Gulutzan tears a strip off sloppy Flames
Calgary coach not impressed by team’s practice effort, irked by complacency
He was loud.
He was clear.
He was not speaking PG-13. Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan lambasted his squad during Friday’s late-morning practice at the Saddledome, stopping a sloppy session for a profanityfilled tirade.
The censored video footage of Gulutzan’s emotional outburst is all over the web. The poor guy on the bleeper button is presumably day-to-day with carpal tunnel syndrome.
“We win one ( bleeping) game … One ( bleeping) game,” screamed Gulutzan, irked by signs of complacency after Thursday’s 4- 3 come-from-behind victory against the Los Angeles Kings. “We’re so ( bleeping) good? You check the ( bleeping) standings? Let’s ( bleep- ing) go — ( bleeping) practise.
“I’ve seen one good game from some of you ( bleeping) veteran guys. Let’s ( bleeping) practise. Let’s go!”
Midway through the tonguelashing, Gulutzan even heaved his stick into the stands, a two-handed toss similar to what you might have tried once with your three-iron.
With just a bit more gusto, his twig would have landed in the second deck.
It’s not uncommon for a coach to chew out his skating stars when he feels their work ethic or execution is not up to snuff, but Gulutzan didn’t gather his group in the corner Friday to muffle the f-bombs, and he certainly didn’t seem to be saving any of his most pointed material for behind closed doors.
With speculation there could be big news Friday on the future of injured legend Jaromir Jagr, there was a large contingent of media in the seats. (That, by the way, turned out to be much ado about nothing. Jagr is still ‘day-to-day’ with a nagging lower-body injury.)
As Gulutzan ripped his charges, Flames general manager Brad Treliving watched — and listened — from a suite.
And for anybody who missed it live, it’s going to be on YouTube for … well … forever.
“We weren’t as good as we needed to be this morning,” Gulutzan reasoned. “I’m basically a guy who … I don’t like for you guys to see anything. The other side of it, the players have seen me worse.
“It’s not enough, just one win. (Complacency) did creep into our group this morning. Feeling pretty good about ourselves, which is great, but these reminders come best when you win. There’s a level we need to be at on a daily basis. It’s an everyday league. It’s not warmand-fuzzy. It’s everyday.
“(Friday), what you saw was a coach reminding his team that one game doesn’t make a season.”
On Thursday, the Flames spotted the Kings a two-goal lead but flipped the script with a four-goal onslaught during an impressive middle stanza.
Still, they woke up Friday on the wrong side of the playoff cut-off in the NHL’s Western Conference standings, three points south of third in the Pacific Division.
Next on the docket for the Flames is Saturday’s date with the Anaheim Ducks at the Saddledome (8 p.m., CBC/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
If you have seats in Section 120, keep your eyes peeled for a lefthanded composite. It belongs to the 46-year-old skipper.
“With Gully’s demeanour, he’s a pretty patient guy. So when he does that, it has an effect,” said Flames fourth-line centre and veteran voice of reason Matt Stajan. “We have to respond. Practice was a little lackadaisical and sloppy. It was a short practice, and obviously he didn’t like it. So message sent, message received, and now we move forward.”
Across the room, captain Mark Giordano was singing a similar tune: “He’s an emotional guy — we all are — and he wasn’t happy with the way that things were going, so he let us know. As a player, you get the message and get better from it.”
Gulutzan has a reputation as a players’ coach, a guy who not only understands people but genuinely gives a hoot about them.
Friday’s foul-mouthed fit isn’t going to earn him the nickname ‘Iron Glen.’
The yelling and screaming, the bleep-this and bleep-that, isn’t a side that he shows too often. In fact, in his season-and-a-half at the Saddledome, this was the most salty spectacle.
“It gets old, right? We’ve all played for guys that it loses its lustre,” Gulutzan said. “I don’t try to do it ever, but when it comes, it comes. It’s just a reminder.
“You’ve gotta do four positives to one negative or whatever … But the negative does work. It just can’t be all the time.”