There was only one way for Scotty Bowman to leave coaching–hoisting the Stanley Cup.
After winning his NHL-record ninth Stanley Cup with a tense, 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, Bowman announced he would step down as coach of the Red Wings.
“I made my mind up in February,” Bowman said. “I thought about it in ’98 but came back for three more years. I know it’s time now.”
Bowman said he told only two or three people about his decision.
The victory tied Bowman with Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach for most titles as a coach in professional sports.
“He whispered in my ear, `It’s time, Mike, I have to go,'” Wings owner Mike Ilitch said.
Tomas Holmstrom opened the scoring at 4:07 of the second period when he deflected in a pass from Igor Larionov. Brendan Shanahan scored the game-winner from the right circle at 14:04 of the second. Shanahan also had an empty-netter with 45 seconds left in the game. Jeff O’Neill ruined Hasek’s shutout quest with a power-play goal at 18:50 of the second. It was the Hurricanes’ first score in 166 minutes off Hasek.
It was the third Cup victory for Bowman as coach of the Red Wings, and they all came during the last six seasons. He also won with Pittsburgh–over the Blackhawks in 1992–and five times with Montreal.
As soon as the game ended, Bowman broke the news to his captain, Steve Yzerman, that he was finished.
“He deserves it, and I hope he enjoys it,” Yzerman said. “What a great way to start retirement. This is an awesome run for him. He made this team and taught us how to win.”
Before Bowman took over in 1993, the Red Wings had advanced past the first round of the playoffs only once in the previous five years.
As he did after his first Cup with Detroit, Bowman donned a pair of skates and hit the ice to celebrate with his team. Bowman, 68, leaves the game as its all-time winningest coach with 1,244 regular-season victories and 223 playoff victories.
“What a win,” Bowman said. “[I’m] thinking of the guys who didn’t win before.”
Those guys were Dominik Hasek, Luc Robitaille and Fredrik Olausson, whom the Red Wings acquired in the off-season, along with Brett Hull. They also included Steve Duchesne and Jiri Slegr, who played his first playoff game of the year Thursday. After NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman presented the Cup to Yzerman, he raised it, then gave it to the players who won for the first time.
First it was Hasek, who set an NHL record with six shutouts in the postseason and also may announce his retirement soon. Then it went to Robitaille, Olausson, Duchesne and Chris Chelios–who raised the Cup last with Montreal in 1986.
After losing the first game of this series in overtime, Detroit won four straight to close out the finals in five games. Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.
Lidstrom wasn’t ready to accept Bowman’s retirement. “I said, let’s talk about it,” Lidstrom said. “I’d like to see him come back. We’ll see what we can do.”
The old adage is that coaches are hired to be fired. Unless that coach is named Scotty Bowman.
“I never got fired as a coach,” he said. “That’s my proudest [accomplishment].”
– – –
Stanley Cup finals
Detroit def. Carolina 4-1
Game 1
Carolina 3, DETROIT 2, OT
Game 2
DETROIT 3, Carolina 1
Game 3
Detroit 3, CAROLINA 2, 3 OT
Game 4
Detroit 3, CAROLINA 0
Game 5
DETROIT 3, Carolina 1
Best-of-7 series
Home team in CAPS
Bowman’s record
REG. SEASON W L T PCT.
1967-68 St. Louis 23 21 14 .517
1968-69 St. Louis 37 25 14 .579
1969-70 St. Louis 37 27 12 .566
1970-71 St. Louis 13 10 5 .554
1971-72 Montreal 46 16 16 .692
1972-73 Montreal 52 10 16 .769
1973-74 Montreal 45 24 9 .635
1974-75 Montreal 47 14 19 .706
1975-76 Montreal 58 11 11 .794
1976-77 Montreal 60 8 12 .825
1977-78 Montreal 59 10 11 .806
1978-79 Montreal 52 17 11 .719
1979-80 Buffalo 47 17 16 .688
1981-82 Buffalo 18 10 7 .614
1982-83 Buffalo 38 29 13 .556
1983-84 Buffalo 48 25 7 .644
1984-85 Buffalo 38 28 14 .563
1985-86 Buffalo 18 18 1 .500
1986-87 Buffalo 3 7 2 .385
1991-92 Pittsburgh 39 32 9 .544
1992-93 Pittsburgh 56 21 7 .708
1993-94 Detroit 46 30 8 .595
1995 Detroit 33 11 4 .729
1995-96 Detroit 62 13 7 .799
1996-97 Detroit 38 26 18 .573
1997-98 Detroit 44 23 15 .628
1998-99 Detroit 39 31 7 .552
1999-00 Detroit 48 24 10 .646
2000-01 Detroit 49 24 9 .677
2001-02 Detroit 51 21 10 .683
TOTALS 1,244 583 314 .654
PLAYOFFS W L PCT.
1967-68 St. Louis 8 10 .444
1968-69 St. Louis 8 4 .667
1969-70 St. Louis 8 8 .500
1970-71 St. Louis 2 4 .333
1971-72 Montreal 2 4 .333
1972-73 Montreal-x 12 5 .706
1973-74 Montreal 2 4 .333
1974-75 Montreal 6 5 .545
1975-76 Montreal-x 12 1 .923
1976-77 Montreal-x 12 2 .857
1977-78 Montreal-x 12 3 .800
1978-79 Montreal-x 12 4 .750
1979-80 Buffalo 9 5 .643
1981-82 Buffalo 1 3 .250
1982-83 Buffalo 6 4 .600
1983-84 Buffalo 0 3 .000
1984-85 Buffalo 2 3 .400
1991-92 Pittsburgh-x 16 5 .762
1992-93 Pittsburgh 7 5 .583
1993-94 Detroit 3 4 .429
1995 Detroit 12 6 .667
1995-96 Detroit 10 9 .526
1996-97 Detroit-x 16 4 .800
1997-98 Detroit-x 16 6 .727
1998-99 Detroit 6 4 .600
1999-00 Detroit 5 4 .556
2000-01 Detroit 2 4 .333
2001-02 Detroit-x 16 7 .696
TOTALS 223 130 .632
x-won Stanley Cup
