Monday, June 2, 2014

Coach Q


The Blackhawks lost game seven of the Western Conference finals to the L.A. Kings in overtime last night, so there’ll be no Stanley Cup repeat in Chicago this year.  When it was over, Hawks’ coach Joel Quenneville had to appear for the obligatory postgame media session.  Lesser coaches have imploded over lesser losses, but not Quenneville.  That would have been totally out of character for the man.

I’ve never met him, but my nephew Nathan did, twice, the first time as a waiter; Coach left a big tip.  Nathan reminded him of that when Coach came to visit a few weeks before Nathan’s death last March of pediatric cancer.  He was 23.
Clare hit a homerun in Florida for her cousin, a hockey coach dropped by to visit.  Each did what they could to help a boy deal with the worst break imaginable.  If nothing else, their actions made an impression on me.

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