Birds of a feather flock together.

Recently hired as assistant coaches to support Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill, Pat Ferschweiler and Dave Noel-Bernier are new to the organization, but they are not unfamiliar faces in West Michigan.

Ferschweiler has been an assistant and associate head coach at Western Michigan University since being hired by Blashill as an assistant coach for the school in 2010. A 1993 WMU graduate, Ferschweiler spent three seasons with the Broncos before turning pro, later playing six seasons with the Kansas City Blades when the IHL team was owned by Dan DeVos.

Noel-Bernier has served as the director of hockey for the Eagles Ice Center (formerly Jolly Roger) and the Grand Rapids Blades youth program since 2013. Noel-Bernier, who was also an assistant coach for the Grand Rapids Christian High School varsity team last season, played six seasons at the minor professional level, including two stints with the United Hockey League’s Muskegon Fury.

Ferschweiler replaces longtime Griffins assistant coach Jim Paek, who left after nine seasons to become director of the Korea Ice Hockey Association and head coach of the Korean Men’s National Team. Noel-Bernier steps in for Spiros Anastas, who accepted the head coaching position at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.

Both Ferschweiler and Noel-Bernier are enthusiastic about their new roles.

“I’m excited to work at this level and experience the pro game again,” Ferschweiler said, “and I’m excited to work with Jeff again. He’s a big-time person and big-time coach.”

“I’m extremely excited to be here,” said Noel-Bernier, echoing his new colleague. “It’s a terrific opportunity to work with an unbelievable coaching staff and a great organization.”

Ferschweiler, 44, admits that the decision to leave Western was not easy, especially after four consecutive winning seasons, including the first back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in the school’s history.

“Leaving was a very hard thing to do,” he said. “I’m very proud of the program and what we did there. I’ll always feel a part of the Broncos, but this opportunity was too great to pass up. It allows me to advance myself as a coach and get better.”

As a player, Ferschweiler was, in his words, “not overly physically gifted but one who worked really hard and played the game fairly smart.” After two seasons in the ECHL, he played six seasons in Kansas City, his best goal-scoring year coming in 1997-98 when he lit the lamp 16 times in 79 games.

“My years at Kansas City were outstanding,” Ferschweiler said. “We had a great organization. Doug Soetaert was a fantastic GM and Paul MacLean, who was there my last three years, was one of the favorite coaches I ever had.”

In fact, Ferschweiler said he feel he owes a good deal of his coaching philosophy to MacLean, who later served as an assistant coach in Detroit for five years before being named head coach of the Ottawa Senators in 2011.

“Paul MacLean was a huge influence on me in terms of the way I think about hockey,” he said. “I appreciated his preparation and the way he communicated with players. He had a demanding style, but he wasn’t demeaning.”

Ferschweiler gravitated to coaching after initially considering a different profession. A finance major at WMU, he contemplated a career in money management.

“My last three summers playing pro I spent at Merrill Lynch,” he said. “I thought I was going to be a financial advisor, but coaching was always in the back of my mind. Then I got an opportunity in Kansas City to work with hockey at a younger level. I just planted my own flower down there and let it grow.”

In 2004, Ferschweiler took on the role of general manager and head coach of the Russell Stover Under-18 team of the Midwest Elite Hockey League. In six seasons at the helm of the U18 team, Ferschweiler established the club as one of the country’s elite hockey programs and led the team to numerous Midwest Regional Championships.

Simultaneously, Ferschweiler acted as the director of hockey for the Kansas City Stars youth organization from 2005-09, helping to train coaches at both the travel and house level.

“I brought hockey to me in Kansas City,” he said. “I built my own opportunity down there. We created an environment where kids could love the process: the process of working hard, the process of getting better, the process of competing. That’s what we strove for.”

Of course, “process” is something that Blashill continuously preaches, so Ferschweiler discovered the two were on the same page when he joined Blashill’s staff at Western for the 2010-11 season.

“I think one of the reasons Jeff brought me to Western is that we believe the exact same thing,” Ferschweiler said. “Our job is to make our players better every single day, and if we do, at the end of the year we will have a much better team. All of these guys have an aspiration to play at a higher level. In college, they want to play pro. In the minors, they want to play in the National Hockey League. Our job is to make sure they get better every day.”

Of course, the trick is to figure out how to help them get better. “To me, it’s 20 different answers for 20 different players,” Ferschweiler said. “They all need something different. Some are talented physically and need more on the mental side. Others are very strong mentally, but need more help with their skills.”

Whatever it takes, Ferschweiler doesn’t believe in sugarcoating things. “I think players want honesty,” he said. “Players crave honest feedback, without attacking them, of course. We’re here to get better together. The question is: How can we do it?”

From his perspective, talent alone does not guarantee a golden ticket to the next level. “I believe 100 percent that work ethic is a skill – it’s just like stickhandling, shooting, passing,” Ferschweiler said. “If you don’t have a work ethic, you can develop it. If you don’t develop a work ethic, it’s going to hurt you just like not being a good skater will hurt you.”

Ferschweiler considers himself a teacher, first and foremost. “That’s my background,” he insists. “I have taught at all levels of hockey, from the youngest kids all the way up. Once you figure out how things work, you can repeat it.”

Blashill thinks the Griffins are getting one of the best teachers in the game. “Pat’s been a coach for a long time,” he said. “He knows how to coach the little nuances of the game and knows how to help guys get better. He’s one of the best skill development guys I’ve been around.”

The fact that the two have worked together previously bodes well for their relationship going forward.

“I have total trust in Pat,” Blashill said. “I could leave the ice and he could coach it. I feel like he would do every bit the same job, if not better, that I would do. We see hockey in the same way. He’s certainly not afraid to tell me things that he wants to do differently, but we don’t look at it from totally different angles. We know each other really well, and I think we complement each other.”

Although Blashill is less familiar with Noel-Bernier, he is no less confident that the Griffins are getting a great assistant. “Dave played in college and pro; he’s coached a lot at different levels. He’s very, very smart and very hardworking,” Blashill said. “While there will be a bigger learning curve with Dave than Pat, his learning curve will be lessened because of his intelligence and work ethic. He brings lots to the table.”

Growing up in Quebec, Noel-Bernier started going to hockey rinks when he was very young.

While his father, Mario Bernier, enjoyed hockey, it was his mother, Jocelyn Noel, who played the sport. A goaltender in an era when there was less opportunity for women, his mother made sure that he got to the rink as much as possible.

“My mom was at the rink with me a lot,” Noel-Bernier recalled. “Every chance she could, she got me out there when I was little. She’d stay and get out on the ice with me. The biggest thing she told me was, ‘Work hard and listen to your coaches.’”

He played college hockey at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO), becoming a member of the school’s inaugural Division I team in 1997 and their first CCHA squad in 1999. He spent three seasons as a teammate of current Griffins captain Jeff Hoggan.

Noel-Bernier, who graduated magna cum laude with a degree in exercise science in 2001, started thinking about a future in coaching while at UNO. “I’ve always been very passionate about the sport of hockey, so I knew I wanted to coach eventually.” His two stints with the Muskegon Fury came under the tutelage of two former Griffins. Current Oklahoma City Barons head coach Todd Nelson coached the United Hockey League team to the Colonial Cup championship in 2004; Bruce Ramsay was the head coach of the Fury during Noel-Bernier’s final pro season in 2006-07.

"I enjoyed playing for both of them,” said Noel-Bernier, who also played three seasons of pro hockey in Germany. “They were completely different.

“Nellie taught me to be patient. We were an older team when I got there and I was a younger guy who liked to go-go-go, and he taught me how to slow things down a bit. Ramsay was more heart. He was all about playing extremely hard. That’s what he demanded of his players.”

When he decided to become a coach himself, Noel-Bernier wasn’t sure where he would focus his attention. “With my background in strength and conditioning, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be in the weight room or on the ice. I got to do both when I started, but I really like being behind the bench.”

Upon retiring as a player, Noel-Bernier returned to UNO and served as director of hockey operations from 2007-10, while also acting as their video coordinator and assistant strength and conditioning coach. After three seasons coaching in Omaha, he accepted a position as an assistant coach with the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Noel-Bernier, who spent parts of three seasons (2010-13) with the Lumberjacks before joining Grand Rapids Christian High School and the Grand Rapids Blades, has helped to produce more than 15 NHL draft picks and 50 Division I players since 2007.

He takes pride in his ability to communicate with players. “I think being positive is very important,” he said. “I’m an extremely positive guy, and I bring a lot of energy. Being a pro hockey player not that long ago helps. I’ve been through a lot of the things they will encounter.”

Noel-Bernier hopes that Griffins players won’t hesitate to bend his ear.

“I think it’s important to have an open dialogue with your coaches,” he said. “If things are not going the way you want, ask questions. ‘Why am I not playing? What should I be doing?’ We’re coaches. We’re here to help them. We want them to succeed.”

Like Blashill and Ferschweiler, Noel-Bernier believes in the “process:” that all the drills and practices, all the little tips and tricks, everything that is experienced during the course of a long season, are all steps in the process of becoming better individually and, ultimately, better as a team.

“Once you get to the game, your job as a coach is pretty much done,” Noel-Bernier said. “You can manage a game, but it’s the process, all the stuff you do before the game during the week and the previous weeks that really counts.”

While working for the Griffins, the 38-year-old Noel-Bernier will continue developing Grand Rapids Christian and Grand Rapids Blades players at the Eagles Ice Center.

“I’ll have a full plate, but this is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, working with knowledgeable people at this level,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to work under some good coaches, and I can tell you the staff I’m with right now is incredible. I’m learning every day.”

Like Noel-Bernier, Ferschweiler wants to make the most of the opportunity.

“We all have aspirations to get better,” he said. “I’m a process guy, so I believe you need to keep progressing. In the end, good organizations find good people. If you do a good enough job, another opportunity will find you.”

Both Ferschweiler and Noel-Bernier believe the Griffins’ coaching staff should be able to gel, given that they all share similar philosophies.

“Chemistry is created from familiarity and continuity, and that comes from really knowing each other and knowing the expectations,” Ferschweiler said. “We need to make sure that when we leave the coaches room, we’re all on the same page.

“We’re all here to get better together.”