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Entries with the tag: Ken+Hitchcock
Columbus Needs To Buy Into The Hitchcock Plan
by Paul on 11/12/09 at 08:16 AM ET
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Ken Htichcock after losing to the Wings 9-1 last night.
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Size Will Be A Key Factor For Team Canada
by Paul on 10/26/09 at 08:53 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail at CTV Olympics,
He was standing in the visiting coaches office in the Pengrowth Saddledome, putting forward a unique theory about the 2010 men’s Winter Olympics hockey tournament and what Canada can expect from the opposition.
This was Ken Hitchcock, the thoughtful Columbus Blue Jackets coach, who doesn’t mind tilting against occasional windmills - or conventional thought.
“I see this as being very much a North American style of game - NHL players playing on NHL surfaces with international rules,” said Hitchcock, one of Canada’s three assistants for 2010 Games in Vancouver. “Size will matter. There will be more shots on goal - lots more. There is going to be more physical play. There is going to be more dump-and-chase.
“You can’t stand back in the neutral zone in a small rink because the rink is tighter, so it’s easier to chip the puck in and then go in and get it again. You can’t do that stuff.”
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock, Team+Canada,
Hitchcock At Home In Columbus
by Paul on 10/16/09 at 10:29 AM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
At 4-1, Columbus is off to the best start in franchise history. Except for a four-minute lapse against the San Jose Sharks that resulted in a 6-3 loss, they have been relentlessly consistent thus far this season.
“We all have these ideas about how a team is going to play and how you want to play, but then you find out, you gotta drag one guy in at a time,” explained coach Ken Hitchcock in an interview. “As much as you want your team to play committed and everything, it’s like you pull in one guy one day and one guy the next day and that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to get to the level, where every player feels committed to compete for every puck every day on every shift.”
Hitchcock is in his fourth season with Columbus, joining them in November, 2006, after he’d been dismissed by the Philadelphia Flyers. Accordingly, he has been in place long enough that his message is familiar to the players that matter -beginning with team captain Rick Nash - and they’re on board with what he’s trying to sell.
read on plus many additional hockey topics duscussed…
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Evening Line
by Paul on 10/05/09 at 06:12 PM ET
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“We had a good practice yesterday and guys were jumping again today. But from everything you read in the paper, we better be jumping because it seems like every time we come into this building there’s a crisis and we end up in the middle of the damned crisis.”
“I wish it was just a normal time, just a normal game but we seem to come in here always when they’re trying to right their ship.
“This is three times in a row we’ve done this and we don’t want to be the brunt of it again.”
-Columbus Coach Ken Hitchcock talking about facing the Canucks tonight. More by Gordon McIntyre at the White Towel.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 09/18/09 at 05:22 PM ET
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Ken Hitchcock on how visiting teams are ushered around Xcel Energy Center: “It’s quicker getting through Canadian customs.”
via Michael Russo’s Twitter....
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 09/09/09 at 04:49 PM ET
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“We want to do more than stay in th mix. I’d like to chase Detroit. I’m tired of watching Detroit in first place. I’d like to chase them. Somewhere along the line someone has to make them bleed and it might as well be us.”
-Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock. More from Ken by Tom Reed of Puck-rakers…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Columbus Ready To Climb The Mountain
by Paul on 09/04/09 at 07:57 AM ET
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from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,
“There is a huge difference between a 90-point team and a 100-point team,” Hitchcock said. “The next step here is to become more aggressive both offensively and defensively. We feel we can play a better, more aggressive, 200-foot game. We feel we can do a better job with role identification, and marry our players’ perception of who they think they are and how we feel they can help the team. We feel we can have better special teams by involving more players.
“We’re past the ‘getting-to-know-you’ stage, we’re past setting up the base camp, and now we’re ready to climb the mountain.”
Hitchcock thinks that when there is nothing left for him to learn, then there is more for him to lose. He thinks he has learned something this summer. He is ready to apply it. He is itching to.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Morning Line
by Paul on 08/27/09 at 09:52 AM ET
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“He’s a Type A personality. He’s a very focused, intense individual. He doesn’t move on anywhere until it’s done. If it’s not done right, he doesn’t care what the name is on the back, where you’re from or who you play for. You got to do the job. When he says you’ve got to play 200 feet, you got to play 200 feet. The game we want to play (in Vancouver) has a lot of pressure in it, a lot of skating in it. There’s no resting on the ice.”
-Ken Hitchcock on Mike Babcock. More on Babcock from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated.
