“But I probably could out-smart them all,” he added, with his ever-familiar laugh.

Miller, who is married with two hockey-playing daughters (ages 6 and 8), is the director of the Falcons Hockey Association and had been the assistant director for seven years. Miller has about 25 years of coaching experience from Mite AA to the Midget level, not to mention the high school ranks. He has more than 15 AHAI State flags and over 10 NIHL flags. As head coach of the Mite AA team last season, he won the President’s Cup and NIHL Championship in the Elite division.

Miller was the Director of Northbrook’s hockey league for 11 years and was an assistant and head coach for Glenbrook North High School, including three state championship seasons.

Miller is a GBN alum who went on to play a season at the University of St. Mary’s in Minnesota.

“I enjoy coaching,” Miller said. “If you ask any coach, especially those of us who have been doing it for years … we do it because we enjoy it. It doesn’t matter if I’m doing the top team in the organization, or even the top team at (an age-) level.”

Miller’s coaching resume has been flooded with state championships, most recently about five years ago with a squirt team. He also has lost some title games, he admits.

Miller’s coaching legacy certainly is seen in the successes of others. Take, for instance, the squirt team about 10 or 12 years ago that he coached – and eight players from that team went on to play Division I hockey.

The path to stardom for many has been through Miller. Among those who Miller has coached over the years are Billy Sweatt, Tommy Wingels and Mike Walsh, to name a few.

New Deerfield head coach Chris Waters was coached by Miller when he was a mite. Miller also coached Deerfield assistant coach Scott Berger.

“I’ve seen a lot over 25 years and things have changed, for sure – but I don’t think for the better,” Miller said.

The cost to play, for instance, is way too high, he said.

And there are too many AAA teams without enough AAA-caliber players. “Some of the top AA teams are as good as some of the weaker AAA teams,” he said.

The move this season to ban checking at the peewee level, in addition to mites and squirts, is not welcome by Miller.

“I think there should be checking in mites,” he said. “Here’s why … you can teach young kids three things that are very important for hockey: balance, keep your head up, and, move the puck. At the mite level, you can teach them the right way to check right off the bat. Now, I think more kids will get out of the sport at the bantam level, and I think there will be a lot of injuries. There are 150-pound bantams, and there also are 90-pound bantams.”

Miller said the tag-up offside rule should be at all levels, not just bantams and above.

“Coaching as a whole is much better now than when I was growing up, though I don’t think the level of play is as good as it previously was,” Miller said.

Miller was, naturally, a logical choice to return to GBN when the contract of Mark Brunner was not renewed for this season. And Miller was asked if he was interested, but he politely said, No thanks. He also is not interested in coaching college hockey.

At least not now, while daughters Maddie and Cate are growing up.

The Falcons are having one of their best seasons in years, with about 600 players, split almost evenly between travel and house league teams. Among the travel ranks, there are three mite teams, five squirt, four peewee, three bantam and two midget.

So why the growth?

“The Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup certainly had a lot to do with the increase in players. Just look at kids at school, and you’ll see more kids wearing Hawks’ jerseys and t-shirts,” Miller said. “We have a nice program, with a lot of good coaches. We spend a lot of time with the little ones. The USA Hockey's ADM (American Development Model), well, we’ve been doing that for years.”

Squirt is the Falcons’ strongest level, with 10 returning players from last year’s top team.

Miller has been coaching the Falcons’ mites for about four years because, as he points out, “it’s important and that’s where you build the foundation.”

“I enjoy seeing the kids grow and develop, especially the mites. At the beginning of the year, there are mites who can’t do a backwards crossover. By the end of the season, those come naturally.” The Falcons coaching staff includes Bob Heelan, Ryan Taylor, Jan Masopust and power skating guru Wally Kormylo, among others. All led by Miller.