Pat Quinn, a longtime NHL coach who led Canada to its first Olympic men’s hockey gold in 50 years in 2002, died at age 71 on Sunday.
Quinn coached Team Canada to the Olympic title at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games, beating the U.S. 5-2 in the gold-medal game. That team included Mario Lemieux, Martin Brodeur and Steve Yzerman, with Wayne Gretzky as the executive director.
“Those 50 years without a gold medal have been an albatross around our necks,” Quinn said after winning in 2002, according to the Globe and Mail.
Quinn came back to guide the 2006 Canadian Olympic team that lost in the quarterfinals in Torino to Russia.
Mike Babcock coached Canada to Olympic golds in 2010 and 2014.
Viktor Tikhonov, longtime Soviet hockey coach, dies at 84
One of my fav. Pat Quinn moments was him in tears on our bench after winning gold in Salt Lake 02.He said women inspired the men. #patsbench
— Hayley Wickenheiser (@wick_22) November 24, 2014