Lou's passion for hockey began on streets of Brooklyn, NY. He began playing on roller skates because there were no ice rinks in the borough of Brooklyn. Was fun to just play with his friends. Very little coaching. More about just playing. 

As Lou continued in hockey he goes into how  Emile Francis influence in hockey in New York when he was the GM/Coach of the Rangers. He was the one who felt they needed to start leagues around the city to help with the development of the game. 

We go into the first coaching job Lou had coaching. He knew nothing about coaching, so he got a book on coaching from Lloyd Percival. One thing he stressed when he coached every kids plays and you play for teammates. Emile Francis allowed Lou to watch the New York Rangers practice so he could have a better understanding of the game of hockey. He felt that helped him better prepare his practices and in games. 

In 1969 he was at Sunday dinner and he asked if he could go watch TV for awhile and he tuned into ABC Sports "Wide World of Sports". The Soviet Union was playing Sweden in the World Championships. He became fascinated with the style of play. It was so much different from the NHL. The speed, the passing, skating, everything was interesting. So he decided to contact Anatoly Tarazov the Head Coach of the Soviets. He knew nothing of how to contact him and he just wrote a letter to him and got a response which lead to a life long friendship with the coach and many trips to the Soviet Union to learn about hockey and coaching.