Is Hartley right fit for the Habs?
WINNER: Jeff Tambellini credits Zurich coach for Swiss League championship title
If, as rumoured, Bob Hartley does become the next head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Jeff Tambellini says he’d be a great fit for the storied franchise.
Tambellini, who played for the Canucks in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final a year ago, should know — having just won the Swiss League championship under Hartley’s guidance.
Tambellini’s team, Zurich’s ZSC Lions, won the title by upsetting SC Bern in seven games in April.
“I’ve never had a coach who has wanted to win so bad,” said Tambellini, who’s back in Vancouver for a few months before heading back to Europe in early August.
“He’ll do anything to win. That’s where you hear about how he pushes guys and makes them uncomfortable, but he just wants to win so bad that he’ll push as many buttons as it takes. It’s hard but I can respect that. You know where you stand with him. He has a relationship with each of his players and he cares about each person. He works with the young guys, but he also challenges them to be better.”
Tambellini also credits Hartley for pushing the right buttons when Zurich was down 3-1 in the sevengame final to Bern.
“We go to practice — Game 5 is the next day — and he’s pushing us, grinding guys harder than all year,” said Tambellini. “I’d never seen this before in that situation. But it pissed us all off so we go into Game 5 fired up, half at him, but it brought the emotion out of us. So we beat Bern in overtime and pushed it to seven games.
“But that’s Bob. He never stopped from Day 1. He said we’re going to shock the Swiss hockey world. Some people laughed at that, but he kept pushing and by the end of it guys were believing in it.”
Tambellini said the rumour of Hartley being in contention for the Montreal coaching job was swirling around much of the season in Zurich. Besides having an excellent resumé as a professional coach — he’s also won a Stanley Cup with Colorado (2001) and a Calder Cup with AHL Hershey (1997) — Hartley’s francophone roots and familiarity with the media as an RDS hockey analyst makes him a natural fit for a franchise that is scrutinized daily in two languages.
“Bob is very connected in the Quebec hockey community,” said Tambellini. “He likes to talk to the media and I think he enjoys the daily banter. It doesn’t surprise me that he would be talked about for that job and the Calgary and Washington jobs.”
Tambellini, who signed a threeyear guaranteed contract with Zurich last summer, enjoyed a banner season. He led the team in scoring (23-22-45 in 50 games), although the Lions just made it into the playoffs — finishing seventh.
“We were like the Los Angeles Kings this year,” said Tambellini. “We were that team in the seventh spot that nobody wanted to play. We should have had a better season. A lot of guys had a lot to prove.”
ZSC swept defending champion HC Davos in the first round and did the same to regular season champs EV Zug. But the charmed existence ended in the final against Bern and Tambellini’s team fell behind 3-1 in the series.
Tambellini found some positives by comparing the situation to the previous season when the Canucks won the first two games of the Cup final, but then lost four of the next five.
“I kept saying to the guys we’re in good shape here because I did this last year from the other side,” he said. “They’re expected to win, they’ve got the lead and they’ve got so much pressure on them right now. Bern is the big market where so much attention is focused. I know how these guys are feeling right now and it’s not comfortable.”
It was probably fitting that Tambellini assisted on the goal that snapped a 1-1 tie in Game 7, kicking a loose puck at the goalmouth to fellow Trail native Steve McCarthy with 2.5 seconds left in the third period.
“It was almost more fulfilling this year, to be a bigger part of it and being underdogs all the way,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘I’m in Game 7 and this time we’re going to do it.’”