Saturday, February 23, 2002
USA coach: Canada's hockey style "stupid"
By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
SALT LAKE CITY - American coach Herb Brooks fired what amounts to the closest thing to a shot across the bow of Team Canada Saturday.
On the eve of the biggest game in Canada since 1972, Brooks called the way Team Canada plays hockey "stupid."
"Playing that (dump and chase) style is their style, their philosophy in Canada," said Brooks. "They like that style. I think the game is a little more profound than that. I think the ability of the players can allow them to do so much more.
"If you look at football, basketball and football, possession is the name of the game. It seems kind of stupid to me to work hard to get the puck and then say, 'I'm going to give it back to you, then try to get it back again.
"That's going to be (Canada's) style on this rink, the small rink or out in the parking lot."
Brooks said his team is capable of playing more creative, stimulating hockey.
"Our team is very adept at playing what I call a hybrid style. I believe in a hybrid system, where you play East-West when necessary and stretch the zones.
I don't think the Canadian coaches share that. Maybe (head coach) Pat Quinn does a little, but I don't think the others (associates Jacques Martin, Ken Hitchcock and Wayne Fleming) do."
Ouch.
Brooks also pointed out that Canada has zero gold medals over the last 50 years.
While the colourful Brooks made some pretty bold statements there, he's not going to be making any fashion statements.
When Brooks coached the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" USA men's hockey team to the gold medal, he wore a pair of plaid pants behind the bench.
Would he consider breaking them out for Sunday's game?
"No, they don't fit," he said with a laugh, "and they're not in style. I don't think they were ever in style."
He's also been doing some behind the scenes work on Team Canada captain Mario Lemieux, Brooks' ex-boss with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"I told him I've got a Mario bobblehead doll and I've been sticking pins in his hip," said Brooks.