Date Published: 1-13-2023
Photo Credit: NHL.com
“It’s the f..kin Philadelphia Flyers. The first time I went over the Walt Whitman Bridge, I’ve been stuck here in Voorhees, it’s f..kin Philly. I got so f..kin excited.” – John Tortorella
If this can’t pump up a team, I don’t know what will. The quote above rinds me of Herb Brooks talking to his American team before playing the Russian team “Tonight is your night, there night is done,” and the rest is history.. Tortorella gets it, and he’s trying to build a connection with the fanbase of Philadelphia. The Flyers hired a former Stanley Cup winning Head Coach John Tortorella to a four year deal, worth $16 million. Some forget he won a Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in the 2003-04 season.
Tortorella is known to be a hard-nosed coach, who commands the most from his players. He is not afraid of benching or calling out star studded players either. This was one reason why the majority of the Flyers team reported early for training camp. They knew it was going to be grueling, they know it’s going to be a very “Difficult Camp” as John Tortorella said this past offseason, and it’s paid off recently with the Flyers going 6-1 on their last seven games.
It’s very common in professional sports to see athletes using technology on the bench nowadays, otherwise known as iPads. However, that will no longer be the case for the Flyers organization as long as Tortorella is the Head Coach:
“We took the video on the bench off the bench because we want them to just worry about their next shift. I think it’s a major problem with us, understanding momentums of the game. You can’t understand momentums of the game if you’re looking at the iPad all the time. We took them off and aren’t even going to use them, so that they watch the game and see what’s next. TK does that within his game all the time and he’s one of the ones that looks at that damn thing all the time. I think he just has the proper mindset that he’s not afraid to make a mistake.” – John Tortorella
Today Tortorella elaborated and he said he doesn’t care what anyone thinks:
“I don’t give a flying shit how I’m perceived.” – John Tortorella said of being a dinosaur after taking iPads away
It’s quite clear and most knew already that Torts doesn’t really care what people think about him. He will do what he thinks is the best for his team, as he thinks of them first. This is a breath of fresh air in Philadelphia.
