Friday, June 13, 2003
And so the Calder Cup belongs to Texas, which, come to think of it, is more than you can say for the President's Cup -- that thing hasn't been west of Louisiana since 1998.
Anyway, congratulations to the Houston Aeros, especially general manager Dave Barr, an assistant under Dave Tippett on the 1999 Turner Cup team who gave up the head coaching job in the wake of the AHL/Minnesota move. Nice pick-up, that Johan Holmqvist.
And hey, at least Ice Bats Shawn Legault, Peter Brady and Darryl McArthur can say they played one game for a team that won it all.
Former Waco/Central Texas/Fort Worth bench boss Todd Lalonde is is back in Sudbury, coaching Junior A (another fine bit of webspotting from The Farm Report) and going back to college.
I know there's ill will towards him in both Tarrant and Bell counties, but his first two years in Texas sure were something, and we (the media) always loved those quotes.
Of course, he was a stubborn SOB, and his see-saw Stampede exit cannot be defended. But perhaps his biggest flaw was wanting to win so badly that he didn't seem to realize this level of hockey is also about community and fun.
As for his controlling ways, I always figured if fans were privy to the same sort of daily details about Mike Keenan, Lou Lamoriello or Joe Paterno, the stories wouldn't be so pretty either. The theory is TL's headmaster style is a better fit for juniors, so we shall see.
And speaking of Lamoriello, I think Bruce Garber may have been cloned from his former Providence College mentor.
Hey, have the Oilers ever had a Hanson meets the Hansons night? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
