Game On Magazine - April 2017 GameOn-Apr2017-P001-144-ONLINE | Page 80

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Alex Steen, Ryan Reaves
and Joel Edmundson:
A Coaching Change
and a New Playoff
Life for Three Top
Manitoba
Stars
Ken Hitchcock is a highly regarded
hockey coach. He’s won 781 NHL
games and carries a load of coaching
knowledge wherever he goes.
But walking out of his team’s dressing
room to his makeshift coaching office
in Winnipeg on a late January night,
Hitchcock’s swagger was gone.
Following a lopsided 5-3 loss to the
Jets, Hitchcock’s steps were a little
shorter. He knew the end was near
and three games later, he was indeed
fired. Meanwhile, for Manitoba players
such as Alex Steen, Ryan Reaves and
Joel Edmundson, it’s amazing what
a coaching change can do.
Especially as the playoffs near.
By Carter Brooks
Photos by Jeff Miller and
James Carey Lauder
80 GAME ON
2017 PLAYOFF EDITION