Good early evening from high above the X ice, where Breck's about to face Mahtomedi (had to look up the spelling) in a Schwan Cup Final. I'll be attending the Minnetonka-Edina game at 8:30, although technically I'm attending this one, too.
But I'll actually leave my press box perch for the Tonka game. Right now, I'm working. I'm sitting next to Rachel Blount, who's busy writing a Jacques Lemaire column for Saturday's Star Tribune. I'm about to write a story on the U.S. Olympic team. Eight players with Minnesota ties made the team, including New Jersey Devils Zach Parise, Jamie LaNgenbrunner and injured Paul Martin. It'll be a changing of the guards, and I talked to three-time Olympian Brian Rolston about that for Saturday's article.
First things first, Lemaire held Devils practice in Mendota Heights this afternoon, and afterward came back to the X with the Devils to change back into his street clothes. Lemaire got misty-eyed a bit about his return, and when I pointed that out to him, he actually had to walk off with his eyes clearly welled. Lemaire's always a class act, and it was a pleasure covering him.
I've covered a ton of coaches in this league (I covered Florida), and no offense to the others, but I learned the most about the sport from Lemaire. Our working relationship took awhile to develop as he clearly tried to feel me out at the start and didn't always appreciate my interrogations and second-guessing, but there was a lot of mutual respect by the end. Lemaire's got all the time in the world for people who 1) know the game; and 2) have a passion for the game.
And as a quote, nobody was better. Just a funny, funny quote.
In fact, it was pure genius. If he didn't want to answer a question sometimes, he'd throw out a quip, get everybody howling and next thing you know, we usually forgot what we even asked him.
Obviously, things ran its course, and it was time for both sides to separate. Last year was a tough one for Lemaire. As I've reported, he had a very fractured relationship with ex-GM Doug Risebrough the last three months. Lemaire got wind that the Wild seriously considered firing him last December/January, something that never came into fruition for a few reasons. Risebrough did get very involved in Lemaire's decision to keep Brent Burns at forward, and ultimately "persuaded" the switch back to defense. Risebrough also needed to intervene in the relationship problem between Lemaire and young James Sheppard.
Here's some Lemaire from today, but check out Rachel's column in the morning: