bass19 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Earlier in the season I thought it was ridiculous that Montreal fans and Quebecers were outraged that the interim coach Randy Cunneyworth could not speak french. My opinion at the time was that I understood the heritage and all that stuff but at some point there are only so many french speaking coaches, GM's etc that are good enough to be at the NHL level. Therefore, I find it a bit ironic that the fans complain about how crap their team is, but aren't willing to adapt after all these years to their changing environment and the competitiveness of the league. French Canadian stubbornness is in part to blame for the problems in that hockey club. So what happens, they hire a coach this week that they have previously fired. I wonder if that's going to work out!? There are quite a few good coaches available right now and the organization goes with a guy they felt couldn't get it done in the past. It's difficult to jump a hurdle when you're not willing to change your tactics. At the time of the interim coach hiring, Quebec's culture minister said "she expected the Canadiens to correct the situation." When the heck did politicians start putting their two cents into hockey matters. What an absolute joke! Read the article here: http://www.businessinsider.com/montreal-canadiens-coach-speak-french-2011-12 Anyways, I'm not a Canadiens hater or anything, I would like to see them do much better (just not better than the Canucks) but if the fans and the people in that area want a better team, they need to cut the cultural crap, and allow the organization to build a competitive hockey club and stop preventing the growth of the club because the staff or player can't speak french. It's ridiculous, if you want a good team, I think Montreal is going to have to let that mentality go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashian Kassian Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Yeah I thought it was embaressing the way they treated Cunneyworth, he's a good coach that never did anything wrong. He was dealt a tough hand with a struggling team and the bilingual situation, and handled it all very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c00kies Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 You should make this a poll with Toronto as the other option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Lol at 'cut the cultural crap.' The problem is that every fan over there thinks the francophone Habs heyday of the 50's, 60's and 70's is repeatable. It is not. Cheers. TOML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalie13 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I see nothing wrong with the hiring. It's not like they fired the guy last week. Look at how many Canadiens coaches have gone on to success elsewhere. The Canadiens job was his first NHL coaching job. My guess is he is a far different coach now than he was then. There are two distinct sides to being the Canadiens coach (or really any team's coach) and dealing with the media is one of them. Imagine having just as much media to deal with as the Canucks do in Vancouver and then double it for the French media, then add a little more just for good measure. That's what it is like in Montreal. And when your team is not measuring up on the ice, you had better be prepared to answer the tough questions about it in both languages. The fans and media aren't nearly so concerned about the players not speaking French. Although it is helpful if at least the captain speaks French, it's not completely necessary. As for politicians putting their two cents in, take a look south of the border. Politicians make sports an issue all the time (like the hearings on steroids in baseball). Although I do agree that it is ridiculous for politicians using sports as a soapbox, it's not unique to Quebec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losing With Pride Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 and now they bring in a head coach who was fired from a power house penguins team and the replacement ended up winning the Stanley Cup. A guy who had so-so mediocre luck in Montreal the first time around. Ugh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyfan90 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 the team has the most stanley cup in their history..they are definitely not the laughing stock of nhl...canucks 0 cups and always choke in the playoffs with their diving and whining...now that's the laughing stock of nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyfan90 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 the team has the most stanley cup in their history..they are definitely not the laughing stock of nhl...canucks 0 cups and always choke in the playoffs with their diving and whining...now that's the laughing stock of nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hosswolf Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 ^ Because every other team in the NHL has won a cup, and no other teams have divers or whiners...see Brown and Doughty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Murray Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 the team has the most stanley cup in their history..they are definitely not the laughing stock of nhl...canucks 0 cups and always choke in the playoffs with their diving and whining...now that's the laughing stock of nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lillooet_Hillbilly Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 hockeyfan90 did you just quote your self??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass19 Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 the team has the most stanley cup in their history..they are definitely not the laughing stock of nhl...canucks 0 cups and always choke in the playoffs with their diving and whining...now that's the laughing stock of nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwijibo Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Actually I've seen Montreal make some very positive moves since the end of the season. Jaques Martin and Bob Gainey did a lot of harm to the franchise but the Canadiens have brought in all new blood in Bergevin, Dudley and Mellanby. The outcry over not having a french speaking coach is plain stupid but that's the culture in Quebec. Team ownerGeoff Molson is a businessman and was facing mass boycotts due to the francaphone outrage. It's unfortunate he has to bow to that sort of pressure but it's a reality the Habs have to deal with. All that being said I think calling the Canadiens the laughing stock of the NHL is completely off base. Martin has tarnished the image but they're taking steps to restore it. Molson cleaned house in the head office from the GM down, then he went out of his way to contact the players that departed this year and make sure they got their jerseys after Martin wanted to make them pay for them. I I'm a Habs fan and I'm not thrilled about the hire, but coaches get fired and they get hired. Darryl Sutter has been fired 3 times, look where his team is now, Montreal also fired Claude Julien and Alain Vingneaut. Does that make them bad coaches? Therrien has been gone from Montreal for 11 years. He's changed and the team has changed. Maybe it's a good fit, only time will tell. And by the way, Montreal has actually rehired fired coaches 6 times in thier history going back to 1915, did that make them laughing stocks then as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Well, I am a Hab hater, but I agree with goalie13. Therrien is not the same coach he used to be. Just like players, coaches learn from their mistakes, adapt and make adjustments to their methods. I'm sure Bergevin took everything into account before this hiring, including MT's past coaching successes and failures. Cunneyworth got a raw deal in Montreal, but that isn't Therrien's fault and he was the best choice of the three "finalists" for the job. (Roy and Crow being the others) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drdeath Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 the team has the most stanley cup in their history..they are definitely not the laughing stock of nhl...canucks 0 cups and always choke in the playoffs with their diving and whining...now that's the laughing stock of nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.