Doug McKenney returns for his seventh season on the Sabres’ coaching staff. His duties with the team include working on strength and conditioning programs with the NHL club, the AHL affiliate Rochester Americans, Sabres draft choices, as well as in conjunction with Buffalo’s Director of Player Personnel Don Luce on potential draftees. He also works with physical therapists and team doctors on the rehabilitation of all injured players.
McKenney, 42, was named the team’s first-ever Strength and Conditioning Coach in July 1995 and has been steadily improving the team’s performance levels ever since. The 2000-01 Sabres finished the regular season tied for third least in the NHL with 110 man-games lost to injury, a figure augmented by Denis Hamel’s long-term knee injury, which caused him to miss the final 33 games of the season. The team’s durability over the last four years has been a tribute to McKenney’s programs with the team consistently finishing near the top in the least amount of man-games lost category (1997-98 rank: 1st, 1998-99 rank: 2nd, 1999-00 rank: 4th, 2000-01 rank: 3rd).
McKenney places a special emphasis on teaching players nutrition to maintain conditioning throughout the season and make strength gains in the offseason. He has developed recommended menus for local restaurants and chains, which players can consult to help make smart food choices. McKenney also utilizes computer software to analyze each player’s food intake and make suggestions on how they can improve their diets. Before the players leave for the offseason, Doug, in conjunction with the hockey department, devises a conditioning manual and video tailored to each player’s individual needs. For those players who remain in Buffalo, McKenney supervises their off-season conditioning and skating programs.
For the sixth straight summer, McKenney and Luce ran a mini-camp for the team’s top prospects. This unique program consists of physical workouts as well as seminars in nutrition, understanding the media, drug and alcohol awareness, and other lifestyle instruction. Many of the organization’s top prospects participated in the three-week program this past year.
McKenney joined the Sabres in June 1995 after serving as the Hartford Whalers strength and conditioning coach for six years. He served in the same capacity for the Pittsburgh Penguins the four years prior.
A 1981 graduate of Springfield College, McKenney taught two years of physical education at Dover High School in New Hampshire and served on the coaching staff of the school’s football team. He subsequently obtained his master’s degree in exercise physiology at Mississippi State University.
Doug and his wife Suzanne reside in Hamburg, New York with their two children, sons Matthew (14) and Neil (12).
