Aw shut yer pie hole!

by John Fontana on May 12, 2004 8:11 PM EDT in Media

Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella, upset at Philadelphia coach Ken Hitchcock yelling at his players in the Lightning's 6-2 loss in Game 2 Monday, fired back at Hitchcock.

``We knew going into the series that Bobby Clarke, their general manager, was going to be working as hard as he could behind the scenes whining about this, that and the other thing as far as what's going on in the series,'' Tortorella said. ``We know Hitch is going to be talking about anything that is on his mind. We accept that.

``But when a coach starts bringing that dialogue onto the ice, behind the bench, more or less within the opposing team's players, it's wrong. The last time I looked, he's wearing a suit back there, the same type of suit I'm wearing. He's not in the battle.

``He should shut his yap. It's not about him. It's about two quality teams.''

Told of Tortorella's comments, Hitchcock kept his simple.

''Tell him to mind his own business,'' Hitchcock said.

Methinks Game Three is going to be a real ugly affair, and I ain't talking about final score.

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Well, either Torts is trying to draw attention away from his players, ala Wayne Gretzky, or he has gone right off the deep end.

This is the first time the Lightning have had to face adversity in this years post season. If the coach cant keep his cool, how can the players be expected to?

by Keith on May 12, 2004 8:11 PM EDT reply actions

This is a calculated effort to detract attention away from Khabibulin’s performance Monday night. Or he read my post. Either way, it’s quite entertaining…

by tommy on May 12, 2004 8:11 PM EDT reply actions