06-03-2003, 08:11 PM
This is so funny. How Mike Milbury keeps going is beyond me. This guy takes over a dead franchise for seven years and coaches them to the playoffs for 2 years, and they fire him?
Memo to Glen Sather: Get your ass off the golf course and do something for once. Hire Laviolette and Stick it to the Islanders.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (June 3) -- The New York Islanders fired coach Peter Laviolette on Tuesday, replacing him with minor league coach Steve Stirling.
The team announced on its Web site that Laviolette was out and Stirling, who coached in the AHL the last two seasons, would take over.
"This was a very difficult decision,'' general manager Mike Milbury said, according to the Web site. "Peter is a very good young coach with an excellent future.
"We felt a change was necessary for this team to move to the next level and compete for a Stanley Cup. Just making the playoffs is not enough.''
Laviolette had a successful two-year run with the team, twice leading it to the playoffs, where the Islanders lost in first round both years. The Islanders had not made the playoffs since 1994.
But when they lost in five games to Ottawa this spring, there was much complaining and finger-pointing among the players. New York was outscored 13-4 in its four losses to the Senators.
Laviolette set an NHL record by winning his first four road games in 2001-02, the first coach to do that. The team picked up his coaching option for next season in December 2002, but now has changed its mind.
"We're a good enough team to have advanced a lot further,'' defenseman Adrian Aucoin said after the Islanders were eliminated by Ottawa. "We won games last year because we played a lot harder. It's a whole group of guys, not just one or two.''
But it's the one, Laviolette, who lost his job.
In his first season with the Islanders, he helped them to the best start in franchise history, 9-0-1-1. The team doubled its win total to 42 that season before losing a bitter seven-game playoff loss to Toronto.
Assistant coaches Jacques Laperriere and Kelly Miller also were fired.
Stirling was The Hockey News' minor pro coach of the year in 2001-02 after taking Bridgeport to the AHL Finals. In his two seasons with the Sound Tigers, Stirling was 83-51-19-7.
"In Steve Stirling, we are promoting a coach who has developed at the pro level with us during the last six years after an outstanding collegiate coaching career,'' Milbury said. "Our entire organization believed strongly that Steve deserved this chance.''
Greg Cronin, an Islanders assistant coach the last five seasons, will succeed Stirling in Bridgeport.
Memo to Glen Sather: Get your ass off the golf course and do something for once. Hire Laviolette and Stick it to the Islanders.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (June 3) -- The New York Islanders fired coach Peter Laviolette on Tuesday, replacing him with minor league coach Steve Stirling.
The team announced on its Web site that Laviolette was out and Stirling, who coached in the AHL the last two seasons, would take over.
"This was a very difficult decision,'' general manager Mike Milbury said, according to the Web site. "Peter is a very good young coach with an excellent future.
"We felt a change was necessary for this team to move to the next level and compete for a Stanley Cup. Just making the playoffs is not enough.''
Laviolette had a successful two-year run with the team, twice leading it to the playoffs, where the Islanders lost in first round both years. The Islanders had not made the playoffs since 1994.
But when they lost in five games to Ottawa this spring, there was much complaining and finger-pointing among the players. New York was outscored 13-4 in its four losses to the Senators.
Laviolette set an NHL record by winning his first four road games in 2001-02, the first coach to do that. The team picked up his coaching option for next season in December 2002, but now has changed its mind.
"We're a good enough team to have advanced a lot further,'' defenseman Adrian Aucoin said after the Islanders were eliminated by Ottawa. "We won games last year because we played a lot harder. It's a whole group of guys, not just one or two.''
But it's the one, Laviolette, who lost his job.
In his first season with the Islanders, he helped them to the best start in franchise history, 9-0-1-1. The team doubled its win total to 42 that season before losing a bitter seven-game playoff loss to Toronto.
Assistant coaches Jacques Laperriere and Kelly Miller also were fired.
Stirling was The Hockey News' minor pro coach of the year in 2001-02 after taking Bridgeport to the AHL Finals. In his two seasons with the Sound Tigers, Stirling was 83-51-19-7.
"In Steve Stirling, we are promoting a coach who has developed at the pro level with us during the last six years after an outstanding collegiate coaching career,'' Milbury said. "Our entire organization believed strongly that Steve deserved this chance.''
Greg Cronin, an Islanders assistant coach the last five seasons, will succeed Stirling in Bridgeport.
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