VANCOUVER – On the eve of his summer vacation, Bruce Boudreau looked Monday neither uncertain nor uneasy about his coaching future. This off-season should be a lot more enjoyable for him than the last one.
Despite the to-be-determined option year on his contract with the Vancouver Canucks, the 67-year-old head coach said at his season-ending press conference that he is confident he will be back with the National Hockey League team he led to a 32-15-10 record after he was hired in December.
Boudreau had spent the previous 22 months unemployed after being fired by the Minnesota Wild, and last summer was granted just two unsuccessful job interviews by NHL teams.
“It’s funny because when I when I left Minnesota, it was really a bad taste in my mouth,” Boudreau said after the Canucks ended their season six points short of a playoff spot. “And when you’re a year out and you interview for a couple jobs in the summer and you don’t get them, you just wonder, like: ‘Do people think the time has passed or what have you?’
“And then coming back and having that kind of record, and having the team play the way they did in a lot of different areas positively, it makes you believe when you go home that you did well. And that you still can do the job. The other thing is you know you still have the fire in your belly and the desire to do the job. You wake up every morning and can’t wait to get back to the job. And that’s what I found out: once I started doing it again, I couldn’t wait to get to work. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you love something until you don’t have it, and then you get it back and you realize it.”
Boudreau coached his 1,000th NHL game in Vancouver, and also reached 599 wins, deprived of another milestone by a season-ending 3-2 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday. His .649 winning percentage with the Canucks, albeit from a tiny sample, would over time make him the most successful coach in franchise history.
No wonder fans, players and – truth be told – reporters want the quotable coach back. But Canucks president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin, who will meet the media on Tuesday, have said they’ll review the season and Boudreau’s performance before making a decision on the coach who preceded them to Vancouver.
The option clause on the “two-year contract” that Boudreau signed with owner Francesco Aquilini is open to both sides, which puts the coach in position to demand an extension before agreeing to return.
“I told Patrik and Jim that I wanted to coach here next year,” Boudreau said. “We’re just talking right now. I think they want me back and I know I want to be back, so I think it should work out.”
Boudreau said the only thing he knows for sure is that he is going home to Hershey, Pa., on Wednesday.
He and his wife, Crystal, own and operate the Hershey Cubs, a junior team in the United States Premier Hockey League. Bruce and his grown sons, Ben, Andy and Brady, also run summer hockey camps in Belleville, Ont., and St. Catharines.
“I usually just run the Gatorade back and forth now,” Boudreau joked after his press conference.
An avid baseball fan, Boudreau said he was offered a rookie-league contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates after he won a Memorial Cup with the Toronto Marlboros in 1975, but turned down the Major League organization because he was singularly focussed on becoming a professional hockey player. But he’ll attend Toronto Blue Jays games when he’s in his hometown, and sometimes drives two hours south from Hershey to watch the Washington Nationals.
Boudreau said he also plans to play lots of golf this summer. A seven-handicap, his home backs on to Hershey Country Club, where he is a member.
“I’ll go out in the evening and play the second hole five times,” he said.
Whatever he does, Boudreau will be thinking about the Canucks, what they accomplished and how to make them better next season.
“I think the biggest thing is the team believing that they could win every game,” he said of the change in culture he witnessed the last five months. “It didn’t matter whether we played Minnesota, Calgary, Colorado, any one of the really good teams in the West, we thought we could win. That makes you feel pretty good that the players came ready to play.”
In his far-ranging press conference, Boudreau said:
• The organization was aware of winger Brock Boeser’s concern for his ailing father, Duke, and supported him any way it could, offering him a leave of absence if needed.
“If you have a core covenant on your team, the first thing is always family first,” Boudreau said. “It was tough on him. If you look at his (season), it starts out with holding out a little bit, and when you don’t have a full training camp, it’s really difficult. And then you have this (Boeser’s dad’s health) on top of it. It makes for a long, tough year. I think Brock will be great next year, and I hope everything goes well at home. But he knows he has our support for anything he needs.”
