BROSSARD, Quebec — When this Eastern Conference final between the Rangers and Canadiens is over, the teams will shake hands at center ice — a long-standing hockey tradition.
That closure moment of this series could take place as early as Tuesday night after Game 5 at the Bell Centre if the Rangers win and advance to their first Stanley Cup final in 20 years.
Or it might be delayed for a few nights if the Canadiens have a comeback in them.
Whenever the moment arrives, though, the coaches, too, will shake hands. Perhaps they'll even embrace in this case, considering they're such close friends.
You, however, would hardly know Rangers coach Alain Vigneault and his Canadiens counterpart Michel Therrien are so tight based on the histrionics that have taken place in this made-for-the-tabloids series.
Based on Therrien's succession of gamesmanship maneuvers that began with his revisionist-history rants about losing his goalie and top player, Carey Price, to a knee injury in Game 1 when Chris Kreider accidentally crashed into him and including him throwing Vigneault's assistant coaches out of Montreal's morning skate at the Garden on Saturday, you get the impression the two coaches are at each other's throats.
However, in yet another colorful twist to this series, a Canadian TV camera caught footage of Vigneault and Therrien hamming it up with each other before Game 4 at the Garden.
The footage showed Vigneault pulling into the Garden ramp in his white Mercedes SUV and stopping after spotting Therrien walking toward the ramp. Therrien poked his head into the passenger window for a brief chat and the two were seen chuckling afterward.
"I saw him coming and I told him to go away because I didn't want him to hit me, and he laughed about it,'' Therrien said Monday.
Incredibly, this exchange came on the same day Vigneault publicly excoriated Therrien for his behavior in ordering the Rangers' assistant coaches out of the Montreal practice, calling it "regrettable'' and saying, "We're lucky it didn't escalate.''
When asked about the pregame exchange on Monday, Vigneault said: "I'd rather not say what I said at that time; I don't think you can print that, so we'll just leave it at that. I think it's time for hockey, and if [Therrien] wants to discuss it, it's up to him.''
Asked if — when this series has concluded and they are having that cold beer Therrien said they'll have — whether it will be awkward after everything that has happened in this series, Vigneault said, "We all have friendships in life [and] sometimes friends push the limit. Sometimes they do things that you're not crazy about. But there is a reason why they're your friends, so relationships are about giving and taking.
"Right now, he's trying to do what he thinks is right and I'm trying to do what I think is right. When it's all over, then we're going to move on.''
There is a history of benevolence between the two coaches. Vigneault and Therrien coached against each other in junior hockey in Canada, and when Vigneault landed his first NHL head coaching job in Montreal he recommended Therrien as the coach of the Canadiens' minor league affiliate. Therrien later succeeded Vigneault as the Canadiens coach when he was fired early in the 2000-01 season.
"He's an important person in my life,'' Therrien said on Saturday. "He's a guy that pushed for me to get into pro hockey, and I respect that. Over the years, we became great, great friends.''
That friendship has been tested these last two weeks. When this is over, they will shake hands, maybe even embrace. And eventually there will be that cold beer.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Therrien-Vigneault friendship being tested in heated series
Dengan url
http://makananrasaenak.blogspot.com/2014/05/therrien-vigneault-friendship-being.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Therrien-Vigneault friendship being tested in heated series
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Therrien-Vigneault friendship being tested in heated series
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar