Stars and Stripes prominent behind Stanley Cup Final benches

by Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
May 28, 2017

Stars and Stripes will be front and center standing behind the benches when the Stanley Cup Final begins in Pittsburgh on Monday.

In a sport dominated by Canadian coaches through the history of the game, American-born head coaches have been a rarity. It’s even more rare for one to have been the head coach of a Stanley Cup winning team.

Two American coaches facing off against each other in a Stanley Cup Final? Never happened.

Until now.

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When the puck drops at PPG Paints Center in Pittsburgh for Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Final both respective coaches born in the U.S.A – Peter Laviolette for Nashville and Mike Sullivan for Pittsburgh.

Both are already part of an exclusive club as one of six American-born head coaches to win a Stanley Cup, joined by Bill Stewart with Chicago in 1938, “Badger” Bob Johnson with Pittsburgh in 1991, John Tortorella with Tampa Bay in 2004, Dan Bylsma with Pittsburgh in 2009, Laviolette with Carolina in 2006 and Sullivan last year.

One of Laviolette or Sullivan will become the first U.S.-born head coach to win two Stanley Cup titles.

”Having two American coaches lead their team in the Stanley Cup Final highlights the continued growth and evolution of the sport in our community,’’ out-going USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean told The Associated Press. “We have more coaches in our country than ever before, and two of our very best are in the Final. … The only unfortunate thing is that only one of them can win.’’

Both coaches share many similarities beyond being Stanley Cup winning coaches.

Laviolette, a two-time Olympian, hails from Franklin, Massachusetts. Sullivan, who twice represented the U.S. internationally, grew up about an hour away in Marshfield, Mass. The two are just three years apart in age, Laviolettes is 52, Sullivan 49.

Both coaches also rose to prominence in the Boston Bruins organization, getting their start with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League. Laviolette led Providence to a Calder Cup title in 1998-99 and won AHL Coach of the Year honors the same year, which led to a promotion to the NHL as an assistant coach with Boston.

Sullivan followed in Laviolette’s footsteps, taking over the head coaching job for Providence at the start of the 2002-03 season and was promoted to head coach in Boston for the 2003-04 season.

Laviolette would move on to coach the New York Islanders before landing with Carolina, where he led the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup title while Sullivan was dismissed by the Bruins following the 2004-05 lockout before landing as an assistant coach with the Lightning and followed around Tortorella from Tampa Bay to the New York Rangers to Vancouver before behind hired to coach the Penguins AHL affiliate prior to the 2015-16 season.

The rise to prominence among the coaching ranks have now landed the two head-to-head in the Stanley Cup Final among the top American-born coaches of all-time vying to become the first to win multiple titles.

”The fact that there’s two American coaches that are going to play against one another here, I think it speaks a little bit about the progress that hockey has made in the United States,’’ Sullivan said during media day. “I think there’s a lot of really good coaches that are working extremely hard to be the best at their craft. There’s a lot of real good American coaches, just like there’s a lot of real good Canadian coaches and European coaches and others.

“To be part of that American fraternity, I guess, it’s something that I’m certainly proud of.’’

While having two U.S. coaches is a feather in the helmet for USA Hockey and the growing footprint the program is having on the sport, Laviolette downplayed the thought when asked about it, seeing the matchup of coaches as a sidebar.

”Sully’s a good coach, I know him but it’s not about that,’’ Laviolette said. “It’s about the Stanley Cup. It’s about two teams playing.’’

But one of them will make history when the Cup is raised by the winner.’’

About the matchup: The defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins are a prohibitive favorite to become the first repeat champion since Detroit in 1997 and 1998. Though Pittsburgh is absent top defenseman Kris Letang, who has been out since before the playoffs, the Penguins have managed to loss with a group of defenseman who have filled the role by committee, led by Justin Schultz, Olli Maata and Trevor Daley.

Nashville, meanwhile, has arguably the best top four defensemen in the league – Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellias and Mattias Ekholm – and Pekka Rinne leading the way in net. Filip Forsberg is having a Conn Smythe caliber playoffs, but the Predators are missing No. 1 center Ryan Johansen, who had to undergo emergency surgery on his thigh following Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. Though Mike Fisher is expected to be ready for the start of the series, the Predators have a big disadvantage at the center position. Colton Sissons, who recorded a hat trick in the Game 6 clinching victory against Anaheim, assumes a top center role. That means on virtually every shift, Sissons will be facing either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. That’s a huge advantage for the Penguins.

The Penguins also hold a sizeable advantage in Stanley Cup Final experience as Fisher is the only player on the Nashville roster who has ever appeared in the Final, that a decade ago with the Ottawa Senators. Laviolette, however, is just one of four coaches in NHL history to take three different teams to a Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins, meanwhile, have won a combined 27 Stanley Cups with the players on their roster.

Prediction: Penguins in six games

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