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Post by UberCranky on May 11, 2002 12:50:43 GMT -5
Anyone want to see how he plans his strategy?
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Post by Sask_Hab on May 11, 2002 13:15:27 GMT -5
Excellent work HA !
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Post by MPLABBE on May 11, 2002 20:26:42 GMT -5
;D ;D ;D
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Post by seventeen on May 11, 2002 20:44:03 GMT -5
That's a very nice picture of Michel, HA. Who's the guy with the blindfold?
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Post by UberCranky on Nov 1, 2002 0:44:33 GMT -5
*sigh*
Some things just never change....................
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Post by UberCranky on Nov 1, 2002 0:53:10 GMT -5
Hey Doc, BC, HW, JV, 17 do you remember this from way back when? I think I posted this the first few days of McKeens. Sheesh, I actualy sat firmly in Therreins wagon until, until I saw the light shining through his ears.
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Therriens Chain Gang (Get Comfortable, it’s very long)
Cough..cough…excuse me, a little dust in my lungs.
Let me explain.
I was doing my usual and favorite routine of kicking some dust on Doc’s shoes, when I heard the rumble of heavy equipment behind me. Low and behold, there was HabWest, riding his great big CH flagged bulldozer, burying me under.
Well, I was brought up in the streets of Montreal, and the second thing they teach a city boy, is “always carry a sp00n”. You never know when someone is going to offer you a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee or bury you under a mountain……
So, I dusted off, had a cup of java and ready to go again.
We tend to colour our world with the social brushes that we have on hand. I was brought up to believe that one could achieve anything they wanted all one had to do was “work for it”. A “back paining” simple philosophy that has worked for me.
So here I am, with a bunch of fairly intelligent people debating on the subtleties of “handling with care” multi-million dollar players playing as kids game. I have to tell you, I cringe every time I hear how “hard” hockey players work or how many millions they “need”. Are we touchy feely enough, do they get the proper love?
I have watched the Habs for forty years and the memories of Habs coaching that stick to my head was Scotty Bowman. Chomping on his gum, sternly looking at his men, assigning them to their duties. A goal or great play was always rewarded with a look, nothing overt or too long, a few minutes later, a hand on a shoulder, a whisper in an ear. The greatest players that ever laced a pair of skates where playing for him, not one, but a herd of them, yet, they all responded to his method. A mistake? Well, you got the side glance, nothing more. No yelling, no words, no drama. Yet I bet you that those glances melted more egos and straightened more bad habits then a box full of cattle prods. Watch him. I did, up close and 15 seats back personal. He has always been an old-fashioned disciplinarian, even as the 50’s world changed into the 90’s touchy-feely place where players' emotions and unions had to be taken into account and dealt with. I loved the mans coaching philosophy and execution. In fact, I learned from him and applied it to my long and non-illustrious career as a head “widget” maker on many thousands of widget’iers. Call it “Bowman Osmosis” if you like. Then again, some of my people called it B.O.
In my unbending simple opinion, “a coach job is to bend the individual talents toward the goal’s of the team”. Very simple really. The coach can not bend to the players expectations. The coach can not bend to the owners will and perceptions. The coach can not bend to the other teams on ice machinations. The coach can not bend to the newspapers frenzy and adulations. He is not a mother, big brother or lost uncle. He is the boss.
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Post by UberCranky on Nov 1, 2002 0:53:18 GMT -5
In the empowering 90’s, society melded our politically polar world into a somewhat more central path, that, and a rebound from the 80’s me generation plus other factors that are a dimension away from this forum, created a generation of players who are cosseted like Royal first born. Stupid owners, frenzied media and social changes empowered and cosseted hockey players relegating coaches to door man whose job was to open the bench door to ever increasing “talent challenged”, shoe lace confused “stars on ice”.
The coach became disposable and blamable for all ills. If the player was told by the media he was a star, then he better get special treatment, otherwise he could not play to adulating expectation because he was badly coached. Star player back check? Not a chance in a Bury hell. Come to practice on time, naw, had to take a “meet”. What could possibly ail a club that a coached could not be fired for? From 30% to 50% annual failure rate. Compare that to a 3% dismissal rate for senior management in the real world.
Fast forward my wallowing heart and haze induce memories to the sharp stick reality of today’s Hab’s. We have a team of managers who, in my opinion, have an attitude and philosophy which is rolling over the “proper and enlightened” tracks. I see simple things happening.
You play well, you stay, you play poorly, you get a pocket knife to practice your whittling on the pine bench. Proof? Markov up, not good enough, Markov down, improving, Markov rewarded and up again, Markov plays well, fine, Markov makes threatening gestures with his stick to stop forwards, Markov slapped in the head. Pretty soon, they going to name it the Markov’ian method.
You listen to the coach’s, you change from a defensive sieved “break wood” to a reliable defenseman. From a boo bird to a 3 clap rating. No nuclear improvements, but slow, deliberate waddling.
Therrian is a Simple Man, as his attire will attest. He is not the byproduct of a great shadow or producer of great deeds. He sets a no frills approach of man to man defense, aggressive trap and hard work. Green was a simple defenseman, tie up the man, make a quick first pass, positionaly sound, unspectacularly efficient. This is what he is trying to make his defenseman. Carbonneau was a defensive forward who knew hard work, positioning, hard work, team play and hard work.
Let us poke ourselves with a sharp stick and look at the reality of the Hab’s line up. How can a team have a collection of 4th liners and still play over .500? Is it really possible to have their ONLY 1st liner out with a deadly disease and still be respectable? What about a number 3 defenseman masquerading as a 1st and a bevy of number 6’s slinking and square dancing into defensive pairs, doing a reasonable job of tripping, holding, falling in front and generally impeding the wrong colour shirts?
Is it possible that those “unenlightened” antiques, those chain gang bosses actually should get some credit for duct tapping a team to a semblance of success? Can any poster in this forum honestly say that they excepted the team to be where it is today with the injuries it has suffered? It is highly presumptuous of us to look at their white shoes and believe that they do not know how to set expectations, reward achievement, stroke success and do all those NHLPA mandated hormonal treatments without inflating ego’s.
Well, I think this is the longest post I have ever written. It is part venting against baby fat players, part defending the management staff of the Hab’s and part defending the troglodytes like myself.
Amazing, they even have internet in caves……………………………….
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