “It was hard to turn Brent down. He treats you well, and the organization treats you well. Brent is as funny as funny can be. It’s always a good time around the office, the dressing room and the bus.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Steve O'Rourke returns to his old stomping grounds."