WORCESTER—The Railers’ newest assistant coach is in great company.
Chris Rumble made the jump from referee to coach, crossing a line unlike the blue or red ones, something beyond highly unusual.
“I don’t know the statistics of it but as far as I know it’s the first time it’s ever happened,” he said.
Close, but not quite. It has happened at least one time, long ago, and involved a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. King Clancy — a defenseman, not one of those Buckingham Palace guys — went from National Hockey League All-Star to interim coach to NHL referee and after 11 years of that, became coach of the AHL Pittsburgh Hornets at age 46.
Rumble is 35. He has a head start on Clancy, whose real name was Francis.
That Rumble has reached the point of crossing the line from official to coach is something remarkable of its own.
He was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 and spent six months in Seattle Children’s Hospital. Along the way, Rumble was told that because the treatment had thickened his heart muscles he would never play hockey again. No matter what the medical opinions were, that possibility never entered his mind.
When he received the diagnosis, Rumble said, “The first words out of my mouth were ‘when can I play hockey again?’. The only thing that got me through the treatment was the thought of getting out and playing hockey again.”
Rumble welcomes the chance to talk about his illness and recovery.
“I’ve always been very public about the whole thing,” he said, “because when I was in the hospital I was trying to find people who were going through something similar and had come out on the other side.
“I try to talk about it as much as I can now in case there is somebody else looking for that.”
Before that, Rumble survived a frightening car accident that that turned out to be his first exposure to Worcester.
His dad, former NHL defenseman Darren Rumble, was loaned to the IceCats from Grand Rapids in December of 1999. His family followed some time later and on the way east his wife, towing a U-Haul trailer, lost control when the trailer fish-tailed and wound up in a ditch along I-90.
Fortunately, no one was hurt. The Rumbles settled in Shrewsbury — actually bought a home there — and Darren Rumble had a great stint with the IceCats.
Chris Rumble played college hockey at Canisius then had a solid pro career in the minor leagues and Europe. He settled in Buffalo and came to know Nick Tuzzolino before the Railers head coach arrived in Worcester. The hiring process was not the typical resume-interview approach.
“We had a bunch of applications,” Tuzzolino said, “but we didn’t do it off applications if that makes any sense.”
The two had lived a block apart in Buffalo at one point. Chris Rumble had worked with and for Tuzzolino in a hockey development company so there was a comfort level to begin with. They talked during the summer and Rumble said he was done with refereeing.
“If you want to put your hat in the ring, why not?” Tuzzolino said.
While Rumble did not have to submit an official resume, he has built an impressive one through the years. The officiating part sets him aside, though, and in what should be a positive way.
“I saw the game from a side that I’ve never seen before,” he said, “and there was another side I wanted to see. Coaching has been in my bloodlines so it seemed like a matter of time once I had learned what I thought I needed to learn from the other side.”
Darren Rumble went into coaching after his playing career ended. That experience has taken him all over the place and he is now at College Universel in Gatineau, Quebec. He has seen his son both play and referee. Not surprisingly, he gives Chris high marks as an official.
“I saw him do his first AHL game last year in Toronto,” Darren Rumble said, “and then one in Laval. He’s very good. He has a great feel for the game because he’s played it. He’s a smart kid, assertive, makes his calls quickly with no hesitation.
“He’s quite good at it.”
The desire to coach had been with Chris Rumble for long time.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it,” he said. “When you’re playing hockey, you’re thinking about coaching. It’s always been in my mind but as far as the actual steps take to make it happen, they were very last minute.”
Tuzzolino said he is aware that Rumble is new at coaching but does not see that as a negative. The head coach sought someone who could complement his role as both coach and general manager. After Tuzzolino became head coach last year with no assistant he was not able to work on player development as much as he wanted to.
Chris Rumble will have that as a major responsibility.
“I wanted someone who was not shy about telling me if they think something I’m doing is wrong,” Tuzzolino said, “and somebody who wants to stay in hockey. Not someone who’s worried about what their title is, how much money are they making, where they’re living…can I do this, can I do that?
“I was looking for someone who wanted the hockey opportunity, wanted to win in Worcester, just like our players. He had that mentality.”
Chris Rumble is about to get the chance to show how well he can coach. How was he as a referee, though?
“I don’t love referees,” Tuzzolino conceded. “It’s tough to say he was a bad one. I was surrounded by bad ones and he was fine. The best thing you can say about referees is when you don’t notice them and I didn’t notice him.”
Fair is fair. How was Tuzzolino to deal with from a referee’s point of view?
“Got along very well, actually,” Chris Rumble said. “I had heard a lot of stories about him from the other refs, and from other guys who said he was behaving differently when I was in the buildlng. We got along geat.
“I told one of the other guys that Nick is misunderstood. He’s just very passionate about what he does.”
At some point in the season, probably sometime in the first period on Opening Night, Chris Rumble will disagree with a referee’s call. That won’t be the last time. How does he plan to handle it?
“I’ve got a big game plan for that but I don’t want to share it,” he said.
The move is something of a homecoming for Chris Rumble, who was actually in one place for more than one year in Shrewsbury. He brings his family along. That includes a wife and approximately three children.
His wife is Kirsten. They have two sons. Hayes is 4, Kit 3. A sister who is on the way, to be named Riley, may have arrived by Opening Night.
Darren Rumble likes the career path his son has chosen, saying, “I think it’s a great move. He has a great personality to be a coach.”
Tuzzolino wasn’t thinking about King Clancy when he signed on his new assistant but the seed has been planted.
“If this hire leads to Chris being in the Hall of Fame I am definitely happy with that,” he said.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
