Saturday 19 October 2019

Scotty

If there's one name from the modern era of hockey following the 1967 expansion that has been associated with more Stanley Cups than anyone else, it's Scotty Bowman. The man is a legend behind the bench thanks to his work with the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings, but his stops in St. Louis, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Chicago have only added to the legend of Scotty Bowman as he coached superstars in a number of these stops while bringing Stanley Cups to four of the six cities where he was the bench boss.

The amount of hockey knowledge that the 86 year-old may have forgotten is likely to outpace any knowledge gained by the collective hockey body that currently coaches in the NHL. He was a game-changer behind the bench, trying things that other coaches wouldn't dare while challenging players to expand their games to become better than what the pundits believed. He was an innovator, he was a pioneer in some cases, and he's a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee because he thought the game differently.

If you missed the work done by Bell Media's Rick Westhead tonight in sitting down with Scotty Bowman, Ken Dryden, and Chris Chelios in learning about Scotty Bowman, you can watch it here. It's an incredible look at Scotty Bowman's life and career, and I am in awe of Bowman's dedication to the game. Here is the W5 episode of "Scotty" as produced by CTV.

For a guy who has been described by former players as grumpy, mean, arrogant, surly, and terrible, it seems there's a lot of good in the man that everyone just calls "Scotty".

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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