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- 2002-10-07
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- 402,179
- 荣誉分数
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67’s 6, Steelheads 3
DON CAMPBELL
Just when you thought Brian Kilrea had done it all at the Civic Centre (now the TD Place arena), “Coach” did something Friday night he had never before done: he got lost.
“I pulled into the parking garage and said, ‘That looks like a great spot to park,’ ” Kilrea said, laughing. “Then I saw a stairwell and went up and outside, and I guess I ended up on the wrong side of a building I had never seen before. I hope nobody thinks I was late.”
Fortunately, Kilrea had no such trouble finding his place behind the Ottawa 67’s bench for an Ontario Hockey League game against the Mississauga Steelheads. Not 40 years and 21 days after his first walk from the 67’s dressing room in the west end to behind the bench. Not after 1,193 regular-season wins, five Ontario Hockey League coach of the year awards and two Memorial Cup wins, not to mention a million laughs and stories at the location as he built his Hockey Hall of Fame career.
It didn’t even faze him that some of his best work was done when the 67’s bench was on the north side of the ice and it’s now on the south side.
All that mattered was, four days short of his 80th birthday, Kilrea was right where it all started back on Sept. 27, 1974 with a thrilling 9-5 win over a George Armstrong-coached Toronto ************************s team that included future Calder Cup-winning coach Bruce Boudreau, John Tonelli, Mark Napier and John Anderson.
“It doesn’t seem like 40 years,” said Kilrea, hired in the summer of ’74 by Howard Darwin, Jack Kinsella, Howard Henry and Bill Cowley for a princely salary of $13,000 a season. “Who would have ever have known it would be for that long and that many numbers?”
Invited to be a guest assistant coach to mark his milestone birthday by new 67’s coach Jeff Brown, Kilrea said he went deep into the closet to find his lucky brown suit.
“I hope the smell of mothballs isn’t too strong for the kids,” he said.
By game’s end, the only odour emanating from anywhere near the 67’s was the sweet smell of success. The 67’s took charge in the second period and broke a 2-2 tie with unanswered goals by Dante Salituro and super rookie Travis Barron, who makes his own path to the opposing net, each with their first of two on the night, to send Kilrea and a crowd of 2,308 at TD Place home happy.
The OHL capped the night by announcing after the game that Kilrea would get credit for yet another career win, giving him 1,194.
“He is a legend,” said Brown. “This night was a treat for all of us.”
Salituro now has seven goals in eight games, and it’s also worth noting that Barron was all of 10 years of age when Kilrea retired for good from coaching.
Russian rookie Artur Tyanulin and steady Erik Bradford had the other 67’s goals while Lucas Venuto, with a pair, and Josh Burnside replied for the Steelheads.
Brian Kilrea, with current Ottawa 67’s coach Jeff Brown to his right, keeps a close eye on the play on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014.
The day prior to the game, Kilrea jokingly phoned the league to request longtime referee Jim Lever come out of retirement and be assigned to the game.
“(Lever) was the best,” said Kilrea. “I’d give a yell and he would just look at me and skate the other way.”
On game day Friday, Kilrea followed a tried and tested routine: pregame meal at noon courtesy of wife Judy followed by an afternoon nap and then up for a bowl of soup prepared by a granddaughter, only to find a basket of fruit courtesy of Connie and Nancy Darwin, widow and daughter of his first boss.
Then he was off to the rink to coach with Brown and assistant Mike Eastwood.
And make no mistake, Kilrea did some coaching, moving up and down the 67’s bench quicker than most coaches 20 years his junior.
And just like the old man, Brown, 32 years Kilrea’s junior, can make himself heard in all corners of the ice.
Kilrea’s first roster back in ’74 included a remarkable 10 players who would go on to to play in the NHL, including four future first-round picks: Doug Wilson, Peter Lee, Bruce Baker and a 16-year-old Timmy Higgins, who saw action in 22 games.
Others who made it were Tim Young, Jamie Masters, Jim Roberts, Rick Bourbonnais, Grant Rowe and Warren Holmes.
Young, the one-time Pembroke Lumber King, led that club in scoring with 56 goals and 163 points while Lee set a then-league record with 68 goals.
Back on defence, Masters, the future St. Louis Blue, counted 26 goals and 95 points while Wilson scored 29 goals and 87 points in just 55 games.
Longtime 67’s will also never forget the dazzling skills of a 15-year-old Steve Marangere in Kilrea’s first season.
That offensively-gifted edition of the 67’s, with nine 20-goal scorers, was somehow able to rank second in league scoring with 379 goals and worst in goals against with 382 in an era when Kilrea was known to say: “I don’t care how many the opposition scores as long as we score one more.”
The team went on to lose a hard-fought seven-game series to the Sudbury Wolves in the first round of the playoffs. But the young nucleus of that team that would give Kilrea and the 67’s a first league championship and first trip to the Memorial Cup in Vancouver before bowing to the New Westminster Bruins in 1976-77.
“You know I can forget what Judy told me to buy at the grocery store, but I never forget those kids and the games and everything that happened,” said Kilrea. “I was at that rink every day, and every day was a great day.”
Brian Kilrea leads current Ottawa 67’s coach Jeff Brown onto the bench on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. In recognition of his upcoming 80th birthday, Kilrea was signed to a one-day contract to help coach the 67’s.
doncampbell.ottawa@gmail.com
Twitter.com/ottawa_dc
查看原文...
