Confirmed with Link: Boucher fired, Cooper to TB, Zettler in SYR | Bowness & George Gwozdecky hired

[Steve Yzerman]

I thought we were going for one with NHL experience?

 

[Steve Yzerman]

My apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere on this board.

Former University of Denver head coach George Gwozdecky named an assistant coach. You can read more about it HERE.

For those that aren't familiar with Gwozdecky, he re-built the Denver program into one of the nation's powerhouses and became one of the most respected coaches in all of college hockey. He guided the Pioneers to back-to-back National Championships in 2004 and 2005. A number of his former players are currently playing in the NHL including Beau Bennett and former Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle. He's a no-nonsense kind of coach whose a stickler on details. It came as a real shock to many in the college hockey community when DU let him go. And his departure has already resulted in one high-end recruited player decommitting (Sharks 2013 pick and now North Dakota-committed Gage Ausmus).

IMO, this is a terrific hire by the Lightning and I wish Coach Gwozdecky all the best in Tampa Bay. College hockey's loss is definitely the Lightning's gain!

Seems like a good hire but seems more suited for the AHL?

 

[chasespace]

My apologies if this has already been posted elsewhere on this board.

Former University of Denver head coach George Gwozdecky named an assistant coach. You can read more about it HERE.

For those that aren't familiar with Gwozdecky, he re-built the Denver program into one of the nation's powerhouses and became one of the most respected coaches in all of college hockey. He guided the Pioneers to back-to-back National Championships in 2004 and 2005. A number of his former players are currently playing in the NHL including Beau Bennett and former Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle. He's a no-nonsense kind of coach whose a stickler on details. It came as a real shock to many in the college hockey community when DU let him go. And his departure has already resulted in one high-end recruited player decommitting (Sharks 2013 pick and now North Dakota-committed Gage Ausmus).

IMO, this is a terrific hire by the Lightning and I wish Coach Gwozdecky all the best in Tampa Bay. College hockey's loss is definitely the Lightning's gain!

How many of his former players do we have? We have Carle and Brown that I know of who were Pioneers.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

How many of his former players do we have? We have Carle and Brown that I know of who were Pioneers.

Brown went to Minnesota-Duluth. Carle's the only one.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Hmm. I'd want him to go to the A first, but whatever I guess.

 

[Stammer Time*]

“Coaching is teaching, coaching is motivating. This game, I think, unlike basketball, and especially unlike football … the Xs and Os part of this game aren’t as a big of a factor as the teaching and the motivating, the relating to people, the developing relationships with people. That’s what it’s all about. I’ve had success doing that and I enjoy doing that. I think I’m pretty good at it.

“So do I think I could coach at any level? Yeah, I think I can.â€

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/05/...he-could-make-transition-to-coach-in-the-nhl/

I like his attitude.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

He approached a few people at the draft but I never imagined he would end up here. Awesome. GG is awesome. I just can't believe he ended up here. Excellent.

I know at lot of you haven't watched a lot of NCAA hockey but he is an awesome coach. I seriously can't say enough about this. Such a great guy. Players love him as he is hard but fair. He makes people want to play for him. Man, this is a great day.

 

[2 Weekes Notice]

He approached a few people at the draft but I never imagined he would end up here. Awesome. GG is awesome. I just can't believe he ended up here. Excellent.

I know at lot of you haven't watched a lot of NCAA hockey but he is an awesome coach. I seriously can't say enough about this. Such a great guy. Players love him as he is hard but fair. He makes people want to play for him. Man, this is a great day.

Seconded. I went to Wisconsin and am still a big fan of the hockey team, and man did this guy make Denver a pain to play against year in and year out. Great hire. Never understood why they let him go, but I'm looking forward to him working for the good guys now.

 

[zeykshade]

Seconded. I went to Wisconsin and am still a big fan of the hockey team, and man did this guy make Denver a pain to play against year in and year out. Great hire. Never understood why they let him go, but I'm looking forward to him working for the good guys now.

They let him go due to contract negotiations impasse(2yrs). They didn't want to "pay that man his money."

 

[LightningStrikes]

Same event different feed:

 

[Felonious Python]

He's going to love how the calls work for TB.

 

[zeykshade]

He's going to love how the calls work for TB.

"Forget about it George, it's Montreal."

 

[FytinSioux]

I was surprised he took the jump. He is a very good player development type of coach. I think very similar to Dean Blais. Blais said he didn't enjoy the NHL as much because there wasn't as much player development. Hopefully this goes well, hate the guy, but one hell of a coach.

 

[ThunderAlleyNomad]

I was surprised he took the jump. He is a very good player development type of coach. I think very similar to Dean Blais. Blais said he didn't enjoy the NHL as much because there wasn't as much player development. Hopefully this goes well, hate the guy, but one hell of a coach.

