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F A I L E D    M I S S I O N S - November 28, 2006 How many times have you seen this? A young prospect is brought onto the big team. He’s full of confidence and pumped with excitement. The game begins, the coach puts him on the fourth line and gives him 5 shifts. Every time the rookie steps on the ice his legs are tight, his hands are cold and his wind is at rest. The coach repeats this process for the next four or five games and then announces the player is being sent down because he didn’t impress. It’s widespread. Not because it’s right, but because 95% of NHL coaches are copycats and followers. A coach will get exactly what he expects from each player. Nothing more. Nothing less. How many times have you heard this? “It was time for a coaching change. The players had started to tune him out.” What a complete crock. Players don’t tune out the coach because they have been on the same team for a long time. Players tune out the coach if he has two sets of rules. Players tune out the coach if he isn’t giving them enough icetime. Players tune out the coach if they don’t like their linemates. And bringing in a new guy won’t change any of that. Players are getting paid millions of dollars to do what they are told. Part of the job description is to listen to the coach. Players don’t get sick of the coach’s message. They get sick of the coach not getting their message. How many times have you witnessed this? You tune in to an NHL game on the tube. Some guy goes down the ice and makes a nice play. The announcer starts to brag about how fantastic the scouts are for that particular team. After all the guy that just made that fantastic play wasn’t drafted until the 8th round. Or he wasn’t drafted at all. How does that make their scouts smart? If they were that smart they wouldn’t have passed on the player over and over again. If they knew he would become a star, they wouldn’t have given all the other teams hundreds of chances to take him first. How many times every year does this happen? Some player goes out and plays a fantastic game, does all the small things a team needs to win, and no one says a word. Another player floats around all night, misses a dozen different assignments, but has two pucks bounce in off his foot and his butt. The media raves about his two goal game and he’s selected a game star. Next game the coach promotes him to a better line with more icetime. How often does this happen? Some guy can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. He goes to the University of Geek and gets a B.A. He goes to work for a newspaper, puts in his time, and suddenly he’s a hockey writer who is immediately considered an expert on the sport. He gets to go on television sports shows and spew his nonsense some more. The sad part is some people actually believe what they say. Hey wait a minute, I might be talking about me. Never mind.

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