Roger Neilson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Roger Paul Neilson, CM (June 16, 1934 – June 21, 2003) was a National Hockey League coach, and was responsible for many innovations in the game.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, after attending North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Neilson's coaching career began as a university student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and continued upon graduation with a degree in Physical Education in both hockey and baseball.

Contents

[edit] Coaching career

Neilson's coaching career began as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Peterborough Petes (then the junior farm team of the Montreal Canadiens in Hamilton) in 1966, and remained for 10 years in Peterborough, Ontario, where he maintained a home until his death. He also worked at the University of Windsor with a summer hockey camp programme, which led to camps from Port Hope, Ontario to Israel.

Neilson moved into professional hockey coaching in Dallas with the Dallas Black Hawks in the Central Hockey League in 1976–1977.

Neilson was head coach in the NHL for:

In 1979, Neilson was actually fired as head coach of the Maple Leafs by then-owner Harold Ballard. There was outrage throughout the players, media, and general public. Ballard then relented. Ballard wanted Neilson to enter the next game with a paper bag over his head (to be "the mystery coach") but Neilson refused and coached the next game as nothing had happened.

He was initially an assistant coach with Vancouver, but he took over as Head Coach after Harry Neale was suspended for taking part in an altercation with fans during a brawl in Quebec. When the team went unbeaten in the next seven games, he was given the job permanently. It was in his new capacity that Neilson led the team on its Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals.

His tenure with the New York Rangers was also successful; the highlight was coaching the team to the Presidents' Trophy as the first place team in the league in 1992.

With Philadelphia, he led the team to first place in the Eastern Conference in 2000, a position that the team would retain for the rest of the regular season. With the Flyers leading in the conference standings by the midseason All-Star Game, Neilson earned the honour of being head coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars. Previously, he had coached the Campbell Conference All-Stars at the 1983 All-Star Game.

In addition, he also worked for the Edmonton Oilers as an video analyst during the 1984 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which leads to the Oilers' first Stanley Cup championship, and Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant coach during his career.

[edit] Retirement from hockey

Neilson had gone on medical leave from the Flyers just before the 2000 playoffs for cancer treatment but was later informed that he had been permanently replaced by Craig Ramsay. Neilson's unceremonial dismissal by Flyers General Manager Bobby Clarke was widely lamented by fans and media as lacking class and respect. Neilson's doctors advised the Flyers that he lacked the strength to perform his duties as head coach. Neilson insisted on trying to return at the end of the first round of the playoffs. At the end of the season, Neilson was dismissed as head coach. He later conceded Clarke did the right thing and he never served as a head coach again.

Neilson was then hired as an assistant coach of the Senators. During the 2002–2003 season, Head Coach Jacques Martin stepped away from the bench for 2 games, allowing Neilson to take the reins and become the ninth man to coach 1000 games. It was also the most successful season in Senators' history up to that point, as they won the Presidents' Trophy as the first place team in the league, and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. As it was well known that Neilson's cancer was terminal when the Senators were eliminated in a tough seven game series, several players expressed their sadness at not being able to win the Stanley Cup for Neilson before he died.

Neilson's overall regular season record was 460 wins, 381 losses, and 159 ties.

[edit] Coaching legacy

Neilson dedicated his entire life to coaching and to hockey and affected the careers of thousands. He had no family and would stay up late into the night watching video and analysing games.

Among his most well-known innovations was the use of videotape to analyze other teams, leading to the nickname "Captain Video". He was also the first to use microphone headsets to communicate with his assistant coaches.

Neilson was well known for closely reading the rule book looking for loopholes. During one particular game in the OHL his team was up one goal, but was down two men in a five on three situation for the last minute of the game. Realizing that more penalties could not be called under the existing rules, Neilson put too many men on the ice every ten seconds. The referees stopped the play and a faceoff was held relieving pressure on the defence. After this display the rule was changed so that a call for too many men on the ice in a 5 on 3 situation now leads to a penalty shot.

Neilson also discovered that if he put a defenceman in net instead of a goalie during a penalty shot, the defenceman could rush the attacker and cut down the latter's angle of shot, greatly reducing the chances of a goal. Today the rule states that a team must use a goalie in net for a penalty shot.

One game during a time-out, Neilson told his goaltender, “...when we pull you, just leave your goal stick lying in the crease.” When the other team gained possession, they sent the puck the length of the ice toward the open net, only to deflect wide when it hit the goal stick lying in the crease. The rule was changed the next season.

