Five Moments Of NHL Coaching Crazyness

Hockey is a passionate sport as you can see by the animated look on Florida Panthers head coach Kevin Dineens face in the image above.  It involves a level of intensity that cannot be matched by any other game, especially when it appears that winning is all that matters.  There are times when a coach will do things to fire up his team in the dressing room between periods, or on the ice during a practice.  Those actions could be considered psychological in an effort to jump start their clubs.  But there are also times when it’s for real.  Here’s five moments where the passion and the intensity of the game almost, or in a couple cases, got the best of a coach.

I have to start this segment of course with Jim Schonfeld, who at the time was the head coach for the New Jersey Devils.  Following a playoff game against the Boston Bruins, Schonfeld gave an earful to referee Don Koharski and the famous line “go have another donut” became so very well known:

Jim Playfair didn’t have one of his best moments as the head coach of the Abbotsford Heat of the AHL in this video as he “lost his mind” and broke a hockey stick, not once, but twice.  Passion.  Intensity. Right?

Lindy Ruff and Bryan Murray had a nice little conversation in this game that took place in 2007.  Please listen closely as you’ll hear some (NSFW) language spoken during the heated chat.

Last season Peter Laviolette took exception to a big hit by Joe Vitale of the Pittsburgh Penguins and goes at it with the both Dan Bylsma and Tony Granato of the Penguins.

Finally, for those of you who thought that Mike Keenan was crazy, this video will most likely solidify your beliefs.  In a game where the Chicago Blackhawks clearly scored a goal with 2 seconds remaining on the clock, referee Andy Van Hellemond, claims that time ran out, and disallowed the goal.  Just watch young Iron Mike as he goes after the timekeeper!  Gotta love him for sticking up for his team.  I apologize for some of the audio quality, but listen all the way to the end, as you’ll hear analysis by Panther general manager Dale Tallon, who was doing color commentary for the Hawks at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAd-F0z___s&feature=related

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