Quebecer Martin St-Louis, new interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, was touched and proud when he appeared before the media on Thursday in Brossard.
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“It’s an honor for me to be the coach of the Canadiens, I grew up here and I was a great supporter of the Canadiens,” he said, during a press briefing held at the former Mansfield Athletic Club, at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.
St. Louis was joined on the podium by general manager Kent Hughes and executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton.
“He represents the culture we want to establish here,” mentioned Hughes, specifying that he wanted to attract winners and enthusiasts.
Despite his lack of experience, St-Louis isn’t afraid to make the jump to coaching in the National Hockey League.
“I don’t have the experience behind the bench, but I have it on the bench and on the ice,” said St-Louis, pointing out that he found himself in different roles as a hockey player. I have the pulse of the players.
“The question was not if I was going to coach in the National League one day, it was a question of time, added the ex-attacker, exposing his dream of becoming a coach since his retirement as a player in 2015. Give me the chance and I’ll show you what I can do.”
Acting
Wednesday was a day full of emotions in the Habs universe. Dominique Ducharme was relieved of his duties as head coach, then St-Louis was hired a few hours later by the CH to act as interim.
The former star of the Tampa Bay Lightning inherits a colossal mandate: the CH, this season, has the worst record (8-30-7) in the entire National Hockey League. The motivation seems to have left the troops for quite some time now, as Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils illustrated.
“I will be a very demanding but fair coach,” assured St-Louis, for whom the interim appointment is not so important.
The CH held an optional morning practice on Thursday for the game scheduled for the evening at the Bell Center against the Washington Capitals. This last formation will want to curb a sequence of two failures despite the absence of Alexander Ovechkin, forced to remain in the United States in order to respect the health rules in force in Canada.