Entries with the tag: mike+keenan

Game 7 Experience Counts

by Paul on 04/22/08 at 09:34 AM
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from the Calgary Herald,

So, going into a game like this we’ve got lots of guys who have been in positive situations,” said Iginla. “So you draw on those things. You definitely do. You get good vibes going.

Imagine the whopper that Alex Tanguay could weave.

Game 7! . . . Stanley Cup final! . . . two goals! . . . including the game-winner as the Colorado Avalanche shaded the New Jersey Devils in 2001.

Also skating in that championship skirmish was Stephane Yelle, the NHL’s active leader in Game 7 appearances—11, including tonight.

Mike Keenan, meanwhile, will skipper a Game 7 for the 10th time—a league record.

But everyone—no matter how fat the resume—will be fighting jitters.

more on the Flames…

Taking a Time Out

by Alanah on 04/16/08 at 04:13 PM
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From TSN:

Calgary Flames assistant coach Rich Preston and Flames captain Jarome Iginla got into a very heated argument during a video session this morning.

The argument was based on a disagreement between coach and captain over coverage in game four last night.

Flames coach Mike Keenan acknowledges the argument took place and admits it was heated but says Iginla later apologized and the two were put into a room together to settle their differences.  ‘’All brothers scrap,’’ Keenan joked.  ‘’However, that doesn’t mean then don’t care for each other, in fact it’ the opposite,’’ he told TSN.ca.

They “care for each other”?  This mellow, ‘kinder, gentler’ version of Iron Mike is hard to get used to…

Update 5:33pm ET: More on Flames frustrations from Eric Duhatschek at the Globe & Mail.

Good Luck Charm

by Paul on 04/13/08 at 05:15 PM
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

“We’re like the Queen,” the San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton was saying. “We travel with our own toilet seat.”

OK, that probably needs some explanation. The Sharks moved into the visitor’s dressing room at the Pengrowth Saddledome Sunday morning, to continue their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series against the Flames. The Sharks usually travel with all kinds of team-related paraphernalia. Draped just inside the entrance to the dressing room are replicas of their Pacific Division champion banners (from 2001-02 and 2003-04). There are personalized Shark skate mats for each player; every one of the four walls also has a This Is Sharks Playoff time posters. All make sense – sort of.

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Update 6:01pm ET: More from Duhatschek today on the Sharks/Flames series, including musings on Jarome Iginla’s “scoring slump”:

[On] Masters Sunday, Keenan invoked the spirit of Tiger Woods, noting how Iginla “reminds me of Tiger – a bogey on the first hole and then he’s going to birdie the rest of the 17. I’m looking forward to it.”

added 6:51pm, Why not- even more on the toilet seat from Working the Corners....

Evening Line

by Paul on 04/11/08 at 06:28 PM
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from the AP via Sports Illustrated,

“I’m biting my tongue here,’’ Keenan said after Game 2.

That didn’t sit well with Sharks coach Ron Wilson, who has long argued against a more relaxed standard of officiating in the postseason.

“The playoffs are an extension of the regular season, and we play by the same rules,’’ Wilson said Friday. “There’s not a red rulebook for the playoffs and a white one for the regular season.’’

All in all, it’s been a virtuoso performance by two of the NHL’s top bench bosses and media agitators. Both are experts with pungent sound bites and jabbing comments to their players as well.

“They both have their thick books of things they say,’’ Roenick said. “At times, I’d like to put earplugs in my ears on the bench, but they both do it because they’re passionate about the game.’’

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Cheery Friday Memories

by Alanah on 04/11/08 at 03:32 PM
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This flashback gem from M.MacDonald Hall at the Bleacher Report:

“In a 2002 game vs the Vancouver Canucks, Nabby became the first goalie to score a power-play goal, and the first European netminder to hit the other end.”

A not-so-gentle reminder that, not only does almost every team in the NHL feature a forward who has set some form of scoring record against the Vancouver Canucks, even other goalies set freakin’ scoring records against the Vancouver Canucks.

(I hate being out of the playoffs.  It forces me to dwell on such things.)

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Evening Line

by Paul on 04/09/08 at 07:16 PM
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from Working the Corners at the Mercury News,

Thornton had plenty of nice things to say and credited Keenan with helping his own development as a young player. Today Keenan returned the compliments, saying nice things about Thornton and telling one story from his early days as a Bruin.

“One day I told him, ‘Joe, you’ve got to train harder. Ride the bike.’ And he asked me how long? ‘I don’t know, I’ll be back to let you know.’ And I got preoccupied. An hour later, I forgot. And he’s still riding, and the trainer says Joe wants to know if he can stop now. I said, ‘Oh my god, I forgot all about hm.’ So I go and say, OK, Joe, now you can get off.”

read on about how Thornton may have been traded to the Florida Panthers…

Iron Mike Head Games

by Alanah on 04/08/08 at 10:52 AM
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From Eric Francis at the Calgary Sun, Jeremy Roenick tells a story about Mike Keenan:

“In the 1992 Stanley Cup, I got slashed by Kevin Stevens, and Mike threw a cast on my hand and put me in front of the media to get a point across to the league and the officials that I was getting cheap-shotted,” chuckled Roenick during a conference call yesterday setting up his Sharks’ series with Keenan’s Calgary Flames.

“He made me a guinea pig—it was kind of embarrassing—but what Mike says, you do. Mike is a genius when it comes to head games and getting into the referees’ or players’ heads. He’s crazy—very slippery, very sly. He can manipulate a lot of people with what comes out of his mouth. That’s just a talent.”

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Conference Call Transcript: Mike Keenan

by Alanah on 04/02/08 at 01:20 PM
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Today, the NHL’s Public Relations Department provided Calgary Flames head coach Mike Keenan for media teleconference. The Flames currently have 92 points and reside at 7th seed in the Western Conference.  They trail Minnesota in the NW Division by three points and are one point the behind Colorado with one game in hand.

Here’s the transcript from the media’s Q&A time with ‘Iron Mike.’


Q. There’s so much parity in the league and so much has to be decided in the last five days here. Do you have any sort of theory on why it’s so close? We have seen it now in three straight years since the lockout. I have my own theory, it may have to do with the shootout point, but go ahead and answer that.

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Huselius Has Been There Before

by Paul on 03/28/08 at 09:17 AM
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from Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun,

At the tail end of a brief interview following yesterday’s practice, Kristian Huselius was asked if he’d dealt with being a healthy scratch before.

“I did in Florida,” said Huselius, before adding a telling kicker as he walked away to abruptly cut short his first comments on the benching: “with him, so...”

“Him” being coach Mike Keenan, the man who relegated the healthy winger to the press box Tuesday as part of their latest clash in philosophies.

Back in 2003, when the two last worked together, Huselius was, by several accounts, a regular target of the demanding coach despite reaching the 20-goal mark in each of his first two NHL seasons.

Stories of Keenan loudly berating young Huselius for soft or indifferent play still circulate around Miami’s tiny hockey circles.

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Keenan Vs. Kipper

by Paul on 12/28/07 at 09:13 PM
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from George Johnson of the Calgary Herald via the National Post,

...All is not daisies and buttercups between Iron Mike and the none-too-chipper Kipper.

The strain, hinted at on a few occasions already as the the halfway point of the NHL season approaches, is showing.

Keenan obviously wants more, and more consistently, from this franchise’s meal-ticket goaltender, who has, it must be said, been sub-par by his own towering standards for much of this season. Kiprusoff, just as obviously, isn’t over the moon about playing monkey to Keenan’s organ grinder - Pinocchio puppet to Iron Mike’s wicked Stromboli.

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Keenan Up To The Challenge

by Paul on 12/19/07 at 06:03 PM
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from the CP via TSN,

“It’s a challenging job and I’ve enjoyed it,” said Keenan. “Even though we had a very hard and difficult beginning in terms of working with the group and assimilating the group, I still wanted to come to the rink badly every day.

“I think the fire’s really burning right now. I’m looking forward to hopefully many more years of this yet because I’ve got that passion back again and it feels good.”

The good vibes are no doubt fuelled by the fact that Keenan’s team is among the hottest in the NHL, having recently become only the third squad in history to sweep a six-game road trip.

read on

Keenan Remembers Florida

by Paul on 12/11/07 at 07:35 AM
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from the Calgary Sun,

“There was a lot of scrutiny in terms of budgets and financial perameters that may or may not be there (now). I think the budget went up 10-million bucks the year I was fired as a manager,” said Keenan, who planned on building around centre Olli Jokinen and star goaltender Roberto Luongo but dealt the latter when financial negotiations failed.

“Hopefully they’re confident enough that the marketplace will turn around and support the budget they’re working ... At the time, coming out of the lockout, it was tough for an ownership group because they didn’t get the fanbase they had anticipated. I respect what they were doing but it’s difficult in those circumstances to put a team on the ice that maybe you’d like.”

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Big Deal, You Won A Game

by Paul on 12/06/07 at 07:52 AM
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from the Calgary Sun,

“You won one game, big (expletive) deal! Do it right!” screamed coach Mike Keenan in the middle of the Calgary Flames practice yesterday....

