Posts Tagged ‘interim head coach’

Peter Laviolette out as Flyers’ head coach, Craig Berube in as replacement

October 9th, 2013 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Peter Laviolette out as Flyers’ head coach, Craig Berube in as replacement | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey

lavioletteberube

Effective immediately, assistant coach and former NHL and AHL player, Craig Berube will take over head coaching duties for the Philadelphia Flyers from Peter Laviolette; who was fired yesterday by GM Paul Holmgren.

The move comes as a surprise to many, including Flyers’ fans, who thought Laviolette would realistically remain with the team much longer; at least into the season. The team’s only played three games thus far this season. They haven’t won a game yet in those three games and have a win-loss record of 0-3, including a 2-1 loss to Carolina yesterday afternoon.

Laviolette was in the midst of his fifth year as team head coach. In that time span, he took the team to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2010 vs. Chicago. He also made the playoffs 3 out of the 4 seasons that he coached the team for most of the year (50 or more games). Laviolette also won 145 games as Flyers’ head coach (not including the playoffs), for a total winning percentage of .596. He came within two wins of leading the Flyers to their 3rd Stanley Cup victory in team history in 2010, and the first since 1975.

His tenure of five years as Philadelphia head coach is second only to Fred Shero, who was the team’s head coach for seven seasons from 1971-78. The former ranks 3rd in team history in head coaching victories with 145, behind only Shero’s mark of 308 and Mike Keenan’s 190 wins.

Paul Holmgren, in his morning press conference on Monday following the fire, claimed that Laviolette was not only fired because of the team struggling on paper this season — with an 0-3 record — but because the team had been struggling and losing focus continuously from last season, and that it was time and necessary for a change at head coach. He also said that it was a “gut decision” by the team to relieve Laviolette of his duties, and that the former coach had one more chance at redeeming himself after failing to make the playoffs in last season’s lockout-shortened season. The team last year finished with a 23-22-3 record, meaning Laviolette, overtime/shootout losses aside, had a record of 23-25 in the past one and a half seasons.

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Johnny G’s Week 12 Picks

November 29th, 2009 by Johnny G | 2 Comments | Filed in General

   After a tough loss on Thanksgiving with the Raiders, my record now stands at 8-2. This is a light football card, so there will only be two picks this week.

Miami Dolphins(-3.5) Over Buffalo Bills
Coming off an impressive Thursday night win over the Carolina Panthers, the Dolphins enter this game clicking on all cylinders. Chad Henne is effectively running a traditional offense and Ricky Williams looks like he did five years ago. The Bills come into this game in a state of turmoil after head coach Dick Jauron was fired and their new interim head coach has decided to yet again switch quarterbacks. The Bills will not be able to stop Williams on the ground and the Dolphins cover the 3.5 on the road. Roll with the fish.

Double Your Money Pick of The Week

Seattle Seahawks (-4) over St. Louis Rams
With Marc Bulger out of this contest and Steven Jackson currently listed as questionable, the Seahawks should not have much of a problem with this horrific Rams team. Matt Hasselback along with Julius Jones should be able to muster up enough offense to get the job done and with Kyle Boller now leading the Rams, they very well may get shutout. This is a pretty easy winner. Take the Seahawks laying four on the road.

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