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Tags: Ken+Hitchcock, Mike+Babcock, Team+Canada,
Evening Line
by Paul on 04/23/09 at 11:52 PM ET
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“I thought the second period was more of a free-for-all than the third. I was really proud of the players today; they gave everything they had today. I was really proud of the fans. The fans were great, even when we were down 3-1 or 5-3, they weren’t leaving us. The fans, when we were down 5-3, brought us back as much as the players brought us back. I saw significant impact of people in the building; how they can impact the team’s fortunes. We got some energy because of (the fans).”
-Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock after game 4 tonight. Many more post-game quotes at ColumbusBlueJackets.com (including the Detroit side).
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 04/17/09 at 03:33 PM ET
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“I was thinking about this this morning after watching the tape. I don’t think Detroit would do anything in drag racing, because they would never pass the Christmas Tree test. The would be red-lighted (for a false start) every time because their wingers cheat,. So we’re going to cheat just like they are. The power-play goal they scored, their winger went in on the move, good for him. We’re going to do the same thing. It’ll be interesting to see who gets kicked out first.’’
-Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock via Ansar Khan of Mlive.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Pat Burns & Ken Hitchcock Go Way Back
by Paul on 03/21/09 at 10:45 AM ET
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from Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch,
In 1986, Hitchcock and Burns met in the most intense of environments, the Memorial Cup, junior hockey’s version of the Final Four.
Hitchcock, who coached the Kamloops Blazers, was a former sporting goods salesman from Edmonton, Alberta. Burns, who ran the Hull Olympiques, was the police officer still walking the beat in Gatineau, Quebec.
Neither had played professionally. Both had belonged to a workforce bereft of pampering and privilege. The detail-oriented, demanding coaches formed an immediate bond.
“Coaching for a living was a goal; wherever it went, it went,” Hitchcock said. “We both could have stopped at junior and been happy.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock, Pat+Burns,
A Look At Ken Hitchcock
by Paul on 02/18/09 at 07:37 AM ET
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from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
Nationwide Arena is dark and quiet when Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock arrives each morning around 6, a newspaper in one hand and a coffee in the other. He doesn’t go straight to his office. That can wait. He heads for the arena’s empty lower bowl.
“I love the solitude of the rink in the early morning,” Hitchcock said. “I can think when it’s that quiet I sit there and soak it all up while I’m getting ready for the day to get rolling. You can feel the building and all the stories it has to tell, almost like it’s alive.
“To me, it’s a beautiful place to be, especially when they have the curtains pulled back from the upstairs windows and the sun comes shining in on the ice.”
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Hitchcock Talking Playoffs
by Paul on 01/30/09 at 08:08 AM ET
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from Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch,
Ken Hitchcock hopes his creditors don’t remember this column come May. Or if they do, that they extend him grace. Because if all goes well, the Blue Jackets coach will be too immersed in the playoffs this spring to concern himself with payoffs.
Or much of anything else, for that matter.
“Your life goes on hold. Your friends go on hold. Your family goes on hold. Everything outside of hockey goes on hold,” Hitchcock said. “The bills don’t get paid.”
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Morning Line
by Paul on 01/28/09 at 09:04 AM ET
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“We can see that we’re not just looking at, if we get lucky we might squeak in (the playoffs). We’re looking up and seeing that people are catch-able. We’re not pretending we’re in a race; we’re in a race, a battle and the players recognize (the situation). Games matter, every point is important and he’d be the first to recognize the complete change over in the fans. There’s a different atmosphere in the building and they have a sense of urgency, just as we do.”
-Columbus coach Ken Htichcock after defeating the Red Wings last night. More post-game quotes at ColumbusBlueJackets.com.
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The Most Important Signing
by Paul on 07/10/08 at 07:23 AM ET
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from Rob Oller of the Columbus Dispatch,
The biggest offseason signing in Blue Jackets history—the face of the franchise, mind you—doesn’t score goals or play defense, isn’t much of a skater and struggles to move the puck. His weight hovers around 275 pounds, on a 5-foot-10ish frame, and the only time he has worn the C is when jokesters liken him to Captain Kangaroo.
This is the guy the Jackets are pinning their hopes on? Yes, and it’s hard to argue against them. Ken Hitchcock, who signed a threeyear extension yesterday to coach the Blue Jackets through the 2011-12 season, is more important to the team than any recent free-agent signing or draft pick.