“It’s not about winning one, it’s about stringing some together,” said centre Craig Conroy.

“I think that was the major point, ‘Who cares you won one, it’s not breaking any records.’ You’re not gonna win two if you have a practice as bad as we had.

“He definitely let it be known it’s unacceptable and be ready for (today). They’re in a similar situation as us so it’s gonna be a tough game.”

read on

Pointing At Keenan

by Paul on 11/29/07 at 05:21 PM
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from Bill Clement at MSNBC,

Very often the Flames appear confused on defense. On many nights it looks like they are not on the same page. It’s Keenan’s responsibility to make sure Calgary’s defense is organized and has a sound defensive system. But Keenan has never been a system driven coach. He wants emotion, energy, combativeness and competiveness. It’s hard to win in today’s NHL with just those qualities. Teams need a comprehensive defensive system.

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Savard Faces Keenan Tonight

by Paul on 11/22/07 at 07:49 AM
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from the Daily Herald,

Whatever problems he might have had with Keenan all those years ago are in the past, according to Savard.

“To tell you the truth, Mike’s a good coach and he had to do what he had to do then and that’s just the way it goes,” Savard said. “I think you know my personality. I’m not one of those guys that’s going to hold a grudge against anybody, whether we worked well or not together. I moved on a long time ago and he’s been a good coach in this league for a long time.”

read on

Get It Right

by Paul on 11/13/07 at 10:40 AM
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from the Calgary Herald,

Following Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Keenan had been asked about his boys coughing up another two power-play goals.

The coach figuratively shoved his goalie to front and centre on a first-period tally by Robert Nilsson. His statement included the line: “It’s pretty difficult to criticize the people on the penalty-killing situation when your goaltender is not part of the solution.”

Damning stuff. Which Iron Mike took measures to clarify Monday.

“Well, first of all, the media has misconstrued the comments,” started Keenan.

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Calgary About To Implode

by Paul on 11/13/07 at 06:35 AM
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from All Things Avs by Adrian Dater,

- Calgary is going to implode soon. I’ve talked to a few former Flames and they say there is just plain bad chemistry in their locker room. I don’t see Mike Keenan changing that much.

- Edmonton is terrible. Dustin Penner is a nice player, but Kevin Lowe grossly overpaid for him, in his retaliation move against Brian Burke and the Ducks over Chris Pronger.

more NHL bits plus Adrian wonders where are all the Avs fans?

Questions Surround Keenan

by Paul on 11/12/07 at 04:22 PM
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from Scott Burnside at ESPN,

When GM Darryl Sutter deposed Jim Playfair as coach after one season and installed Iron Mike, the thinking was that the Flames had to get back to the hard-nosed play that saw them advance to the 2004 Stanley Cup finals. Sutter, whose relationship with Keenan extends back to their shared days in Chicago, believed the old task master was just the man to do the job.

Now, with the team in a free fall, there are questions about its preparation, focus, drive, energy and desire. Those are all of the things, the intangibles, Keenan was supposed to bring to the table. Those are coaching issues.

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Keenan On Langkow Hit

by Paul on 11/10/07 at 10:48 AM
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from Canada.com,

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Calgary Flames coach Mike Keenan didn’t exactly leap to the defence of his injured centre Daymond Langkow on Friday....

“I looked at the tape again today,” said Keenan. “I know Matt Cooke, I coached him, he’s a little bit of a hunter, and you know he’s out there, you know he’s coming at you, and you know he’s going to body you.

“But he didn’t leave his feet. He hit him hard into the boards; at the same time, you have a responsibility to know that players like that are out there. It’s a fine line between playing the game hard; he cracked him good, and Daymond maybe should have positioned himself in a more protective manner so he wouldn’t have had the whiplash effect against the glass.”

more NHL talk including Bouillon explaining his hit on Aaron Ward…

Flames Need A 60 Minute Effort

by Paul on 11/09/07 at 11:15 AM
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from the Calgary Sun,

What’s preventing the club that’s now lost four straight games from the expected 60-minute performance?

“I have some ideas, but I’m not prepared to share them right now,” Keenan finally said. “I want to discuss them with the team before I make those comments.

“I think I know why but I want to make sure, and in fairness to them give them an opportunity to explain it first before I have that discussion.

“Maybe I can answer your question in a day or two.”

Until then, Keenan’s club will deservedly be queried about its Jekyll-and-Hyde outings. After all, it’s hard to understand how a team that went into the clash having lost three in a row could be listless through the first 30 minutes.