• Ideally, Boudreau would like to play starting goalie Thatcher Demko, who ended the season with an undisclosed injury, about 55 games next season rather than the 64 he logged this year.
• With Demko, a star defenceman in Quinn Hughes and formidable 1-2-3 punch at centre with J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat, the Canucks are close to being contenders.
“With a couple little tweaks here and there,” Boudreau said, “I think this team can be very, very dangerous next year.”
• Boudreau has no plans to change the coaching staff he largely inherited from Travis Green.
“You end the year not making the playoffs,” he explained. “But it’s very rare that you end the year not making the playoffs but on a very positive note. And I think (players will) take that all summer, and they will look to come back and be a different team in training camp and at the beginning (of the season) than they have been in the past. That’s going to be the biggest factor is that this summer, they’re going to come back and they’re going to expect to win.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
NAPA, Calif. (AP) — David Lipsky shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday at Silverado Country Club to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Procore Championship.
Winless in 104 events since joining the PGA Tour in 2022, Lipsky went out with the early groups and had eight birdies with one bogey to kick off the FedEx Cup Fall series at the picturesque course in the heart of Napa Valley wine country.
After missing the cut in his three previous tournaments, Lipsky flew from Las Vegas to Arizona to reunite with his college coach at Northwestern to get his focus back. He also spent time playing with some of the Northwestern players, which helped him relax.
“Just being around those guys and seeing how carefree they are, not knowing what’s coming for them yet, it’s sort of nice to see that,” Lipsky said. “I was almost energized by their youthfulness.”
Patton Kizzire and Mark Hubbard were a stroke back. Kizzire started on the back nine and made a late run with three consecutive birdies to move into a tie for first. A bogey on No. 8 dropped him back.
“There was a lot of good stuff out there today,” Kizzire said. “I stayed patient and just went through my routines and played well, one shot at a time. I’ve really bee working hard on my mental game and I think that allowed me to rinse and repeat and reset and keep playing.”
Mark Hubbard was at 67. He had nine birdies but fell off the pace with a bogey and triple bogey on back-to-back holes.
Kevin Dougherty also was in the group at 67. He had two eagles and ended his afternoon by holing out from 41 yards on the 383-yard, par-4 18th.
Defending champion Sahith Theegala had to scramble for much of his round of 69.
Wyndham Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023 and the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February, had a 70.
Max Homa shot 71. The two-time tournament champion and a captain’s pick for the President’s Cup in two weeks had two birdies and overcame a bogey on the par-4 first.
Stewart Cink, the 2020 winner, also opened with a 71. He won The Ally Challenge last month for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Three players from the Presidents Cup International team had mix results. Min Woo Lee shot 68, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., 69 and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., 73. International team captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., also had a 69.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 68, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot 70 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., had a 71.
Lipsky was a little shaky off the tee for much of the afternoon but made up for it with steady iron play that left him in great shape on the greens. He had one-putts on 11 holes and was in position for a bigger day but left five putts short.
Lipsky’s only real problem came on the par-4 ninth when his approach sailed into a bunker just shy of the green. He bounced back nicely with five birdies on his back nine. After missing a 19-foot putt for birdie on No. 17, Lipsky ended his day with a 12-foot par putt.
That was a big change from last year when Lipsky tied for 30th at Silverado when he drove the ball well but had uneven success on the greens.
“Sometimes you have to realize golf can be fun, and I think I sort of forgot that along the way as I’m grinding it out,” Lipsky said. “You’ve got to put things in perspective, take a step back. Sort of did that and it seems like it’s working out.”
Laird stayed close after beginning his day with a bogey on the par-4 10th. The Scot got out of the sand nicely but pushed his par putt past the hole.
Homa continued to have issues off the tee and missed birdie putts on his final four holes.