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Blue Jackets Will Extend Contract of Ken Hitchcock
by Paul on 07/09/08 at 09:14 AM ET
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The Columbus Blue Jackets will hold a 12:30pm press conference today to announce a contract extension for Blue Jackets Head Coach Ken Hitchcock.
Update 1:27pm ET (alanah): Extension is for 3 years, till the end of the 2011-12 season. From the Blue Jackets --
“Signing Ken Hitchcock to this contract extension is another important step for the Columbus Blue Jackets as Ken is at or near the top of anyone’s list when it comes to NHL coaches,” said [GM Scott] Howson. “He has brought credibility, presence and structure to our team and is an integral part of the Blue Jackets’ identity. We are pleased to have stability for at least the next four years at the head coaching position.”
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Morning Line
by Paul on 05/12/08 at 09:03 AM ET
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via Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun,
“I think all that music is drowning out the crowd response,” he (Ken Hitchcock) said of the special environment which exists at the IIHF World Championship that you don’t experience at a normal NHL game.
“Standing on the bench, it’s confusing,” he said.
“Fans are yelling and singing like they do in Europe and it’s going against all that canned music like we have in North America. I think the music is drowning out the crowd response.”
“The natural stuff from the fan bases and the canned music is combining to make a lot of racket.”
“What makes the world championships unique is the noise of the fan bases. Listening to those people is wonderful.”
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NHL Conference Call: Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock
by Alanah McGinley on 04/08/08 at 03:01 PM ET
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Today, the NHL hosted a teleconference call for the media to ask questions of Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff and Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock.
Here is the transcript of that Q&A.
Q. The emphasis has been in the west all year now. Now the popular belief is whoever comes out of the west is going to be the Stanley Cup champion. Do you have that sense, as well?
KEN HITCHCOCK: No, I don’t. I think one of the problems is when you have so many good teams that what’s left of your team at the end of the three series that you have to play in sometimes isn’t much. I think a lot of it depends on the damage that gets done in some of these series.
I think when you look at the competitiveness of the teams and the closeness of really almost all eight teams in the playoffs, you know, I think health is going to be a major issue on whoever comes out from this series because it has the makings, especially in these early rounds, of some really long series here.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ken+hitchcock, lindy+ruff, media, nhl+conference+call, transcripts,
Maybe We’ve All Made That Mistake…
by Alanah McGinley on 03/06/08 at 03:31 PM ET
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From Columbus Alive:
On our City Limits blog at ColumbusAlive.com, we’ve been writing a lot about Columbus’ quest for some sort of marketable identity. So we couldn’t resist this telling tidbit, reported by Tom Reed in Saturday’s Dispatch:
Ken Hitchcock’s most humbling moment as Blue Jackets coach came in this radiant city on the Pacific Coast [Vancouver, British Columbia].
Hitchcock was trying to clear Canadian customs last summer when the agent asked him his occupation. He told the man he coached the NHL franchise in Columbus.
The agent grew suspicious and countered by saying, “There’s no NHL team in Columbus.”
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Tags: ken+hitchcock,
Blue Jackets are in the Battle
by Alanah McGinley on 01/14/08 at 07:22 PM ET
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From the AP via SI,
Of all things, the Blue Jackets - the only NHL team to never reach the postseason - find themselves in the midst of the race for the playoffs.
“We know we have a lot of work ahead of ourselves but it’s pretty exciting for our players to know that we’re in the middle of this mess with everybody else,’’ coach Ken Hitchcock said Monday. “We’re right in the battle here to go up the ladder if we can continue to play well, but one bad week and you’re really behind the eight ball. I think it’s going to be like this the rest of the year. It’s going to be close.’’
Heading into this week’s games, the 7-year-old franchise is off to its best season at 21-18-6. The best previous mark at this stage was 17-22-6 in 2002-2003. Considering the club has never come close to having a winning record, that in itself is an accomplishment.
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Easy Choice
by Paul on 12/16/07 at 08:48 AM ET
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from the Columbus Dispatch,
If the Blue Jackets make the Stanley Cup playoffs in the spring, Ken Hitchcock should win the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s top coach.
And the voting shouldn’t be close.
Yes, it’s way too early to be handing out hardware. The Blue Jackets played their 32nd game (out of 82) last night.
But for the first time since the Blue Jackets joined the NHL in 2000-01, it’s safe for their fans to check the standings around the holidays without getting too depressed.
