Pincourt native came very close to giving up on his dream of playing in the NHL during his third season of making $350 a week in the ECHL.
Author of the article:
Stu Cowan • Montreal Gazette
Alex Burrows says he was shocked when he got the call from Canadiens GM on Feb. 23 naming him the team’s new assistant coach.Photo by Allen McInnis /Montreal Gazette
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Alex Burrows believes that every day in the NHL “is always a great day.”
That’s not surprising when you look at the road the new Canadiens assistant coach had to take to make it as a player in the NHL.
The 39-year-old Pincourt native played two seasons with the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes, but was never selected at the NHL Draft. After junior, he spent three years in the ECHL, playing for the Greenville Grrrowl, the Baton Rouge Kingfish and the Columbia Inferno, earning $350 a week.
“I remember my third year pro when I got sent down for the third year in a row to the East Coast league,” Burrows recalled Tuesday afternoon during a video conference from Vancouver. “That’s when all my buddies were finishing university and I told myself that if I was still in the Coast by Christmas I would have probably packed it in and go to university and try to get a degree.”
Burrows got the break he was hoping for after playing only four games with the Inferno in the 2004-05 season when he got a call from Craig Heisinger, who was general manager of the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, the Vancouver Canucks’ farm team at the time.
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“I never looked back ever since,” Burrows said.
Burrows made his NHL debut during the 2005-06 season and would play 12 seasons with the Canucks, followed by two more with the Ottawa Senators before hanging up his skates and taking an assistant coaching job with the AHL’s Laval Rocket in 2018, joining his friend Joël Bouchard behind the bench.
Burrows said he was shocked and excited when he got a call from Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin on the night of Feb. 23, shortly after the team’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Senators in Ottawa. Bergevin informed Burrows he was firing head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller. Dominique Ducharme would replace Julien and Burrows would replace Muller.
The Canadiens arranged for a car to pick Burrows up at his Montreal home at 6 a.m. the next day to bring him to Ottawa so he could join the team for a flight to Winnipeg for a game the next night against the Jets. Burrows said his wife had to inform their three kids when they woke up that morning why their father wasn’t home and what his new job was. Burrows said his family was thrilled, noting his 5-year-old son watches the RDS sports news every morning and knows all the Canadiens players.
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“I was really excited, really thrilled to get a chance to get back in the NHL with my childhood team and to chase that Lord Stanley again,” Burrows said. “Even if it’s as a coach, for me it would be a dream come true. I’m really excited about this challenge. It’s going to take time, but at the same time, it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season and see how our team plays. The best thing for me, our guys care so much and they want to do well and we have a good group of guys. So I’m excited about that.”
The Canadiens players have talked about the excitement and energy Burrows has brought to the team. He has also helped improve the power play, which is 5-for-11 in the first six games since Burrows took charge of it, with the Canadiens posting a 2-1-3 record with their new coaches.
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Burrows started his NHL career as a fourth-line agitator “doing whatever it took to stay in the league.” He eventually moved up to a checking role on the third line and ended up playing on the Canucks’ top line with twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin. In 2019, Burrows was inducted into the Canucks’ Ring of Honour.
Burrows answered questions for more than 45 minutes Tuesday in English and French and was very comfortable and confident. He said he’s just going to be himself in his new role with the Canadiens. You could see and hear why he has been able to bring some energy to the team.
“Now that I’m here I won’t start changing the way I am,” he said. “I’m going to be myself. That’s what brought me here, that’s what gave me the career I had, so why change now?”
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Burrows describes himself as a “hockey nerd” who eats hockey and watches games every night.
When asked if he wonders what he might have done if he didn’t make it in the NHL, Burrows said: “I think the biggest thing would probably have been a phys-ed teacher. That’s probably what I would have liked to do. Because I’m a big sports fan. I watch every sport that’s out there I know about. I like to watch and I like to study how guys prepare. So I would say phys-ed teacher would have probably been my call of duty.”
Now, the NHL has come calling again. Another great day for Burrows.
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Vancouver, BC – The Vancouver Canucks today announced that Rogers Arena doors will open at 5:30 p.m. PT, for Tuesday’s Stanley Cup Playoff Game #2, 30 minutes earlier than normal. The enthusiasm and passion of fans wanting to arrive early and not miss the Toyota Party on the Plaza as well as the in-arena pre-game show experience, encouraged the team to ensure the bowl is loud and proud when the pre-show begins at 7:00 p.m.
“Our players could not have been clearer after Game #1 that the fans played a huge part of the victory on Sunday night,” said Michael Doyle, President, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, Business Operations. “Our players are feeding off this energy and we want them to feel it from the second they step out of the dressing room.”
“I know the players and there was a lot of ‘wow’ with how loud the crowd was,” said Rick Tocchet, Head Coach. “Some guys told me they got emotional during it. I’m sure the crowd is going to be just as loud (for Game 2).”
The Toyota Party of the Plaza will open at 4:30 p.m. with a wide range of activities for fans of all ages. From face-painting and ball hockey to the Michelob Ultra beer garden and live music on the Air Canada Stage with The Anthony LaRosa Band, the North Plaza will be the place to be to get ready for Game #2.
