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Entries with the tag: ken+hitchcock
Blues Fire Payne, Hire Hitchcock
by Paul on 11/06/11 at 08:54 PM ET
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ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced tonight the club has relieved Davis Payne as Head Coach and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock. Hitchcock will be the 24th Head Coach in franchise history and has agreed to a contract through the 2012-13 season. Armstrong and Hitchcock will be available to the media Monday at 10:30 am at Scottrade Center and the team will hold their first practice under Hitchcock at 1:00 pm. The team will have no further comment until tomorrow morning.
Hitchcock, 59, has coached 1,042 National Hockey League games with Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus, compiling a record of 534-350-88-70 for a .588 winning percentage. His teams have won 40 or more games nine times and was Head Coach of Dallas when they won the Stanley Cup in 1999. He has guided his teams to six division titles and eclipsed 100 points eight times. Hitchcock coached in three consecutive NHL All-Star games (1998, 1999, 2000) and was Assistant Coach for Team Canada when they won Gold in the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics
Filed in: NHL Teams, St. Louis Blues | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Davis+Payne, Ken+Hitchcock,
Hitchcock Ready to Return to the NHL
by Alanah McGinley on 05/13/11 at 01:12 PM ET
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From the Canadian Press via TSN:
Ken Hitchcock is ready to step behind a NHL bench again.
Despite the disappointment of seeing his Canadian team sent home from the IIHF World Hockey Championship with a quarter-final loss to Russia, the veteran coach proved something to himself during the tournament.
“For me it’s all about building teams,” Hitchcock said after Canada’s 2-1 loss to Russia on Thursday night. “If I get the chance I’m very confident now that I can build a good team. If this group can buy in this quick, then you give me two or three months with a decent hockey club ...
“If you’re willing to buy in, this thing works.”
Five NHL teams are currently without a head coach and Hitchcock is one of the biggest names available.
*previously on KK: “Hitchcock a Target for Devils Coaching Position”
Filed in: NHL Talk | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Hitchcock A Target For The Devils Coaching Position
by Paul on 05/01/11 at 06:19 AM ET
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from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,
So the name this time, the coach several sources have told Slap Shots that Lou Lamoriello intends to hire this summer, is Ken Hitchcock.
And that makes perfect sense because the Devils general manager, who in the previous six summers since the lockout hired Larry Robinson, Claude Julien, Brent Sutter, Jacques Lemaire and John MacLean, has to go for the safe pick this time, has to go for a coach who will grab every one of his players’ attention and command every one of his players’ respect the moment he walks in the room the first day of training camp.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock,
How To Handle Hitchcock
by Paul on 12/15/10 at 04:31 PM ET
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from Jason Botchford of The White Towel,
When old Blue Jacket teammates Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres think back to their days in Ohio, it’s not to reflect on the Columbus night life.
“We find ourselves talking about Hitch a lot,” Torres said. “Manny has big time Hitchcock impersonations.”
Ken Hitchcock may be gone, but he is not easily forgotten even if Torres only played for him for a year and a half.
He had some interesting — uh, old school ways — of motivating.
“When I first got there, Hitch was riding me on the bench,” Torres said. “I had just got there. “Manny says to me ‘You got to give it back to him. He wants you to get into a confrontation with him.’”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock, Raffi+Torres,
Hitchcock In the Shadows
by Paul on 11/01/10 at 08:14 AM ET
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from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,
The NHL season stretches for 1,230 games over six months, and the landscape of the league is constantly shifting in fits and starts, sometimes dramatically. Upon this first day of a new month, here is a look at the initial time-lapse photographs of 2010-11. The first snapshot includes Ken Hitchcock.
Hitchcock has been wending through western Canada, putting his eyeballs on assorted NHL and major- and minor-junior teams. He has also been catching up on his reading, focusing on the game and its place in Canadian culture and poring through the work of hockey/cultural writers such as Ken Dryden, James Duthie and Roy MacGregor.
“I’ve spent so much time in the U.S. over the past two decades,” Hitchcock said, “I needed to catch up on being Canadian.”
