St. Louis Blues | From Bowman to Montgomery, the circle is complete

(Newark, New Jersey) The setting was fun. Here we are barely an hour before the Blues-Devils duel on Wednesday evening, in the bowels of the Prudential Center, just outside the Blues locker room.

New head coach Jim Montgomery is asked by one of two St. Louis reporters about Jordan Binnington. The latter will be the starting goalkeeper for the Blues and his next victory will be his 152^ewhich will break Mike Liut’s team record of 151. The question, obviously, doesn’t make anyone any younger.

“It’s quite an achievement. There have been Mike Liut, Curtis Joseph, several very good goaltenders in the history of the organization, Montgomery listed. Binnington has had an exceptional career, he won the Stanley Cup. It’s a well-deserved reward. »

So here is Montgomery, head coach of the Boston Bruins until last week, unemployed until Saturday, head coach of the Blues for four days, discussing the history of the Blues point-blank. Let’s be clear: he was also not asked to name the starting lineup for the first match in 1967. But the fact remains that since his hiring, he undoubtedly has many other things to worry about than learning the book Blues records.

“This is my third stay with the Blues, so I know their history well! says the Montrealer, proudly. I am a hockey historian. I’m well aware of what Scott Bowman did here, Red Berenson, Brian Sutter, Bob Berry, Joel Quenneville, Craig Berube too. There have been some very good coaches here and I am blessed to follow in their footsteps. »

For a hockey history buff, and for an Anglo-Montrealer too, we can guess that occupying the position that the great Scotty Bowman named it more than 50 years ago must not be trivial.

“It’s really special,” recognizes Montgomery. This is someone I exchange text messages with. »

From football to Zoom

Scotty Bowman is getting ready to eat dinner when he answers the call from The Press.

“The story goes back a very long time!” exclaims the nonagenarian. I didn’t know Jimmy, but I knew his father [également prénommé Jimmy]he was a good athlete. I played football in Verdun, he lived in Rosemont, but he came to play on our team. He didn’t play hockey, but he was a good athlete who competed in the Olympics [de 1956] in boxing. »

Bowman and Montgomery, the son, will then cross paths in the world of hockey. In the 2010s, Bowman served as a consultant for the Chicago Blackhawks and one of their prospects, Ian Mitchell, played for the University of Denver, where Montgomery coached from 2013 to 2018 and won a national championship in 2017.

Another initiative then brought them closer together. In the midst of a pandemic, Montgomery, then unemployed after losing his position in Dallas due in particular to an alcohol addiction, organized virtual seminars for coaches on Zoom in the company of Quebecer Jon Goyens. In these “Coaches Café”, coaching luminaries were invited to share their experiences. Bowman participated, as did Joel Quenneville and Barry Trotz, among others.

“It helped him personally because it kept him engaged in the sport. He talked about hockey and shared his knowledge with the best in the world,” recalls Goyens, on the line.

Montgomery will then return to an assistant position with the Blues, then head coach in Boston. “We were texting each other when he was managing the Bruins,” adds Bowman. I left him alone lately when things weren’t going well, I didn’t want to impose myself either. But I wrote to him to wish him success in St. Louis.

“Jimmy coached at several levels, he invested a lot of time,” continues the legendary coach. His greatest quality is that he is a good communicator, he is confident, he is very direct, hides nothing and tells the truth. And he is very fair. »

Immediate impact

This honesty struck his new protégés.

“It was an excellent first impression for me,” said striker Mathieu Joseph, met on the bridge during the first intermission on Wednesday (he was left out). He arrived talking about the former coach, saying that it’s not easy, that he too had been fired five days earlier. Just for mentioning Drew [Bannister] firstly, it showed that he has a lot of class. Afterwards, he was just honest with us, about what he thinks of us and the identity we want to have.

“His message was very clear,” added striker Alexandre Texier.

The Blues won their first two games under his leadership, both on the road, 5-2 Monday against the Rangers and 3-0 Wednesday against the Devils. In this match, the new driver called a timeout midway through 2^e period. His team certainly led by three goals, but the Devils dominated 10-1 on penalties and the Canadian’s fans would have had a strange feeling of déjà vu when observing the Blues stiff in their territory.

During the break, Montgomery exuded a mixture of calm and firmness. He concluded his speech by clapping his hands, as if to encourage his men, who stopped the bleeding.

“When you lose momentum and you have the chance, it’s worth it to reset the counters. And there were more than two minutes left before the next commercial break,” Montgomery explained.

At the next stoppage in play, the Montrealer took a few moments with Zachary Bolduc, on the bench, to teach him some corrections. “What I like about him,” Bolduc said after the match, “is that when he sees something, he comes and tells you right away, he doesn’t wait a week and it’s always direct and clear.” . »

Four years later, Jake Allen is still appreciated

Nice scene during the Blues’ morning training. A team publicist sat in the stands at the Prudential Center alongside the game announcer and Jeremy Rutherford, a reporter assigned to cover the Blues for The Athletic. And Jake Allen, now the Devils’ color wearer, came to greet all these beautiful people and chat with them for about ten minutes. After the match, Allen was waiting in particular for Jordan Binnington, his former partner in front of the net. Allen could congratulate Binnington, who set the record for victories in Blues history with this triumph. “I love Jakey, he was a mentor to me,” Binnington said. He’s just a great leader and I learned from him. » Four years after his departure from the Blues, Allen has visibly left his mark on his former team.