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發表於 2005-8-9 05:24 AM
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[冰球Major news] Wayne Gretzky 成為 Phoenix Coyotes Head Coach
如果你係hockey fans, this is major news for you...同尤西比奧coach 賓菲加一樣大新聞！
8/8/2005 4:33:39 PM by Canadian Press
GLENDALE, Ariz. (CP) - Coach Gretzky is on the job.
"Today I'm very proud to announce that our sport's greatest player, ambassador and icon, Wayne Gretzky will assume the role as head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes," Coyotes chairman Steve Ellman told a news conference Monday.
Gretzky, who will retain his ownership stake in the NHL team, said he was delighted to step down from the front office to behind the bench.
"I'm really excited to be back in the locker-room and back on the ice," he said. "That's what I love the most and I'm thrilled to be back on the hotseat. I'm looking forward to it."
Ellman said Gretzky would coach the team as part of a deal that also increases Gretzky's ownership stake in the Coyotes.
While he has no pro coaching experience, Gretzky said he will approach it the way he did the game as a player.
"My answer is why not," he asked. "It's what I love, it's what I know. Glen Sather was the best coach that I had and what made him good was his confidence in what he did. I believe that I'm going to be a good coach. . . .
"It's kind of ironic when that when I broke in professional hockey at 17, that I was told I was too small and too slow and I wouldn't make the NHL. And now it's kind of flip-flopped and the sense is well you can't be a good coach because you were a great athlete.
"I wasn't naturally gifted with size or speed. Everything I did in hockey, I worked for. And that's the way I'll be as a coach.
Gretzky said while he had been leaning toward taking the job for several months now, he didn't make the final decision until Saturday night.
And he said while he had not sought advice, veteran NBA coach and executive Pat Riley had told him at the Kentucky Derby how much he would like coaching.
He also said he found "a passion for coaching" while working with his son's softball team.
Gretzky said former Detroit Red Wings associate coach Barry Smith, former Coyotes player Rick Tocchet, and Coyotes interim head coach Rick Bowness will be his assistant coaches.
"I'm ecstatic to have this staff," said Gretzky,
The Great One, who has a multi-year coaching agreement, will remain the team's managing partner.
"I have an investment in the team, an ownership stake in this team and I felt like I was the best person to coach this team," he said.
Smith has been an NHL assistant coach for 17 seasons and won five Stanley Cup titles. He was most recently with Detroit.
Tocchet played 18 NHL seasons, including three with the Coyotes from 1997 to 2000. He was an assistant coach with Colorado leading up to the lockout.
Bowness has been with the Coyotes for six seasons and was named the interim head coach in February 2004, after the Coyotes fired head coach Bob Francis.
Gretzky, who retired from playing in 1999 after 20 NHL seasons, won four Stanley Cups and owns dozens of NHL records, including goals (894), assists (1,963) and points (2,857).
He has already committed to serve as executive director for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Turin in February.
The Coyotes have a new $220-million US arena, which they have yet to play a full season in. They moved to the Glendale Arena in December 2003, but they didn't get opportunity to open a season there before the lockout began. |
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