On one hand, the Blue Jackets’ deposed coach and erstwhile scout appears only on the periphery of the first snapshots of the season. But he is edging toward front and center. A number of teams - New Jersey, Ottawa, Anaheim and Buffalo, among others - broke slowly in October. There are rumblings of coaches who might have to worry about job security. As soon as something opens, Hitchcock will be mentioned as a potential candidate. Already, his name has floated over Minnesota.
Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Hitchcock Named Special Advisor In Columbus
by Paul on 09/18/10 at 11:30 AM ET
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – Columbus Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson announced today that Ken Hitchcock has been named a special advisor to the organization.
In his new role, Hitchcock will assist in the evaluation of the organization’s personnel playing major junior hockey in the Canadian Hockey League and the collegiate ranks. He also will work with the coaching staff of the Springfield Falcons, the club’s American Hockey affiliate, and evaluate Blue Jackets prospects playing there, as well as scout NHL and AHL games.
Hitchcock served as the Blue Jackets’ head coach from Nov. 22, 2006 to Feb. 3, 2010 and led the club to a 125-123-36 record in 284 games. In 1,041 career games with the Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, he compiled a record of 533-372-136.
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A Surpise Guest At Wings Camp
by Paul on 09/17/10 at 01:15 PM ET
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from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
Figuring that there’s no such thing as too much hockey knowledge, coach Mike Babcock gladly said yes when Ken Hitchcock called and asked whether he could come to Detroit Red Wings training camp.
Hitchcock, whose NHL head coaching experience includes stints in Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus, was at Centre Ice Arena today and will remain here through Tuesday’s scrimmage in what can best be described as a symbiotic relationship.
“Hitch phoned me and said, ‘I want to learn, can I come to your camp?,’” Babcock said. “I phoned Kenny Holland and said, ‘He wants to learn, but I want to learn, too—can he come to our camp?’ It’s more to deal with the coaches—talk to our coaches, talk to me. I’ve worked with him. Evaluate me, evaluate the coaches—what can we do better?”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Hitchcock Still Under Contract With Columbus
by Paul on 08/29/10 at 08:01 AM ET
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from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
The best chance for Hitchcock to be hired as a coach now - even he admits this - is during the 2010-11 season, when, inevitably, an NHL team fires its coach after a slow start.
But the Blue Jackets won’t wait that long. Priest and Howson have had general discussions about Hitchcock in recent weeks, and they plan to begin hammering out details of his new job when Hitchcock returns to Columbus late this week.
It’s a matter they want settled before training camp opens Sept. 17, Howson said. Many are treading lightly on the subject.
“As long as he’s under contract with us, we’ll find something for him to do that brings value to our organization,” Priest said.
But nobody’s quite sure what that will entail, though there are at least a handful of possibilities.
“I’ll wait for Mike or Scott to come tell me,” Hitchcock said. “I have my own plans of what I would like to do, but I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes or be in the way.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Hitchcock Gets Back In The Coaching Line
by Paul on 04/26/10 at 02:20 PM ET
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from Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail,
Just prior to the start of the 2010 Olympics, Hitchcock was dumped by the Columbus Blue Jackets and replaced by assistant Claude Noel. But with no immediate offers elsewhere in the NHL, Hitchcock may return to the Blue Jackets as a senior advisor, a potentially good move for both sides since Hitchcock is still under contract to Columbus for two more years.
“I’ll move to the back of the bus and I’ll wait my turn (for a coaching position),” Hitchcock said. “Columbus has offered me a senior advisor position and I don’t even know what it is yet.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock,
Nothing Beats Winning The Cup
by Paul on 03/05/10 at 03:07 PM ET
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from Todd Davis of the Dallas Morning News,
Ken Hitchcock, the Stanley Cup-winning coach of the Dallas Stars for seven seasons, spoke with Mike Rhyner and Corby Davidson of The Ticket’s Hardline after his stint as an assistant with Team Canada during the Olympics.
He was asked how winning the gold medal compares to a Stanley Cup.
“I’ve said this from Day 1, nothing compares to the Stanley Cup. This is a great award for the country; it’s a great award for Canada, but nothing compares to the Stanley Cup.
Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk, Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: Ken+Hitchcock, Team+Canada,
Do You Want Hitchcock As Your Coach?
by Paul on 02/05/10 at 05:30 PM ET
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from James O’Brien of Cycle Like The Sedins,
I think Hitchcock was the easy scapegoat as is often the case in the NHL. Horrible GMs such as Glen Sather and Don Waddell keep polluting the on-ice product while competent coaches get canned. However I feel about the decision, the plain truth is that both Hitch and I have one thing in common at the moment: unemployment.
With that in mind, these are the teams that I believe would benefit greatly (and could realistically make a move) to add Hitchcock.
Edmonton
The Oilers are another team that is an absolute mess. Still, there are traces of talent here and there; players like Ales Hemsky, Lubomir Visnovsky and (who would have thought?) Dustin Penner can play.
Edmonton might bring in Hitch, however, to do an about-face. Bland, defense-first hockey might not leave people engaged but it is the best way to win in small markets.
Some might say that the Oilers lack the appropriate roster to maximize Hitch’s coaching abilities, but let’s face it: bad teams tend to lack the appropriate talent for anyone. That’s why they dwell in cellars.
more teams…
Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Hitchcock Fired
by Paul on 02/03/10 at 04:18 PM ET
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – The Columbus Blue Jackets have relieved Head Coach Ken Hitchcock of his duties behind the bench and named Assistant Coach Claude Noel as the club’s interim head coach, club General Manager Scott Howson announced today.
Noel, 54, joined the Blue Jackets as an assistant coach on June 28, 2007 after spending four seasons as the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals. During that time, he led the club to a 183-94-12-31 regular season record, three 100-point seasons and two West Division titles. He also compiled a 33-21 record in the Calder Cup Playoffs, including two appearances in the Finals (2004, 2006). During the 2003-04 season, the club compiled a 46-24-7-3 record and went 16-6 in the playoffs en route to capturing the organization’s first Calder Cup championship. That year, Noel was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year.
“This season has been very disappointing for the Blue Jackets organization and our fans and the responsibility for that rests with all of us from management to the coaches and players,” said Howson. “Hitch worked tirelessly to build an identity for this team that was missing before he arrived and deserves a great deal of credit for those efforts. He earned and received the opportunity to turn things around this season, but unfortunately that has not happened and it has become apparent that change is in the best interest of our organization. Claude Noel is a good hockey coach with a proven track record in the American Hockey League. He knows our team and is deserving of this opportunity.”
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Hitchcock Adjusts
by Paul on 01/14/10 at 08:22 AM ET
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from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,
Hitchcock, the born salesman, thought hard about what his old boss was telling him. What was Hitchcock selling that the players weren’t buying? What could he find out about the players’ wants and needs? How could he get them back on a path to reaching their potential? Is there a different way?
Hitchcock bought a notebook and started jotting things down at night. He tends to make personalized notes to himself about each player. What is his personality, interests, needs? How can he get more out of the player? The group?
“The adjustment I have to make as a coach is to the personality of the team, which changes every year,” Hitchcock said. “And there are times when less is more.”
That is the nut of the epiphany. Hitchcock figures out he has to dial back, whether he is dealing with individuals or the team. He got to be the 11th-winningest coach in the 92-year history of the NHL by attending to the finest of details and demanding rigorous attention. Sometimes, less is more.
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No Need To Fire Hitchcock
by Paul on 01/08/10 at 12:23 PM ET
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from Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch,
Here’s the future I see every time I read a “Fire Hitchcock” post on the Internet:
Hitchcock is fired, and two weeks later he is hired by a struggling big-market team that can’t believe its good fortune. That teams surges, and a few months from now he has it in the playoffs, and winning. Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets are sitting at home and the angry Internet posts are about losing Hitchcock and general manager Scott Howson doing something with the flawed roster.
