System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Roger Neilson, Hockey coach
June 16, 1934 - June 21, 2003
Hockey innovator and coach Roger Neilson died Saturday, June 21, 2003, after a three-year battle with cancer. He was 69.
Neilson was born June 16, 1934 in Toronto, Ontario, and as a boy, was known to sneak into Maple Leaf Gardens at every opportunity. Neilson was a decent baseball and hockey player in his youth, but turned his attention to coaching when he realized his talents would not be enough to advance in either sport. The former Junior B goalie quickly found his calling in the game of hockey. Being a goalie may have given him the mindset to develop the defensive style of hockey that he became known for as a coach.
Starting when he was named head coach of the Peterborough Petes, through to his coaching stints with 12 NHL teams, Neilson introduced innovations that have revolutionized the game. He pioneered the use of videotape as a coaching and teaching tool, an innovation which to his eventual chagrin, earned him the nickname Captain Video. Neilson got the idea of watching a videotape of a just-played game when he was with the major-junior Peterborough Petes of what was then the Ontario Hockey Association. Video cassette recorders were just making their way into the consumer marketplace. Neilson was also considered the godfather of the neutral-zone trap: a defensive style of hockey that, critics said, destroyed the flow of the game. He invented the category of scoring "chances," a tool to help coaches measure a team's performance. As well, his use of off-ice training techniques and his constant tweaking of the rulebook are all still lauded today as the marks of one of hockey's keenest and most competitive minds.
Neilson was hired for his first NHL coaching job in 1977, by then owner, Harold Ballard. Ballard also fired Neilson for the first time. Neilson coached 1,000 NHL games and was head coach of eight NHL teams including the Buffalo Sabres, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers as well as working as an assistant for four others, including the Ottawa Senators.
Neilson had been battling two types of cancer. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, bone marrow cancer, in 1999 but underwent a successful stem cell transplant the following year. In January 2001, he was diagnosed with melanoma, a skin cancer. Last December, there were media reports that the cancer had spread to areas of his brain. He attended Senators games until the end, drawn and frail, wearing his ever-present ball cap to cover his head, left bald by the radiation treatments for the four cancerous lesions found on his brain. His Christian faith was very important to him and helped him through his challenges.
Neilson coached close to 500 NHL players during his tenure. But aside from the high-profile coaching, Neilson has impacted the game in other ways. He has influenced thousands of kids who passed through his hockey schools in the Peterborough area and in Israel, as well as coaches who have listened to him speak at seminars. He has served as an assistant coach in several cities. He has served as a scout. He has a stake in a local Junior B team near his Ontario home.
But for all his accomplishments, it is perhaps “The Towel Incident” for which Neilson may be best remembered by fans. It occurred in 1982 with Neilson behind the bench of the Vancouver Canucks, who were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. After referee Bob Myers had called his ninth penalty on the Canucks, a frustrated Neilson draped a white towel over a hockey stick and held it aloft -- a signal to the refs that he was surrendering because of their inept officiating. That gesture got him kicked out of the game, but it also started a hockey fad. When his team returned to Vancouver, they were met at the airport by a horde of fans waving white towels. The Canucks won the series, but lost in the finals to the New York Islanders. Fans waving white towels are now a playoff fixture.
In 15 seasons as head coach, Mr. Neilson took teams to the Stanley Cup playoffs 11 times. In all he spent 25 years in the NHL. Neilson was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder's category on Nov. 4, 2002. On May 9, just weeks before his death, he was named to the Order of Canada for service to his country and its game.
While the life-long bachelor left no immediate family to mourn his death, it can certainly be said that his other “family”, the people in hockey, and the fans of hockey, is sadly mourning his passing.
