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“DUCKS HOCKEY…A NEW BEGINNING”
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The Anaheim Ducks have gone somewhere they had not gone before in hiring Joel Quenneville as their new head coach.

The Ducks, who have given us a history of hiring young minor league coaches, or coaches with 250,000-miles on their resume, did something different.

They hired a proven coach, deserving of a second chance, Quenneville, one with 3-Stanley Cup rings on his resume, 969-wins to his credit, and a man who has been out of the game for three season, not because he did something terribly wrong, it’s that he did not act accordingly when he heard of something terribly wrong.  1-problem escalated into career long  problems.

Quenneville, a decade plus defenseman, got into coaching early after a solid NHL career on the blueline.  There was playoff success in St Louis.  He dove into a rebuilding program with the Blackhawks and rode the wave of development of young stars, to guide the Hawks to 3-Cup wins.  He wound up in Florida as they were building towards great things.

And then he was gone in an instant, dragged into the muck of an NHL suspension, along with his GM-Stan Bowman and another exec, for not acting quickly enough when reports surfaced that a video coach on that staff sexually assaulted a minor league Blackhawks player during the NHL playoff.

The information was relayed up the ladder to Bowman.  The staffer was terminated but wound up taking another hockey job.  The GM was fired, Quenneville was forced out of his Florida job, because he did not act on the information he was given in strong enough fashion.  Yes they were in the playoffs, but this was serious, and the team did nothing.

If you wish to connect the dots to Joe Paterno-Penn State-the Jerry Sandusky scandal, feel free.

Quenneville, his name besmirched, was removed by the NHL.  As part of the penalties he took part in counseling, and working on learning about sexual abuse of children.  In essence, he took his medicine, suffered in silence.  Hockey friends I know were hurting for him.  Not to say he was a victim, because the victim was Kyle Beach, the player violated.

Beach won a lawsuit against the Blackhawks.  3-people lost their jobs.  The NHL fined Chicago (3M) in penalties.

The league reinstated Quenneville last off season and he now has a job in hand, to take a very young Ducks team, that made big strides last year with a very young lineup, nearly making the playoffs.

Coach Q’s introductory press conference was a strong example of the strength of the man, standing tall, admitting mistakes he made, and answering very uncomfortable questions.

All he has done since stepping down proves he has taken the actions needed to learn and act, on what he should have done, but did not do.

The comments GM-Pat Verbeek and his new coach made, were right to the point, and become a launching point for a step forward for the young Ducks and the old-dog coach.
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…Ducks GM-Pat Verbeek:.
..’Proven winner’..
‘Ready take step forward with young roster’…
‘Great coaching resume’
‘We are ready for the next phase of development’
‘He is instrumental to get us to our next goal’..
‘He inherited a young Blackhawks team-we saw the results’
‘His attention to detail-his methods are proven’
‘He has a coaching pedigree
‘He impacted every young player in Chicago

‘We interviewed more than 2-dozen people about what happened in Chicago’
‘He was not fully aware-did not act on it’…’
‘I know who he is as a person’
‘Ready for best version of him as coach-person’
‘Joel paid a price for not taking the correct steps’
‘He did not ask questions-did not take action’
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..Ducks Coach Joel Quenneville..
‘I understand the questions about what happened in Chicago’
‘It was horrific-inexcusable for Kyle Beach’
‘I will own my own mistakes’
‘I believed management handled it’
‘I have learned from my inactions’
‘I have apologized to Kyle Beach in numerous conversations’
‘I have learned how to help survivors heal’
‘I will prove I am a man of character’
‘I have learned growth-accountability’…
‘My responsibility was not asking more questions in Chicago’.
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So a Ducks franchise, who hired good people in the past, Ron Wilson to Dallas Eakins, old folks who had some success Randy Carlyle-Bruce Boudreau, now bring in someone who walked down a road, with his name on the Stanley Cup.

Teacher of players, leader of men, on the road to redemption.

Quenneville-and-Ducks, both need each other at this point.  Things will get better for both too.

Right guy…right roster…right situation.
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