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The Nice Mike

by Paul on 11/07/07 at 02:07 PM
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

Keenan watchers in these parts have been waiting for the inevitable eruption, any sign that the legendary Iron Mike was ready to lose it on his up-and-down Flames’ squad. So far, there’s been none of that — and what passes for frustration has been mild compared to what coach Craig MacTavish may be saying about his Oilers or Alain Vigneault about his Vancouver Canucks.

It isn’t clear if this is a kinder, gentler Keenan or simply a craftier version, someone who knows that all eyes will be on him when things go wrong — and he refuses to take the bait and go bananas in public.

read on

Roenick Wave Irks Keenan

by Paul on 10/23/07 at 06:48 AM
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from the Calgary Sun,

Keenan thought a linesman’s whistle while the game was still scoreless in the first period could just as easily have been the difference.

Robyn Regehr had just smashed Jeremy Roenick into the boards and left him frozen and dazed but still standing, as Jarome Iginla was sprung on a breakaway the other way. But the man in stripes adamantly blew his whistle.

“That could have been a turning point more than the shorthanded goal,” said Keenan, who was even more flustered Roenick waved to fans on his way to the bench. “I didn’t appreciate that he gestured to the crowd when he was supposed to be the injured player.”

more on the Flames…

MacTavish Says Times Have Changed

by Alanah on 10/21/07 at 03:21 AM
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From George Johnson at the Calgary Herald,

“Everything has changed so dramatically in the last 10 to 15 years in regards to handling players. I don’t know about Mike, but I’ve had zero success trying to make players do things. It just doesn’t work.

“You have to explain things to them now. You have to make them think what you’re trying to get across is their idea. The dictatorial days are over.

“I don’t think. There’s so much more pressure on players than before.’’ He gestured around him, to a small army of scribblers, cameras and microphones milling around.  Used to be, there were half a dozen of you guys here on game day. Now there’s 20. Or more. There are appearances, community commitments.

“So much more of their time is taken away by the game. So if they show up at the rink and you suffocate them, there’s a danger of sucking the life right out of them.’’

more...

*MacTavish coached his 500th Oilers’ game Saturday night and shares some memories of opposing coach Mike Keenan and the Battle of Alberta)

Keenan No Bowman

by Paul on 10/11/07 at 09:20 AM
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from Bob Duff of the Windsor Star,

When Bowman was coach and GM in Buffalo, he hired Keenan to coach the Sabres’ AHL farm club in Rochester, N.Y.

“I think that a lot of what I know ... I’ve learned from Scotty Bowman.”

Apparently, though, there are certain things Keenan never gleaned from Bowman’s vast hockey mind.

Such as knowing when to show up.

Bowman owned a knack for arriving to take charge of teams on the brink of success, which he did in Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

Lately, Keenan has acted more like a homeless coach, simply happy to have a warm bench to stand behind.

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“Singing” Mike Keenan

by Paul on 10/02/07 at 06:46 AM
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from the Calgary Herald,

...Anyway, they had an all-girl Western band playing. We’re having a few pops and enjoying ourselves.

“Well, by the end of the night, Mike’s up on stage, Burnsie’s up on stage. They’re both playing guitar and singing—Mike has a very good voice, I’ll have you know—with the band and the place is just going wild. That, to me, is Mike Keenan.  “A funny guy. A personable guy. That other guy, the one you hear about all the time, he’s a stranger to me.’’

The other guy, the one you hear about all the time, is the Mike Keenan of legend. The snarling, bullying, caustic martinet capable of eliciting either undying devotion or undying scorn from his players.

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Keenan Is Back

by Paul on 09/28/07 at 07:03 AM
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fro Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun,

Stopping short of calling his team lazy, Mike Keenan delivered his first public tongue-lashing of the Flames, punctuating a tirade-filled practice with a frank critique of his squad.

“I am prepared to say the work ethic of this team can be upgraded considerably,” said Keenan, minutes after a spirited skate that had players rubbing one another out while Keenan screamed.

“We have to change the habits around here, maybe not the culture.”

read on

Watching Iron Mike

by Alanah on 09/27/07 at 04:48 PM
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From the CP,

The Iron Mike watch is underway in Calgary.

Will new head coach Mike Keenan alienate his players? Or will he give a club that underachieved last season the edge it needs to be a Stanley Cup contender?

Eyebrows disappeared into hairlines when Flames general manager Darryl Sutter brought Keenan on board in June, partly because Jim Playfair, handpicked by Sutter to replace himself as head coach prior to the 2006-07 season, agreed to stay on as associate coach to Keenan.

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