And what of Hitchcock’s successor? It’s hard to believe team owners are going to pay big bucks to another coach with Hitchcock’s credentials, or find one willing to come here, so the new coach would likely be an unproven guy who might be good and to whom some of the players might relate better. But six months or a year from now, would the Blue Jackets really be better off with him than they would have been with Hitchcock?
The unhappiness over the Jackets’ prolonged funk is understandable. But the big picture is more important than what happened in Vancouver on Tuesday or in Edmonton last night. At this point in this lost season, it’s not about where the team is next month, but where it is next year and beyond.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Columbus Blue Jackets | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Watching Hitchcock
by Paul on 01/06/10 at 01:43 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
The problem, when a coaching death watch begins, is that they often become self-fulfilling. The players start to hear rumblings about a possible change and it creeps into their collective psyche. They wonder about its implications, good and bad, for them as individuals. They stop playing on instinct; hesitation sets in.
Pretty soon, everybody is standing around, waiting for the other shoe to drop – and the frustrated general manager is there, watching the whole thing unfold, ready to tear out his hair because he doesn’t want to make a coaching change, but knows he may have to.
That, in a nutshell, is pretty much where the Columbus Blue Jackets stand at this moment, on the heels of a 7-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night, the first of three games in Western Canada that continues Thursday night in Edmonton.
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Is Hitchcock Next?
by Paul on 01/04/10 at 08:25 AM ET
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from Michael Arace of the Columbus Dispatch,
From the press box in Nationwide, Dispatch beat writer Aaron Portzline text-messaged general manager Scott Howson, who was in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, scouting the world junior championship. Portzline asked whether the firing of Murray gave Jackets management pause to reflect on Hitchcock’s job safety. Portzline phrased the question differently, but that was the gist.
Howson’s answer: “The decision in St. Louis is not relevant in Columbus.”
The Blues aren’t running the Jackets, and vice versa. The Jackets will handle their own coach as they see fit. Understood.
But the question, in some form, will not go away—not when the team is losing at this rate. Would Hitchcock still have his job if he started the season 1-13? Is there anywhere else in the league where a coach can survive a 3-13-7 streak? Would anyone be shocked if Hitchcock got the boot tomorrow?
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 12/23/09 at 01:21 PM ET
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“Our challenge right now as coaches is to find a way for the players to stay in the moment. The toughest thing for the player is to get overwhelmed by the end result. It’s like playing golf; if you’re standing there worried about what tee shot you’re going to hit on 18, you’re not going to play the first 17 holes. Our job right now is to help the players really narrow their focus. They need to enjoy that and stay in the moment.”
-Ken Hitchcock, Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. More from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.
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Hitchcock Safe In Columbus
by Paul on 12/07/09 at 07:41 AM ET
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from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch,
“Hitch is safe,” Howson said. “To suggest otherwise is just ludicrous. It has not even entered anybody’s mind. It’s not something we’d even consider.”
Hard to believe, but Hitchcock—hired by the Blue Jackets on Nov. 22, 2006—is the sixth-longest tenured coach in the NHL, trailing only Randy Carlyle of Anaheim, Lindy Ruff of Buffalo, Mike Babcock of Detroit, Barry Trotz of Nashville and Alain Vigneault of Vancouver.
“I’m like most coaches,” Hitchcock said. “I worry about (getting fired) each and every week. I always feel like I’m one bad week away from being in trouble. As a coach, that’s what helps you keep your edge.”
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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 07:53 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.”
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Hitchcock At Home In Columbus
by Paul on 10/16/09 at 09:29 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 05:12 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.
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 09/18/09 at 04:22 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....
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 09/09/09 at 03:49 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…
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Columbus Ready To Climb The Mountain
by Paul on 09/04/09 at 06:57 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.
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Morning Line
by Paul on 08/27/09 at 08:52 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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Evening Line
by Paul on 04/23/09 at 10:52 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).
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Afternoon Line
by Paul on 04/17/09 at 02:33 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.
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Pat Burns & Ken Hitchcock Go Way Back
by Paul on 03/21/09 at 09:45 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.”
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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 06:23 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 08:14 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 08:03 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 02:01 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.
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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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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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