He'll have plenty of developmental work to do here. Lots of youngins coming up into the ranks.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://lightning.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=679923&navid=DL|TBL|home

“I am excited to be joining the Tampa Bay Lightning coaching staff and am really looking forward to working with outstanding coaches like Jon (Cooper), Steve (Thomas) and Rick (Bowness),” Gwozdecky said. “The opportunity to coach in an organization with such highly-respected ownership and excellent front office leadership, as well as a talented mix of veteran and young players in a great community like Tampa Bay is the chance of a lifetime.”

"We are pleased to add George to the coaching staff," Yzerman said. "He brings a wealth of experience to the bench and we feel he will be a valuable addition to the organization."

 

[Steve Yzerman]

"Forget about it George, it's Montreal."

It's typical! Montreal typical!

 

[The Macho King]

"Forget about it George, it's Montreal."

A Rounders reference followed by a Chinatown reference. You're on a roll.

 

[Pointerspoint]

Same event different feed:

I don't know a thing about this coach but after watching this I love him. Welcome to Tampa Bay, will we see this type of thing every game?

 

[ultra63]

He approached a few people at the draft but I never imagined he would end up here. Awesome. GG is awesome. I just can't believe he ended up here. Excellent.

I know at lot of you haven't watched a lot of NCAA hockey but he is an awesome coach. I seriously can't say enough about this. Such a great guy. Players love him as he is hard but fair. He makes people want to play for him. Man, this is a great day.

Can he improve goalies? I was hoping we got a new goalie coach

 

[Coopers Gum]

The second video at :54. That smile combined with the "you gotta be ******** me." Well, let's just go have a little chat.

 

[Steazy Doo]

PBP guy thought he was going to the box to serve a penalty.

ok guy.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/light...ant-george-gwozdecky-will-be-good-for/2135620

...Lightning defenseman Matt Carle said bringing in Gwozdecky as an assistant coach "is really good for our team."

Carle believes this, he said, because of how Gwozdecky -- a college head coach for 24 years, including 19 at Denver -- handled his players. That is key for Tampa Bay, considering it's influx of young talent.

"One of the biggest things for us and our organization is we have a lot of young guys coming up," said Carle, who played for Gwozdecky from 2003-06. "As a college coach that's all you're dealing with is young guys and trying to turn them into I don't want to say pros, but he did a really good job with a lot of guys developing them into men. I think that's really good for our team. We have all these guys down in the minors who had a lot of success down there. For us to be successful as a team in Tampa, we need these guys to develop as well, so I think it's going to be a huge help for the younger guys."

"I think he complements our staff really well," Yzerman said. "He does know ... how to relate to the player of today. When you're working with college players, playing fewer games, practicing a lot more, you do a lot more teaching."

Gwozdecky will work mostly with the forwards. And while Carle acknowledged Gwodzecky's transition to the NHL game is "kind of a wild card," he said he was "excited" to see how it transpires.

"He knows the game real well," Carle said. "It was one of the biggest reasons I chose to go to that school was because of how professional he was and the way he treated us as players. A lot of those colleges they try to treat you like boys, but he treated us like men. It was one of the better experiences of my life playing for him for three years."

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

https://twitter.com/TBLightning

George Gwozdecky speaks with media today at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. pic.twitter.com/GbO8mVdGm6

https://twitter.com/BBreseman

Was really cool hearing @CoachGwoz talk about coaching against Marty St. Louis in his final college game back in the '97 NCAA Tourney....

... Denver won the game, 6-3, but St. Louis forced the Pioneers to change their entire game plan after scoring twice in the 1st period.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://video.lightning.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=263728&catid=-6

George Gwozdecky:

"We had conversations with Jon but with Steve as well. I knew what they were looking for and I also understood they were thinking out of the box to bring in a guy who has never coached in the national hockey league or at any professional level, who has been a career college coach. Certainly that's a different way of approaching things but I certainly appreciated the time they gave me. As I said before the more we talked, the more it seemed like a really good fit. ...with the people that are within this organization on the coaching staff, Steve, and Rick, and Jon, Nigel, I mean this is- I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity and I look forward to working with them and getting to know them and getting things started."

"I know from over the years of experience you can not make everybody the same kind of player. Everybody has certain unique skill sets that they bring to the team and it's being able to put these guys knowing their right roles but being able help them achieve greatness at what they can do and helping maybe not hide their weaknesses but get them to understand that everybody has responsibilities and some of them you like to have, and some of them are a little more difficult and you may not be as good at, but the better we can play as a group with all those responsibilities and playing as hard as we can for each other, the chances of being successful are pretty darn good."

"We've got a talented team here and we've got some great veteran leadership, we've got some exciting young players. This is a great opportunity for everybody to be apart of something really really great this year and I'm looking forward."

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

THW: Coaching with Jon Cooper and Company, Makes Lightning Future Bright

http://thehockeywriters.com/coachin...bright/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter