Leading up to the start of the NHL season on Saturday, Comcast SportsNet will be debuting an exclusive one-on-one interview with Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville on Wednesday night at 9:00. Join us as Coach Q discusses everything from how he went from being an NHL player to the coaching ranks, the excitement of being a major key in the team's rebuilding plan and much more.
In his four season with the Blackhawks, Joel Quenneville has already made a huge impact on the organization and the city of Chicago. From his iconic mustache to the Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup run, the team's head coach has made a lasting impression that he hopes will continue into the shortened 2013 season as the Hawks aim for another championship season.
However this wasn't a future he always saw for himself. Looking back to his playing career, Quenneville wasn't exactly pegged to go the coaching route.
"If I asked all of my former teammates, they're gonna say I'm 'the least likely guy to be a coach'. I was probably a character back in the day," Quenneville joked.
But as his career as an NHL defenseman was coming to a close, he realized it was time to find another job, and after attending a coaching clinic in Windsor, Quenneville was offered a coaching position with a farm team in Toronto. Since then, he's worked his way to Chicago and to a position that led him to another Stanley Cup victory. A victory that he credits the entire organization for.
"Both Blackhawks President and CEO John McDonough and Blackhawks Chairman Rocky Wirtz did an amazing job right from the outset. They put a lot of things in place. The staffing, the right people and the enthusiasm seems to be contagious throughout not just the organization, but the entire city on what's coming the enthusiasm was real," Quenneville said.
And the enthusiasm will continue as the Blackhawks enter their fifth season under Quenneville. During tonight's airing, he will further discuss his relationship with the organization since arriving, as well as with his family as they adjusted to living in Chicago.