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Heaven gains a great coach Neilson's passion, innovation advanced the game of hockeyPosted: Saturday June 21, 2003 6:22 PMUpdated: Saturday June 21, 2003 8:28 PM
Roger Neilson didn't have an enemy in the world. He was the most caring, generous man in the business. Neilson was one of the most remarkable guys in hockey. It was typical of him that if he had to die, he picked a day when everyone in hockey was in one place so they could mourn him together. If you want to look beyond the great human being he was -- and he was a man of tremendous faith -- you can look at him as one of the great innovators in hockey, especially with his early work in video analysis. Neilson was a very cerebral guy with a background in teaching, and he really helped hockey become high-tech. What he was doing back then by breaking down video was considered revolutionary. Neilson belived in fundamentally sound hockey, which in the modern era meant defensive hockey. Scotty Bowman jokingly blamed him for the modern malaise of low-scoring games. Neilson didn't need to coach that way, but he coached to his talent. When he had the expansion Panthers, that's how he coached because their talent level was low. And it was the most static neutral-zone trap you've ever seen -- that was part of the descent into the dead-puck era.Neilson wasn't well enough to attend his yearly coaching clinic last week in Peterborough, Ontario, so E.J. McGuire ran it for him. It was filmed by Leafs TV, but Neilson wanted to make sure it didn't turn into some tear-fest because he wasn't there. Neilson always shared his ideas, which isn't always the case with coaches. Some of them wondered why he was so generous with his knowledge, but he thought that it was important to spread the information around and help advance the game. Coaches are notorious for always pulling something out of their sleeves, and Neilson always had an angle. He knew how to stall for time with the best of them. Once when he was coaching Peterborough in the OHL, they let his dog loose on the ice. There have been some classic stall tactics among coaches -- Bill Stewart faked a heart attack in Germany a few years ago; Jacques Demers and other coaches have thrown coins onto the ice -- but Neilson may have taken the cake by having his dog skittering around out there. Neilson had a great sense of humor to the very end. When he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 1999, his doctor gave him five years to live. Then another oncologist said he had five years to live when he was found to have malignant melanoma early in 2001. Neilson quipped that he was lucky to have 10 years to live between the two forms of cancer. When Jacques Martin stepped aside for two games to allow Neilson to reach 1,000 career games coached, I had my doubts about that move. I don't think you should monkey with numbers; you shouldn't screw with that. I would've kicked up a big fuss ... except it was Neilson. If it were somebody else screwing around with stats and hockey history, everyone would've been upset. But with him it was just fine, and that speaks to how beloved he was. One of my favorite memories of Neilson is a highly personal one. My uncle had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma shortly before Neilson was. Our family was living with the disease along with him, and Neilson arranged for my uncle to talk with his doctor in Philadelphia. Bowman is universally respected for what he accomplished, but I don't think anyone affected more people than Neilson. Everyone liked Roger, and there has never been a coach whose tentacles were more widely spread than his. He will be sorely missed. Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber covers the NHL for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.
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