Every time Dave Lowry took the reins as head coach in the Western Hockey League, he has made his team better. Now in his first season as an assistant with the Winnipeg Jets, Lowry enjoyed his longest tenure as a WHL bench boss in Victoria (2012-17).
With Wayne Gretzky turning 60 on Tuesday, those Boys on the Bus are now almost Seniors on the Bus.
Certainly, time flies because Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice watched the greatest hockey player of them all when both were in Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1970s.
Last week we took a look at the 10 NHL captains with Ontario Hockey League origins. This week, we turn our attention behind the bench where eleven NHL coaches have OHL roots.
This opportunity would have been appealing to Dave Lowry even if his son wasn’t on the team.
When the Jack Adams Award finalists were announced, Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice was not listed. All of the coaches listed are worthy of the nomination, but what Maurice did with the Jets this year was remarkable. However, being in the Western Conference Maurice and Jets do not get the respect they deserve. In fact, dare we say that Paul Maurice is the most underrated coach in the National Hockey League.
Paul Maurice has a theory about the rhythm of a new hockey season.
After two days behind a mask and off his skates, Rick Bowness returned to his natural habitat on the ice with air inside the rink blowing against his face. “You get out there and you miss it,” the Dallas Stars coach said. “You realize how much you enjoy being out there.”
For players and coaches, Phases 3 and 4 of the NHL’s return-to-play plan represents an unprecedented challenge. After four months of inaction, 24 teams will have two weeks of training camp before heading to one of the two hub cities, where they will continue to practice and play two exhibition games each before beginning the qualifying round on Aug. 1.
What’s it like when NHL bench bosses catch up in the off-season? See the comradery between our coaches when they’re not battling it out behind the bench.
NHL coaches go into every game with a plan.
Line combinations, pre-scouts of the opponent, weighing matchups and trying to sift through probabilities are all part of laying that groundwork.
On Wednesday’s episode of In Conversation, Ron MacLean was joined by Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice and Sportsnet broadcaster Cassie Campbell-Pascall.
“I was wondering when you were going to call.”
Paul Maurice heard those words on numerous occasions over the years after dialling the number belonging to Tom Webster, who died of brain cancer earlier this month at the age of 71.
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