The Canucks also announced that a number of tickets and suites have been released and are available to the public at canucks.com/tickets.
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Rogers Arena will host an official ‘Away Game Viewing Party’ for Game #3 of the first round of NHL Playoffs. Presented by Rogers, the Viewing Party will be a ticketed event, costing $15, with proceeds benefiting the Canucks for Kids Fund. Watch the game on one of the biggest and brightest videoboards in the NHL, be entertained throughout the experience, and receive special Rogers Value Menu food and beverage offerings thanks to Rogers. Visit canucks.com/watch to secure your tickets.
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Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 13 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews beats Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark for a goal during the third period of Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Monday, April 22, 2024, in Boston. Photo by Charles Krupa /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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In his 52nd NHL playoff game, the same amount that vaulted Doug Gilmour to the Maple Leafs’ franchise lead with 77 playoff points, it was high time for Auston Matthews to step up this spring.
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Toronto’s season likely would be toast if it came home trailing 2-0 to playoff nemesis Boston, with faith already shaken outside the room after a Game 1 clunker. Matthews, highest paid of the Core Four forwards at $13.25 million US a season, needed to have a huge presence in a Game 2 that looked at times as it, too, would be fumbled away.
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He embraced his inner Killer and like Gilmour, had significant shifts throughout the 200-foot stage, capped by the 3-2 winner on a full steam breakaway. Matthews’ three-point night tied a career single-game high and though still trailing Gilmour 77-47 in post-season production, Matthews earned himself and his club and extended runway in this series, tied 1-1 heading home.
“Auston’s all over the stat sheet tonight,” head coach Sheldon Keefe praised to media in Boston. “A goal, two assists, but to me it’s the way he worked — hard, physical, winning puck battles all over the ice.”
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Game 3 is Wednesday in Toronto, where the Leafs could get William Nylander back and now have a very confident Ilya Samsonov in net after Boston chose to take Leaf nemesis Jereny Swayman out Monday for Linus Ullmark.
In the teeth of the Bruins’ TD Garden den, Matthews played a team-high 23 minutes and 24 seconds, had eight shots on Ullmark and delivered six hits. After labouring in vain to reach his 70th goal in the last three regular season games, he finally nailed it in style, one-handing a long aerial bomb from Max Domi at the Boston line away from the flailing stick of Charlie McAvoy, settling the disc and deking Ullmark.
“It’s all about just trying to get to the net,” Matthews said. “It’s a battle at the net fronts out there, and I guess on the goal, just a flip out of the zone and just try to anticipate and time it well.”
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With less than eight minutes to go, it was Toronto’s first lead on Boston in six games all season. Matthews then helped kill the final seconds with Ullmark on the bench, after Tyler Bertuzzi served a potentially devasting penalty.
“There is just a lot of belief and trust in that room in one another,” captain John Tavares told Sportsnet. “A lot of guys have been in different situations over the years. We just continued to stay with it and got rewarded.
“Good for the power play to come through (1-for-16 against Boston this season coming in) and anytime you give No, 34 a look like that, he’s obviously a special player who made a good play.
“The way the guys were blocking shots, closing time and space, Sammy being big and seeing pucks and guys battling hard for him, it was a hard-fought win.’
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The Leafs had lost the previous eight to Boston going back to last year and in their previous eight playoff game versus Tampa, Florida and Boston, had not scored more than two.
At times Keefe flipped Domi and Mitch Marner on Matthews’ right side to put Marner with his long-time centre. It’s just as important to give Marner some jump, too, especially with William Nylander missing a second game with an undisclosed injury … Tavares’s goal when Matthews found him alone in the slot was preceded by two power play video reviews that went against the Leafs, which Keefe cited in saying he “loved the resolve” of the Leafs. Calle Jarnkrok’s shot that Ullmark gloved was inconclusively not over the goal line, and a Bertuzzi’s mid-air bat looked low enough until the cameras zoomed in … As in Game 1, a good Leaf start came undone trying to show Boston they wouldn’t be intimidated on Causeway Street. Jake McCabe cross-checked Jakub Lauko after a whistle and Boston capitalized, Jake DeBrusk adding to his productive Game 1 setting up Morgan Geekie after David Kampf and Timothy Liljegren got confused on who should make an easy clear.
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Kudos to the Leafs for coming right back 14 seconds later, Matthews corralling a high puck, firing it off of the crossbar, with Domi following up, which made Max and Tie Domi the first Leaf father and son with Toronto playoff goals … The fourth line of Ryan Reaves, Kampf and Connor Dewar once more out-played Boston’s group, though the Leafs cratered in the last 20 seconds of the first period. Samsonov whiffed on a hand-off to Liljegren, giving Charlie Coyle an extra shot that broke Samsonov’s mask. In the time it took the goalie to get his broken strap fixed, Boston had time to double check a faceoff drill, Pavel Zacha winning it, defenceman Simon Benoit unable to tie up David Pastrnak, who then eluded Marner for his first of the series … Starting Ullmark left Boston cosch Jim Montgomery open to criticism, messing with Jeremy Swayman’s 4-0 record against the Leafs this season with only three goals against the past three in regular season and playoffs. But Montgomery was not going to break up what has been an effective rotation.
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