'Old Dogs' Teaching Some Young Guys a Few New Tricks

Two of the biggest surprises of the season so far has been the continued play of both the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Colorado Avalanche.


Phoenix woes off the ice are well documented and many expected a season of misery as a result. While the Avs hit a new low last season by finishing 15th in the West - despite picking up Matt Duchene at the draft, few expected them to be near the play-offs again for at least a couple of years.


Step up hockey's two biggest pieces - the coach, and the goalie.


Dave Tippett is a veteran of 11 NHL seasons, he spent some time with a pretty talented Dallas Stars team, but was unable to bring Lord Stanley back to Texas. Joe Sacco notched up over 700 NHL games with 5 different teams and worked with the Avs AHL affiliate Lake Eerie for two seasons before replacing Tony Granato in the Summer.


While Wayne Gretzky's forgettable dance in the desert as Yotes Coach proved the old saying that not all great players make great coaches, it's hard to argue with the results Tippett and Sacco have produced this season. Even if both sides went out in Round 1 of this season play-offs it would still represent not only a huge improvement in the teams fortunes from last season, but will have blown away pretty much all pre-season expectation of what these two franchises would achieve this year, or probable next year!


Of course, it hasn't hindered the teams progress to have two of the leagues hottest (and perhaps more importantly most consistent) netminders. Ilya Bryzgalov has a league leading 8 shutouts and an impressive 37 wins so far this season, while Craig Anderson recorded his 7th shut out against Florida a few days ago and then stopped another 40+ shots to help the Avs beat Dallas!


Combining good coaching with strong goaltending will always be something of a winner - perhaps in any other season Bryzgalov and Anderson might be in the frame for a Vezina, but thanks to Ryan Millers almost super human play, that award seems to have already been ear marked. But that does not mean Tippett and Sacco should not be mentioned when it comes to awards, and more specifically of course the Jack Adams Trophy. Given pre-season expectations, both men must be in the frame come the annual end of season knees up?