SPORTS
NHL
THE PROVINCE
August 9, 2005
NO PROMISES: Great One downplays importance to team & NHL
GLENDALE, ARIZ. - The Great 1 isn't promising great things right away from the Phoenix Coyotes. Merely contending for the Stanley Cup would be fine for a start.
"There's no perfect coach in the world," Wayne Gretzky said Monday @his introduction as the new coach of the Coyotes. "Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you're sound you eliminate as many mistakes as possible."
Gretzky downplayed his importance to the NHL as it emerges from the lockout. Others magnified it.
"It's great for hockey, especially in the U.S., because we have other games that we're watching," said Barry Smith, 1 of 3 associate coaches Gretzky picked for his staff. "Y'know, once he gets coaching, the pride that he has, so every place we go something's going to happen. I feel that every city we go to play, there's a little more pizzazz."
Gretzky's presence should help revive the sport, co-owner Steve Ellman said.
"It's huge. Fans around the world will tune in to watch Gretzky coach," he said.
Ellman said the team didn't have enough people to answer calls early Monday regarding season-ticket renewals.
Gretzky, a minority owner & the team's managing partner for hockey operations, was in the final year of a 5-year contract. Ellman said that was extended in an open-ended agreement.
The 44y/o Gretzky had wrestled w/the idea of coaching since June/04, when Coyotes GM Mike Barnett, his former agent, brought up the subject. The Coyotes fired coach Bob Francis in Feb/04, & Rick Bowness finished the pre-lockout season as interim coach.
But the most prolific scorer the game has ever known spent months agonizing about whether the job would allow him time to focus on his family, including his cancer-stricken mother in Ontario, 2 sons in youth baseball & his daughter Paulina's budding careeer as an entertainer.
"We're in a tough situation because of teenage children, & then we have a 2y/o & a 5y/o, so my family & my responsibilities is sort of a juggle," Gretzky said.
He said he finalized his decision Sat. night, calling his parents 1st, then Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson & Ellman, who was travelling in Italy.
Gretzky, a 9X league MVP, said he has long felt he was the best person to lead the team. He kept his own counsel except for Nicholson's assurance that he should be able to function as Team Canada's executive director in an Olympic year as well as an NHL coach - & encouragement from the NBA's Pat Riley.
Riley, the president of the Miami Heat & former coach of the Heat & the Los Angeles Lakers, told him coaching was exciting "& that I would probably love it."
-Canadian Press
My 2cents; WAYNE GRETZKY IS HUMAN???? I always thought Gretzky in Ukranian meant Great One
AKA "GOD" I know which team I will be buying tickets for when visiting RIGHT BEHIND THE VISITING PLAYER'S BOX. Waittttt that's called stalking
Carlotta
Always a fan...
NHL
THE PROVINCE
August 9, 2005
NO PROMISES: Great One downplays importance to team & NHL
GLENDALE, ARIZ. - The Great 1 isn't promising great things right away from the Phoenix Coyotes. Merely contending for the Stanley Cup would be fine for a start.
"There's no perfect coach in the world," Wayne Gretzky said Monday @his introduction as the new coach of the Coyotes. "Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you're sound you eliminate as many mistakes as possible."
Gretzky downplayed his importance to the NHL as it emerges from the lockout. Others magnified it.
"It's great for hockey, especially in the U.S., because we have other games that we're watching," said Barry Smith, 1 of 3 associate coaches Gretzky picked for his staff. "Y'know, once he gets coaching, the pride that he has, so every place we go something's going to happen. I feel that every city we go to play, there's a little more pizzazz."
Gretzky's presence should help revive the sport, co-owner Steve Ellman said.
"It's huge. Fans around the world will tune in to watch Gretzky coach," he said.
Ellman said the team didn't have enough people to answer calls early Monday regarding season-ticket renewals.
Gretzky, a minority owner & the team's managing partner for hockey operations, was in the final year of a 5-year contract. Ellman said that was extended in an open-ended agreement.
The 44y/o Gretzky had wrestled w/the idea of coaching since June/04, when Coyotes GM Mike Barnett, his former agent, brought up the subject. The Coyotes fired coach Bob Francis in Feb/04, & Rick Bowness finished the pre-lockout season as interim coach.
But the most prolific scorer the game has ever known spent months agonizing about whether the job would allow him time to focus on his family, including his cancer-stricken mother in Ontario, 2 sons in youth baseball & his daughter Paulina's budding careeer as an entertainer.
"We're in a tough situation because of teenage children, & then we have a 2y/o & a 5y/o, so my family & my responsibilities is sort of a juggle," Gretzky said.
He said he finalized his decision Sat. night, calling his parents 1st, then Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson & Ellman, who was travelling in Italy.
Gretzky, a 9X league MVP, said he has long felt he was the best person to lead the team. He kept his own counsel except for Nicholson's assurance that he should be able to function as Team Canada's executive director in an Olympic year as well as an NHL coach - & encouragement from the NBA's Pat Riley.
Riley, the president of the Miami Heat & former coach of the Heat & the Los Angeles Lakers, told him coaching was exciting "& that I would probably love it."
-Canadian Press
My 2cents; WAYNE GRETZKY IS HUMAN???? I always thought Gretzky in Ukranian meant Great One
AKA "GOD" I know which team I will be buying tickets for when visiting RIGHT BEHIND THE VISITING PLAYER'S BOX. Waittttt that's called stalking Carlotta
Always a fan...
Last edited:
