Fresh off winning the Jack Adams Trophy for the NHL’s top head coach, Rick Tocchet has been named to Team Canada’s coaching staff for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“It was quite an honour,” said Tocchet when he heard from Jon Cooper that he was being considered for Canada’s staff. “It’s the same feeling coaching as it is playing for your country. There’s obviously a lot of pride and the whole country will be backing us. I’ll have to take the Vancouver jersey off and be honed in for Team Canada and help the players in whatever capacity.”
The tournament will be held from February 12-20th in Montreal and Boston and will see Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States battle in a round-robin format followed by a one-game final between the two top teams.
Bruins’ General Manager Don Sweeney is the GM of Canada for the tournament and named Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper the head coach of Canada on June 25th.
Though this won’t be the first time Tocchet has represented Canada, but it will be his first time behind the bench for his home country.
Tocchet played for Canada and won two Canada Cups (1987 & 1991). He also played for Canada at the 1990 World Championships in Switzerland. The Canucks’ bench boss was teammates with legends like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, and Steve Yzerman during his time wearing the Maple Leaf.
“Back then, it wasn’t just a hockey game. It was country against country,” said Tocchet about the 1987 Canada Cup. “The Russian team had been training together for years and years, and they were incredible. We really wanted to be the best and every single shift was so intense. I go back and watch it every once in a while, and if it was today’s rules, there’s like two or three penalties on every shift.”
Tocchet reminisced about that series and remembered the most nervous he had ever been in a hockey game.
“We were down three-to-nothing, we had a five-on-three, and Mike Keenan sent me out there. But honestly, I didn’t go out there and he yelled at me again. So, I go out there and thank God I scored. I was so nervous because we had Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux on the bench. I don’t care who you are, that should never happen,” said Tocchet with a laugh.
“They put me out there again on a regular shift and we scored again. We got back into the game and then Mario and Gretz took over. Those things are about doing whatever it takes as a role player. That was my memory of it though, being so scared when I got called out on to the five-on-three.”
The return of best-on-best competition is exciting for Tocchet and he believes we will be seeing quite a few Canucks representing their countries at the event. He did also admit that maybe he’s a bit biased.
Tocchet is excited for the players, the fans, and the league to be able to have this type of tournament with the best players in the world facing off against each other as they represent their countries.
“It’s exciting because you want the best players to go against the best players, and the fans want to see how it goes. The United States has great goaltending and defencemen, and Sweden and Finland are always dangerous in international competition. Any of these four teams can win this tournament. Just getting this number of world-class players together for a tournament is incredible,” said Tocchet.
The NHL named six players from each country at the end of June. The only Canuck named to a 4 Nations team is Quinn Hughes with the United States.
