Posted on 06/13/2002 7:53:09 PM PDT by Texaggie79
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| Hasek deflects a shot. (AP) more photos |
@#!$$$#@ *%#@!!!!
DETROIT -- Scotty Bowman ended one of the most successful coaching careers in professional sports history by retiring immediately after winning his record ninth Stanley Cup.
"It's my last game as a coach,'' Bowman said on the ice after the Detroit Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Thursday night to win their third Cup in six years.
Bowman, 68, won five Cups with Montreal and one with Pittsburgh.
Bowman was handed the Cup by captain Steve Yzerman and skated around with it held high over his head.
He had been tied at eight Cups with his mentor, former Montreal coach Toe Blake. Only two NBA coaches, Phil Jackson of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers and Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics, have won nine titles, with Jackson winning his ninth Wednesday night.
No other current NHL coach has won more than one Stanley Cup. It would take decades for any coach to match his 1,244 regular-season victories or 223 playoff victories.
Bowman said he was unsure what he would doing after leaving coaching.
"I got a contract with the Red Wings,'' he said. "I haven't worked out what I'll be doing. I won't be doing a lot.''
Bowman said earlier that he wouldn't be coaching following the 2003-04 season, after which the NHL will get a new labor agreement.
"I made up my mind in February that this would be my last year. I'm not an old man, but it's time to go,'' Bowman said. "I never knew before, but I felt this year that this was it. I'm so happy that I was able to go out with a winning team.''
When he was asked if his players knew he was going to retire, he said: "No. I didn't even tell my wife till tonight.
"I wanted to do it again,'' he said of skating around with the Cup. "I enjoy being with the guys.''
Although the Red Wings' payroll was the biggest in the NHL -- inflated by owner Mike Ilitch's additions of Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille -- it was Bowman and his old-school methods that glued together a club that many in Detroit felt had lost its way after winning consecutive Cups in 1997-98.
"I will enjoy it when I finish, when I finish coaching,'' he had said. "I was fortunate I was 32 or 33 when I started. ... I was fortunate to be with a team (Detroit) that spent quite a bit of money on players. That's the way I look at it -- I was fortunate.''
As the crowd of 20,000-plus at Joe Louis Arena wailed their approval, Bowman revealed to reporters a decision he said he had made in February.
"I didn't want it to be a distraction. I never told anyone because I didn't think it was what they wanted to hear,'' he said. "I just felt it was time. ... It's just time to enjoy what the other people enjoy.''
He coached during five decades, even as hockey has evolved from a time when players didn't wear helmets to a wide-open game, through the Canadiens, Islanders and Oilers dynasties to today, when teams are so well-coached, well-prepared and systematized that, Bowman said, "It's so hard to score, it's like soccer.''
Bowman persevered, a senior citizen who remained as far ahead of the coaching pack as he was when he was hired by the St. Louis Blues, about the time Carolina coach Paul Maurice, 35, was born.
Link here
Do I detect a note of bitterness; dare I say, "Sour grapes?"
Or do you perhaps labor at your chosen profession for free?
Whatever the case, it's unlikely that you (or I for that matter) are as good at what we do as Hasek, Hull, and the rest of the Wings are at playing hockey!
I honestly think last year he may have had a chance to win the Cup with Buffalo. They steamrolled the Flyers and were taking Pittsburgh to the wall. However, he let in that soft goal from Kasparitis, and started whining about the Sabres.
I really hoped Carolina could have pulled it out. They looked decent in the first three games.
Yea! Like gameshows!
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