As Tom Renney stares down at the crude, rugged ice on the ground level of General Motors Place, he thinks to himself 'what did I do to deserve this'. And he continues to endure the constant booing from Vancouver fans who rightfully should be booing their hockey club. A hockey club that failed to give their coach a birthday present that he deserved for all the work he has done with this club. And as Tom Renney goes to sleep on his 42nd birthday, after losing for the umpteenth time, he knows what it is like to coach a team that sucks.
For Tom is a B.C. boy. And when you are a B.C. boy, you are born to win, but not just that, you are born to play hard. whether you are half Japanese like North Vancouver's Paul Kariya from North Vancouver, or if you are French-Canadian like Vancouver's Sebastien Bordelau, or a full blooded B.C. boy like Sechelt's David Oliver, when you are born in B.C., you have a certain expectation to live up to. Whether you are coach or player, those expectations always rest on your shoulder. When you are a B.C. boy, you are born to work as hard as you can. No matter what. You are born to win.
And Tom has always been a winner. When he was a little kid in that oversized hockey uniform he was a winner. When he coached Memorial Cup winners in Kamloops, he was a winner. When he coached the Canadian National Team, he was a winner. But it goes farther than that. His players have always been workers, from the Kamloops days to the Canadian National Team days. All he wants is to win the cup. The only thing that matters.
Welcome to the National Hockey League, Mr. Tom Renney, where the ultimate motivation is dollars. Where players don't care how succesful they are because they are at the top level. They are in the NHL, the only place they can go is down, which they can't. These players aren't like the WHL players or the Cdn. Ntl. players. Those players had something to work for, something to prove. Their talent, their worth, their proudness.
Renney is finding out what the NHL is like. The hard way. We all sympathize for him. At least I do. In fact, if it were not for his rookie status as a coach, UTV probably would have fired him by now. While he hides behind his excuses, he, like all his predecessors, realize what this team really is. And how he will eventually feel the wrath of the fans. But for now, those fans are content with booing the players. As they should. Let's keep it that way.
As for Tom renney himself, all this is, is a character experience for him, and he has handled it better then others, such as Rick Ley. His fate, this teams fate, lies in not his hands, but Pat Quinn's hands.
When Tom Renney wakes up tomorrow morning, his task, like it is every other day, is clear. Try again with what Quinn provieds him with. Try to win the cup. Work harder. Because he was born to win. He will do anything to win, and therefore, he is destined to win.
As for the rest of the team, life goes on.......
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