Date Published: 10-11-2022
Photo Credit: NHL.com
Hello ALL and we at Nitty-Gritty are proud to provide you with excellent and professional penmanship let alone carefully crafted coverage for you fan’s out there. I think I’m not the only one who is excited about seeing what John Tortorella can bring to this city, let alone team.
We have needed a voice and blue collar coach with a sense of structure to their game for a period of time now. Long forgotten and clearly missing in the Flyers game since coach Peter Laviolette was in town have the Flyers had a coach with such honesty and integrity who will not only hold his player’s accountable but himself, as well. So from here on out, I am going to be giving you a motivator, on a Monday!! It was published on Tuesday due to the Canadian Thanksgiving.
Where I’ll be taking some of our team’s finer moments in history, and writing about the team’s rich history in the league. Or simply write about some of our team’s long list of alumni. They have plenty. But today, I’d like to start with coach John Tortorella. He has had his best moments and some bad moments, who doesn’t? Tortorella has some good quotes too, some they can only be appreciated in the form of writing, some can be even applied in day to day life! He tells you like it is. Sometimes he won’t say nothing at all. It can be straightforward and hilarious to downright embarrassing but one thing is for sure, he’ll have the team’s back. He’ll always be there to back up what has to say, let’s not forget this man is in fifth place amongst career wins in a list that includes aforementioned Peter Laviolette among active coaches who are coaching today. Neither coach likes to muck around. Both of them are great coaches and have a great track record; Especially for the nation itself, the U.S.A..
Anyways let’s take a look at one of my favorite Tortorella quotes thus far!!!!
“I don’t think the game’s that difficult. I think we make it so… its not that hard to think to think how to play. It’s such a reactionary game. And that’s the most important thing, is to get out of their way half the time as a coach. So Lappy and I talked, we talked early on when I was hired, and I told him right away, it’s your call on how you want to go. Because I want them to win also, I want that winning culture. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of a game, or a third period and it’s not working. Are you thinking, well shit I’ve got to play that system.” – John Tortorella
For me this one is an amazing one, because, hockey is a very unpredictable game, whether it be choppy ice as the season goes on or simply being out there and being caught up in a fierce one on one battle and being at the wrong place, wrong time. They’re on ice for crying out loud! But even with all the high action and pace of the game their is still a structure and a game plan to follow, the game plan still remains the same. And for those that don’t know, that’s to hold your opponent in their respective zone for as long as possible. So yeah for Torts to say this, and realize that if one system isn’t working find something else that will make the game work for you. For example, you may be getting squandered by a team in the faceoff dot, how I would counteract that, I simply would be trying to tie up my opponent and have my teammate pinch into the dot and give me support on the faceoff. Play for each other. The game has many forms of adjustments. And for me it’s a game of many little details and readjustments and communication are vital for success.
Next quote by John is a good one;
“I think many people make a deal out of system’s, moreso trying a different system. There may be slight details, you may even have a different philosophy of man on man defense rather than zone defense. But it isn’t really a big change. I coached in the minors for two years, in Rochester. And it wasn’t like an organization that talked about this, and never try that. Not an organization like this(Flyers) And I think that Chuck(Fletcher) has kinda left that to Lappy and I. I’m just a true believer, because I’ve been down there before, and sometimes you’re not yourself because you’re coaching someone else’s system. And I think that’s a rotten place to be as a coach, trying to be someone guy and use his thoughts on the game.” – John Tortorella
This one is pretty self explanatory but what I like about it it is that it seems that Fletcher has really let coach Torts start this team from the ground up and really wants to start fresh, yes it has been some time since Tortorella has been active but to have Tortorella get a good feel and look on what he is looking for in his roster. Smart move, smart move. Especially when you’ve been away from the game for awhile but it’s also a phenomenal idea for John to get a look at our prospects.
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Lastly, I will end it with this one. My favorite out of all of them:
“We are going to have some bumps, but that’s where you have to stay with your conviction because you start changing things around because of some struggles, than everyone is second guessing. It’s a matter of not losing your patience, and their maybe some kicking and scratching going on, but you’re still within your concept to get back to where you want to be.” – John Tortorella
I hope you all have a wonderful week and I hope you enjoy this week’s edition of the Flyers Nitty-Gritty Monday/Tuesday Motivator.
LET’S GO FLYERS