DON CAMPBELL
Just when you thought Brian Kilrea had done it all at the Civic Centre (now the TD Place arena), “Coach” did something Friday night he had never before done: he got lost.
“I pulled into the parking garage and said, ‘That looks like a great spot to park,’ ” Kilrea said, laughing. “Then I saw a stairwell and went up and outside, and I guess I ended up on the wrong side of a building I had never seen before. I hope nobody thinks I was late.”
Fortunately, Kilrea had no such trouble finding his place behind the Ottawa 67’s bench for an Ontario Hockey League game against the Mississauga Steelheads. Not 40 years and 21 days after his first walk from the 67’s dressing room in the west end to behind the bench. Not after 1,193 regular-season wins, five Ontario Hockey League coach of the year awards and two Memorial Cup wins, not to mention a million laughs and stories at the location as he built his Hockey Hall of Fame career.
It didn’t even faze him that some of his best work was done when the 67’s bench was on the north side of the ice and it’s now on the south side.
All that mattered was, four days short of his 80th birthday, Kilrea was right where it all started back on Sept. 27, 1974 with a thrilling 9-5 win over a George Armstrong-coached Toronto ************************s team that included future Calder Cup-winning coach Bruce Boudreau, John Tonelli, Mark Napier and John Anderson.
“It doesn’t seem like 40 years,” said Kilrea, hired in the summer of ’74 by Howard Darwin, Jack Kinsella, Howard Henry and Bill Cowley for a princely salary of $13,000 a season. “Who would have ever have known it would be for that long and that many numbers?”
Invited to be a guest assistant coach to mark his milestone birthday by new 67’s coach Jeff Brown, Kilrea said he went deep into the closet to find his lucky brown suit.
“I hope the smell of mothballs isn’t too strong for the kids,” he said.
By game’s end, the only odour emanating from anywhere near the 67’s was the sweet smell of success. The 67’s took charge in the second period and broke a 2-2 tie with unanswered goals by Dante Salituro and super rookie Travis Barron, who makes his own path to the opposing net, each with their first of two on the night, to send Kilrea and a crowd of 2,308 at TD Place home happy.
The OHL capped the night by announcing after the game that Kilrea would get credit for yet another career win, giving him 1,194.
“He is a legend,” said Brown. “This night was a treat for all of us.”
Salituro now has seven goals in eight games, and it’s also worth noting that Barron was all of 10 years of age when Kilrea retired for good from coaching.
Russian rookie Artur Tyanulin and steady Erik Bradford had the other 67’s goals while Lucas Venuto, with a pair, and Josh Burnside replied for the Steelheads.
Brian Kilrea, with current Ottawa 67’s coach Jeff Brown to his right, keeps a close eye on the play on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014.
The day prior to the game, Kilrea jokingly phoned the league to request longtime referee Jim Lever come out of retirement and be assigned to the game.
“(Lever) was the best,” said Kilrea. “I’d give a yell and he would just look at me and skate the other way.”
On game day Friday, Kilrea followed a tried and tested routine: pregame meal at noon courtesy of wife Judy followed by an afternoon nap and then up for a bowl of soup prepared by a granddaughter, only to find a basket of fruit courtesy of Connie and Nancy Darwin, widow and daughter of his first boss.
Then he was off to the rink to coach with Brown and assistant Mike Eastwood.
And make no mistake, Kilrea did some coaching, moving up and down the 67’s bench quicker than most coaches 20 years his junior.
And just like the old man, Brown, 32 years Kilrea’s junior, can make himself heard in all corners of the ice.
Kilrea’s first roster back in ’74 included a remarkable 10 players who would go on to to play in the NHL, including four future first-round picks: Doug Wilson, Peter Lee, Bruce Baker and a 16-year-old Timmy Higgins, who saw action in 22 games.
Others who made it were Tim Young, Jamie Masters, Jim Roberts, Rick Bourbonnais, Grant Rowe and Warren Holmes.
Young, the one-time Pembroke Lumber King, led that club in scoring with 56 goals and 163 points while Lee set a then-league record with 68 goals.
Back on defence, Masters, the future St. Louis Blue, counted 26 goals and 95 points while Wilson scored 29 goals and 87 points in just 55 games.
Longtime 67’s will also never forget the dazzling skills of a 15-year-old Steve Marangere in Kilrea’s first season.
That offensively-gifted edition of the 67’s, with nine 20-goal scorers, was somehow able to rank second in league scoring with 379 goals and worst in goals against with 382 in an era when Kilrea was known to say: “I don’t care how many the opposition scores as long as we score one more.”
The team went on to lose a hard-fought seven-game series to the Sudbury Wolves in the first round of the playoffs. But the young nucleus of that team that would give Kilrea and the 67’s a first league championship and first trip to the Memorial Cup in Vancouver before bowing to the New Westminster Bruins in 1976-77.
“You know I can forget what Judy told me to buy at the grocery store, but I never forget those kids and the games and everything that happened,” said Kilrea. “I was at that rink every day, and every day was a great day.”
Brian Kilrea leads current Ottawa 67’s coach Jeff Brown onto the bench on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. In recognition of his upcoming 80th birthday, Kilrea was signed to a one-day contract to help coach the 67’s.
doncampbell.ottawa@gmail.com
Twitter.com/ottawa_dc
查看原文...