Way to early to be mentioning the Jack Adams Award…
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Line Of The Day
by Paul on 11/29/07 at 02:10 PM ET
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from Puck-rakers,
Hitchcock was asked if he was planning to “go with Malarchuk” tonight against the Canucks:
“Hey, he wasn’t bad for a guy in the 1970s. I don’t think you’ll see him (Thursday night). It was hard enough to get him out there for practice. He kept holding out for a better deal. We didn’t get it done until right before practice.”
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Tags: Clint+Malarchuk, columbus+blue+jackets, ken+hitchcock,
Nash On The Same Page With Hitchcock
by Paul on 11/27/07 at 09:20 AM ET
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from the Edmonton Journal,
“You can get your workers to buy in every night,” Hitchcock said Monday. “But if you can get your skill guys to buy into that (defence-first system), that’s how you win.”
Nash readily admits he and his teammates have bought Hitchcock’s system, the one that drove sniper Brett Hull to distraction when he played under Hitchcock in Dallas.
And Hitchcock noted that, apart from his own tutelage, his charges have an ongoing living lab in how to play sound defence sitting right there atop the Central Division - the Detroit Red Wings.
“They’re the gold standard,” Hitchcock said of the Wings’ textbook all-around game. “(Pavel) Datsyuk and (Henrik) Zetterberg - they all check.”
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Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, ken+hitchcock, Rick+Nash,
Howson In The Right Place
by Paul on 11/26/07 at 09:47 AM ET
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from the Edmonton Journal,
Howson isn’t only a detail man, obviously. He has to paint the big picture for a franchise that has yet to make the NHL playoffs. Where the Jackets are headed and how they will get there depends on Howson as much as it does Hitchcock and the players. Fortunately, coach and GM complement one another.
“His strengths really balance with me. He’s a really patient, big-picture guy who sees things in months and years and I fight the daily fight, like all coaches do,” said Hitchcock. “Because he was a player at all levels, his ability to understand the team mindset at the end of competition is calming for me. You’re able to move past the emotion of the game and that’s important for me....”
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Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, ken+hitchcock, Scott+Howson,
Stay Out Of Hitch’s Way
by Paul on 11/23/07 at 07:51 AM ET
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from the Columbus Dispatch,
Hitchcock ambled in with a smirk-smile on his face and a massive monkey wrench in his belt. The cast-iron wrench is a good tool. It can twist a nut. It works as a hammer or a back scratcher. Sometimes, it’s handy just for show.
Hitchcock installed his system. Now, hockey systems can be overrated, as one does not differ much from another. The important thing is consistency, and Hitchcock was consistent: “Do this, do this because it works, and if you do not do this, you will not play.” Then, he held up the monkey wrench.
Critical point: Nobody interfered.
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Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, Ken+Hitchcock,
Open Practice
by Paul on 11/16/07 at 06:09 AM ET
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from the Columbus Dispatch,
The NHL, unlike other major sports leagues, does not have lucrative national television contracts. The Blue Jackets rely heavily on gate receipts and recognize the value of letting fans attend free practices in the Ice Haus adjacent to the arena.
“We’re not in a position to be losing fans,” left winger Rick Nash said.
Fans can learn a lot about the sport, Hitchcock said, by attending practices. Former Tampa Bay Lightning coach Terry Crisp used to run one session a season wearing a microphone to educate the crowd.
“To me, the most fun is watching how a team performs in practice and how the coach yells and how many swear words he uses,” Hitchcock said.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, fans, ken+hitchcock, rick+nash,
Fighting Rick Nash
by Paul on 11/15/07 at 07:59 AM ET
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from the Columbus Dispatch,
What was Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock thinking when he saw his best player dropping the gloves with a notorious knucklehead?
“I hope he doesn’t hurt his hand,” Hitchcock said.
And what was Nash thinking?
“It’s part of the game,” Nash said. “He (Vandermeer) threw a couple of cheap shots during the game, a couple of cross-checks. We fought. No big deal. Boller (Jared Boll) and Shell (Jody Shelley) fight all the time.”
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Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, fighting, ken+hitchcock, Rick+Nash,
Columbus Needs To “Bring It” Every Night
by Paul on 11/14/07 at 07:17 AM ET
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from the Columbus Dispatch,
The Blue Jackets, despite years of picking high in the draft, have fewer dynamic players than just about any other club in the Western Conference, save Phoenix.
The Blue Jackets can’t beat clubs on autopilot. The only way they can be successful is when they play a high-octane, borderline reckless brand of hockey.
“It’s not enough for us to match the energy of our opponents,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We have to bring more energy than they have. We have to outplay them in that aspect of the game, or we’re going to struggle.”
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Tags: columbus+blue+jackets, ken+hitchcock,
