Therrien lashes out at players, calls them flat

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

01/29/2005

By: Staff Reports

Here is a transcript of coach Michel Therrien's comments after the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins blew a third-period lead and lost 4-2 to the Hershey Bears on Friday night.

"This team plays with no emotion. They don't care about winning. The only thing they care about is, 'I want to get treated pretty well. We want optional practices.' Win or lose, you think they care? The only thing they care is the way they get treated. They go to the Arena Bar & Grill, order a couple of beers, try to have fun, play some poker until 4, 5 o'clock in the morning, show up tired to practice. You have some guys in here, it's a shame, a shame, the way they are performing. It's unprofessional.

If they don't care about winning, why do I care about them? Why do me and Mike Yeo care about them?

They don't know what coaching is all about. In coaching, you bring that loss home even if you try not to. You're miserable until the next game, until you win.

Guys making the same mistakes over and over. It's like, hey, why would I care for those guys? Last year, we had 22 guys who cared for each other. They wanted to win. It was fun for the coach to come to the rink. We were not winning every game, but at least they gave such an effort. They were rewarded.

This year, they're so flat. I've coached 14 years, and I've never remembered coaching a group as flat as that, even some millionaires in the NHL.

The Beech line, in a month, what are they doing? Nothing. They're the best at complaining to the referee. Every shift, they go see the referee, 'I got hooked. I got slashed.' We should start concentrating on playing the game.

Endicott, since he's back, is doing nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing. He cares about his sticks. He doesn't like his sticks.

Abid and Armstrong, they stay out there for two minutes. They have to be the greatest athlete because they're capable of shifts of two minutes. They don't care that we're asking for short shifts, 45 seconds, 50 seconds. What are they doing? 'I'm not listening to the coach. I'm doing my own thing.

Why would I listen? I know. I know the recipe.

We put Ben Eaves, we put Christensen, we put Talbot, we put any rookie out there and he doesn't give us what we're expecting. Not once. They give us a few good shifts, then all of a sudden, it's a major breakdown. They're making the same mistakes over and over again. Eaves is responsible for the first two goals. He doesn't take his man in front of the net. Big turnovers.

Marc-Andre, now we need four, five goals to win a game. Four is not enough.

A guy like Hussey is 25 years old. He's going to have to wake up one of these days.

I could go on and on and on. And they think they're a good team? Some of those guys think they could play in the NHL? Ha.

They're on their own. What could I do? I could cheer. I could prepare video. It's the actor. The actor's got to act. I could have the best script, and if John Travolta doesn't want to act, the movie is not going to be good.

There's nothing you can do as a coach. You just wish those guys are going to act, they're going to play hard, they're going to do the things we try to teach them."

- tinyurl.com/6up53

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As Jacques Parizeau would say, "Harumph, jolly good rip old chap!"

[NWTHabsFan]

Emotion first style of coaching...looks like things haven't changed.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

I love it. A little old-school Toe Blake hectoring never put a player on IR. John Tortorella, who by openly chastising him helped Lecavalier turn himself from a prissy self-centred prima donna into a man and team leader, must have smiled if he read Therrien's tirade over his morning coffee. Sometimes beating on the brats (verbally and publicly) is the route to take to get their attention.

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Coach Michel Therrien was pleased with the effort the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins gave in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday night.

"I will be satisfied when they play 10 games in a row like this," Therrien deadpanned, 24 hours removed from lighting into his team in a brutally frank public tirade after a dismal loss to Hershey the night before.

"We were aggressive and disciplined and quick on the puck - the way that we're supposed to play," Therrien added. "That's what we ask for. We don't ask for miracles."

- tinyurl.com/5n65e


PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coach Michel Therrien didn't relish launching a verbal tirade after Friday's loss to Hershey.

But who can argue with the results?

After playing well in a shootout loss at Syracuse, the Penguins flogged the Providence Bruins, 5-2, on Sunday as Matt Murley notched his first pro hat trick. The Penguins earned three of a possible four points which isn't too shabby for a team that is only 4-5-3-1 in its last 13 games.

"Nobody likes to do those things," Therrien said. "But there's a point where you have to say something. I didn't like the way we were playing the last month. There was no consistency in our game. I have to do everything I can do to make sure we'll be recognized as a hard-working team.

"We're not going to win all the games. But one thing's for sure. I'm not accepting any lack of effort or any lack of concentration."

- tinyurl.com/3q8vh

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I apparently am one of the minority who thinks that The Man in the Yellow Suit was short-shifted by the Habs. I felt that he was totally justified in reacting the way he did to Fraser's call (I've seen and heard far worse go unheeded by refs). He was silently ousted by a coterie of overpaid, underachieving, too-comfortable-in-collecting-their-paycheques veterans. I highly doubt Julien would have had any more success with that snake-in-the-grass gang.

Long live Therrien!