Look, I'm real sick and tired of the language debate. We fans who don't give two shits what language the coach speaks but just want what's best for this team and believe Cunney deserves his shot are merely angry at the disgusting garbage spewed by the Journal de Montreal and similar media outlets. Forgive me if I'm wrong but you can't legally fire a man who's perfectly qualified for the INTERIM job as decided by his employer just because he doesn't speak French which is not a set-in-stone qualification for coaching hockey (which is in English, like the rest of the League). It's an attack on Cunney's basic human rights, for one. And I'm pretty sure he's coaching the Habs, not media.
See, we'll deal with your draconian language laws and your silly rules for which school people can send their kids too. We'll deal with your petty little signage laws, and your checklisting little Nazi squad (I ran into one OLF agent when I worked at Sports Expert...dude was totally an SS Officer in a past life). But keep your politics out of hockey. We do not need the city's opposition leader to ask the Mayor to intervene in the team's affairs with who they hire on staff. We do not need provincial politicians to aim at "scoring points" by opening their big mouths and practically pass legislation while bridges are crumbling. We do not need some hack activist to go insane on television at the "insult" Cunney was given the job, nor do we need to hear him demand poor Cunney's immediate dismissal from the team. It's beyond ridiculous at this points, and supposed professionals are acting like a bunch of irrational spoiled children. We are currently the laughingstock of the hockey world, the NHL, and the world.
Of course if you want to boycott Molson beer because you're so narrow minded that you cannot stand the fact the Habs coach isn't automatically un gars de Chez Nous or can fluently answer the same stupid question twice in two languages when media can just translated it themselves, then go ahead. That shit is nasty anyway.
And can someone tell Brian Wilde that HE can go back to Edmonton instead of telling US who were born and live here to leave if we don't like it? You start talking like that you're bringing back a whole lot of bad referendum memories, and it's crossing a line you do not cross. Also I would like you to know that Randy Cunneyworth has more head coaching experience than Kirk Muller, so his bench isn't exactly completely green here. Eight years in Rochester is a hell of a lot more than 3 months in Milwaukee. Maybe do the research next time.
Personally I wished Molson wrote his letter a little better because to me it's just basic damage control...
My brother's choice for Habs coach: Mr. Freeze, because he speaks neither French nor English but terrible one-timers.
I'm rather intrigued with what Cunney is trying to bring to the team, which is pretty much what we saw with the Bulldogs. The "never say die cardiac canines" as Derek Wills called them. He's trying to get them to push the pace and eliminate the passive resistance Martin ingrained into their skulls. As evidence from the last game, only 2 and a half of the lines are actually following the directives so far. This is the Nokie and Eller lines, and Erik Cole is dragging his line along to do it. The system isn't much different from before, but he got the Dogs to execute the system better. Will it be just as effective with the Habs?
One of JM's faults was his stubborn on-ice decisions. You won't see much benching with Cunney. He'll have the team live and die by its errors, and we've see it, which is fine because these players are pros and understand they will be held accountable for their actions so it'll be up to them correct it and make up for it. (Something I've heard players say Carlyle did with the Ducks). And while most fans will bitch about Darche's ice time, realize this: JM never got a feel for what was happening in game. Cunney wants to roll four lines, use the speed the players have effectively, and play hard. His is a game of trust, and if the fourth line is responding to such trust by giving him a great performances like the one in Boston where they were changing the momentum every shift it is only beneficial to the team. Of course he's still gotta get the team to RESPOND to such momentum shifts...or at least get those players that are supposed to take advantage of such momentum shifts to respond...
I guess you can say, basically, he's trying to get them to work in a manner similar to what the Rangers are doing. Will they win more games? Well, you can't lose forever right...?
Now...if he would just start playing Emelin a bit more...
2 comments:
Thoughtful and well-crafted post. I think you really hit on it with Cunney trying to re-establish trust with the players. Muller had it, JM killed it with his mystery benchings (LLB anyone?), Cunney is building it again.
Amen to everything you just said. Stateside they covered this language thing on "All Things Considered", which rarely covers sports unless it's something massive. This is NOT how the Habs want to make it into ATC.
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