Q&A with New Mexico Lobos hockey coach Grant Harvey
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Grant Harvey has been the University of New Mexico Head Hockey Coach for eight years. His record as coach is 143-62-4. He has led his team to 14 straight winning seasons, and expressing his full confidence in the players, he added, “we are going on 15.” Describing his Lobos, Coach Harvey said, “This team is 75% New Mexico players. We are a true home team of New Mexico. I just love the Lobo hockey team and I’m so proud of them!”
The hockey season runs from September into early February with home games being played at the Outpost Ice Arenas. Coach Harvey and his team have a large number of avid fans in Albuquerque. He believes that one reason is “due to the number of people who transplanted from back East or up North.” When asked to do this Q&A article, he gladly agreed.
What is your background in the sport of ice hockey?
Grant Harvey: I’m a dual citizen, Canadian/American; started skating at the age of 2. I was the former Captain of the Lobos up until 2013.
What are one or two things that the team does in training that are keys to their success?
Harvey: There are half of the team members who don’t travel back to their respective hometowns and stay to condition in our high altitude. We have quite a number of guys who are gym rats and obsessed with hockey, so they play year-round.
Will you please describe the most memorable games/tournaments/championships your team has won?
Harvey: We went to the National Playoffs in 2018 and beat #1 ranked Michigan State.
How do you encourage the team after a disappointing loss?
Harvey: I tell them to have a short memory and it’s the following game after that matters. You only lose when you don’t get up after you fall.
Can you please describe your proudest coaching moment?
Harvey: We were at the University Student Union Building having a watch party. On the screen, they slow-revealed the top teams from #10 all the way to #1 and they announced us getting a #2 seed and an automatic spot in the National Playoffs. We were all jumping and screaming like we were 5-year-olds.
What is the biggest life lesson you’ve learned from being a coach?
Harvey: That young men’s minds are sponges and they remember EVERYTHING you say. I will hear them parrot something I said when they were freshmen and it’s usually something they remembered to turn their game around. That can be moving for me.
What legacy do you hope to leave as a coach?
I was in a locker room filled with 10- to 12-year-olds who were leaving to go home. All four of them traded their favorite “Lobo Coach Story” ranging from me being at their practices to teaching them to shoot to throwing them a puck in the crowd after a game. I want to be considered a community-minded figure like the great UNM baseball coach, Ray Birmingham.
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