There could also be no metropolis that has been higher for coaches in search of second probabilities than Boston. Bill Belichick, Doc Rivers, Terry Francona and Claude Julien all gained championships right here on what was no less than their second shot at being a head coach/supervisor. Bruce Cassidy got here up one sport quick.
But Jim Montgomery, launched because the twenty ninth head coach in Boston Bruins historical past on Monday on the Garden, is trying to find one thing a bit of extra than simply one other shot at successful on the ice. He is wanting to achieve a brand new life path that was compelled on him nearly three years in the past.
As you might know by now, Montgomery’s promising teaching profession was derailed when, in his first NHL head teaching job in Dallas, he was fired due to “unprofessional conduct” within the late fall of 2019. It was later revealed that Montgomery was scuffling with alcohol abuse, for which he sought inpatient care.
In his first presser and scrum afterward, Montgomery met the questions head on, simply as he did with within the interview course of. In truth, GM Don Sweeney stated that Montgomery didn’t wait to be requested about his historical past, he introduced it up himself. Through a sequence of conferences, Sweeney got here to really feel that, whereas an alcoholic isn’t “over” it, Montgomery was prepared for this problem once more.
“As it’s been described, you’re always a day away. That’s just what that personality and being a recovering alcoholic stands for,” stated Sweeney. “What resonated was he’s done all these things, he’s been forthright every time anyone’s asked him a question. But it’s more about the path since then that he’s taken and the supports that are in place to earn a second chance. He’s obviously trying to move his career back to where it was, but being in a better place personally.”
Montgomery wouldn’t be getting this second probability, in fact, if he wasn’t extremely thought to be a coach. He gained on the junior stage with Dubuque of the USHL, he gained on the collegiate stage with the University of Denver, and he appeared to headed for related success when issues fell aside with the Stars. It speaks to Montgomery’s fame as a coach that he acquired an assistant’s job on Craig Berube’s workers with the St. Louis Blues the next season, as did the truth that the B’s have been solely considered one of three groups that contacted him for his or her head teaching job.
While an alcoholic faces challenges it doesn’t matter what occupation she or he is in, booze has at all times been part of hockey tradition. Maybe not as a lot because it was when the mischievous Big, Bad Bruins gained over hearts within the Seventies, but it surely’s nonetheless there. Remember that notorious bar invoice the Bruins posted at Foxwoods again in 2011 after they gained the Stanley Cup?
Most can have their laughs and go away it at that. For some, it turns into an issue, because it did for Montgomery. He’s immersed himself in his restoration. In his comparatively quick time in sobriety, he’s related with a fellowship throughout the sport, together with former teammates and gamers he’s coached who’re coping with the identical concern.
“That’s incredibly therapeutic to be a part of something like that,” stated Montgomery.
It took him some time to really feel like he might put safely himself again within the atmosphere.
“It probably took at least nine months, to be honest, to think that you can get back, not only in the environment, but being able to understand the culture and that that’s no longer part of your culture,” stated Montgomery, who displayed an easygoing character in his first dealings with reporters, one which has earned him many mates throughout the sport.
His historical past was an enormous a part of the interview course of, stated Montgomery.
“It was a long conversation,” stated Montgomery, who has 4 younger youngsters with spouse Emily. “And I don’t think it was only one. It was probably three separate conversations and I think they realized for me in my life that sobriety, family and hockey are the three most important things now.”
But being head coach of the Boston Bruins carries just a bit extra stress than being an assistant in St. Louis. Sweeney believes his new coach has the assist system in place to cope with that.
“He’s got his sponsors, he’s got a professional network that he taps into daily. Daily,” stated Sweeney. “Jimmy, I hope we have a relationship now that he can be as forthright as he was in the interview process with his own lifelong pursuit. And if not to me, certainly to his sponsors and the professional network to support him.”
The GM needed to be assured that Montgomery was in a very good place. While you’ll be able to’t precisely say that Sweeney is on the new seat after simply signing an extension, he’s actually being watched intently today after some fruitless drafts and canning a preferred coach in Bruce Cassidy. He might have gone a safer route and nonetheless employed a very good coach in both David Quinn or Jay Leach.
But Sweeney believes he employed one of the best man to do the job. And there are lots of people within the hockey world who’re rooting for that to be true.
Source: www.bostonherald.com