T he Calgary Flames are soaking up their summer vacation like a bunch of anxious school kids girding for a regime change in the principal's office.

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Flames defenceman Robyn Regehr Flames coach brent Sutter isn't afraid to bench star players to get his message across.

Photograph by : Herald Archive, Getty Images

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Class resumes on Sept. 11, the first day of training camp at the Pengrowth Saddledome with Brent Sutter, the proverbial vice-principal, taking over from Mike Keenan as bench boss.

Make no mistake. This Alberta cattle rancher has earned a reputation for accepting zero guff from his charges, even if they happen to make millions chasing a little rubber disc around a sheet of ice.

"I had the chance to get together with Brent, and it sounds like everything will be very structured, which I think is going to be a great thing for our team," said defenceman Cory Sarich. "I think everyone will be held accountable. Everyone will have to pull their load.

"I think it's going to be a very fair situation, just gathering from what he had to say."

Under the previous regime of Iron Mike, the chief complaint from players, privately, rested with the allocation of ice time. When the big names faltered, Keenan -- a true believer in riding his stars --threw them right back on the ice.

Even on nights when lesser lights--such as Curtis Glencross or Eric Nystrom, for example -- just happened to be on fire.

''After talking to Brent briefly on the phone after he was hired, it sounds like he's going to be the right type of guy and the right coach for our team," said defenceman Robyn Regehr. "He's going to hold everyone accountable, no matter who you are.

"He's going to get everyone playing the same way. I think that was the piece that was missing from our team in the last couple of years."

During his time in New Jersey and Red Deer, Sutter proved he has no fear of giving his big names extra pine time to send a message.

Want proof ? Chat with Bobby Holik, Brian Rolston or Jay Pandolfo, former Sutter employees in Newark.

In the Sutter world, hard work and production mean ice time. Lackadaisical play --and absence of attention to detail--mean more time as a spectator.

On the bench. Or in the press box.

"I've been on both sides of that." Sarich said. "I've been playing well, and then you get a little bit of extra ice time and your confidence builds. And I've been on the opposite side where you're struggling and the coach takes away a little ice time.

"I just think that's the best way to go about it."

Now that doesn't mean Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester, for example, can expect immediate demotions during the inevitable rocky patches that come with an 82-game National Hockey League season.

"There's obviously got to be a little flexibility, depending on the player," Sarich said. "If your top players aren't performing, if they have a rough night, that doesn't mean they're going to be sitting on the bench the next night.

"But if it continues, and it starts to be a problem--no matter who it is, from the top guy in your lineup to the bottom-- there has to be someone to come in and straighten things out.''

That someone would be Sutter -- a true believer in sticking to a sound defensive system, at all costs. Freelancing is frowned upon, if not forbidden.