Neilson also broke the rules, in a sense, when he didn't like what was going on on the ice. As the Canucks coach during a 1982 playoff game against the Chicago Blackhawks, he felt his team was unfairly penalized on several occasions during the third period. He took a trainer's white towel and held it on a hockey stick, as if to wave a white flag. Three other Canucks players did the same thing, and all were ejected from the game. By doing this, Neilson inadvertently started an NHL tradition. Canucks fans waved white towels by the thousands at the next game, a playoff tradition that continues to this day and that is widely copied by other hockey teams and by other sports as well.

[edit] Life after hockey

He was awarded a Doctor of Laws by McMaster University in 2001 (see below). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in November 2002. He was also appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada {CM} in 2002. The City of Peterbrough renamed George Street South Roger Neilson Way opposite the Memorial Centre Arena in 2003; the address of the Arena was supposed to be changed to 1 Roger Neilson Way. The Ottawa Senators have named their coaches office at Scotiabank Place The Roger Neilson Room. The City of Ottawa renamed their Minor Peewee AAA Hockey Division after Neilson in 2005. Also in 2005, the Ontario Hockey League created an award for the top academic player attending college or university and named it the Roger Neilson Memorial Award.

In 1999, Neilson was diagnosed with bone cancer, which spread to become skin cancer in 2001. He died on June 21, 2003, only five days after his 69th birthday, and the funeral was held in Northview Pentecostal Church in Peterborough.

Shortly after his death, the Ottawa Senators Foundation announced plans to build Roger's House/La maison de Roger, a pediatric palliative care facility built in his memory on the grounds of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. The building was opened on April 21, 2006, by the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty.

In September 2004, a new elementary school in Peterborough named Roger Neilson Public School opened. The name was chosen because of Roger's commitment to teaching and that Roger exemplified the qualities of the Character Education program of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board.

[edit] Coaching record

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L T OTL Pts Finish Result
TOR 1977–78 80 41 29 10 - 92 3rd in Adams Lost in Third Round
TOR 1978–79 80 34 33 13 - 81 3rd in Adams Lost in Second Round
BUF 1980–81 80 39 20 21 - 99 1st in Adams Lost in Second Round
VAN 1981–82 5 4 0 1 - (77) 2nd in Smythe Lost in Stanley Cup Finals
VAN 1982–83 80 30 35 15 - 75 3rd in Smythe Lost in First Round
VAN 1983–84 48 17 26 5 - (73) 3rd in Smythe (fired)
LAK 1983–84 28 8 17 3 - (59) 5th in Smythe Did Not Qualify
NYR 1989–90 80 36 31 13 - 85 1st in Patrick Lost in Second Round
NYR 1990–91 80 36 31 13 - 85 2nd in Patrick Lost in First Round
NYR 1991–92 80 50 25 5 - 105 1st in Patrick Lost in Second Round
NYR 1992–93 40 19 17 4 - (79) 6th in Patrick (fired)
FLA 1993–94 84 33 34 17 - 83 5th in Atlantic Did Not Qualify
FLA 1994–95 48 20 22 6 - 46 5th in Atlantic Did Not Qualify
PHI 1997–98 21 10 9 2 - (95) 2nd in Atlantic Lost in First Round
PHI 1998–99 82 37 26 19 - 93 2nd in Atlantic Lost in First Round
PHI 1999–00 82 45 22 12 3 105 1st in Atlantic Lost in Third Round
OTT 2001–02 2 1 1 0 0 (94) 3rd in Northeast Interim Head Coach

[edit] References

 This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (August 2007)

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Red Kelly		 Head Coaches of the Toronto Maple Leafs
1977–1979		 Succeeded by
Floyd Smith
Preceded by
Scotty Bowman		 Head Coaches of the Buffalo Sabres
1980-1981		 Succeeded by
Jimmy Roberts
Preceded by
Harry Neale		 Head Coaches of the Vancouver Canucks
1981-1984		 Succeeded by
Harry Neale
Preceded by
Rogie Vachon		 Head Coaches of the Los Angeles Kings
1983-1984		 Succeeded by
Pat Quinn
Preceded by
Phil Esposito		 Head Coaches of the New York Rangers
1989-1993		 Succeeded by
Ron Smith
Preceded by
none		 Head Coaches of the Florida Panthers
1993-1995		 Succeeded by
Doug MacLean
Preceded by
Wayne Cashman		 Head Coaches of the Philadelphia Flyers
1997-2000		 Succeeded by
Craig Ramsay
Preceded by
Jacques Martin		 Head Coaches of the Ottawa Senators
2001-2002		 Succeeded by
Jacques Martin
v • d • e
NHL on TSN
Related programs
Related articles
Commentators
Key figures
All-Star Games
1986 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Neilson"
Personal tools
Languages