Lemaire memories: Tommy Thompson
Monday, 04.13.2009 / 12:00 PM
/ Features
Minnesota Wild
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By Tommy Thompson, Wild Assistant GM
I go back to the first training camp, and I didn't know Jacques that well at the time. We were dividing the scrimmages into halves, 30 or 40 minutes, and then they'd flood the ice in between.
Well, it was agreed at halftime that three players would be cut at the end. Guess whose job that was? Mine.
So, just before we're going to go into the stands for the second half, Jacques grabs me.
"Tommy, you know most of these players, right?"
I told him I knew them all. And he says, "When you go into the room, make sure you talk to six or seven of the guys, including those three, so that those three guys aren't singled out."
That tells me a lot about the guy.
The other thing, I think, that tells me a lot about him: Remember what he did when we won those two playoff series?
Did he come running on the ice and hugging people?
By the look on his face, he was so happy to see the team be happy out there. That's what gave him the happiness.
He didn't have to be part of it. He doesn't need to be part of those things or be receiving coach of the year awards. It's just the satisfaction of making something work.
That, to me, is what he's about.
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* NEWS AND FEATURES (April 13) Lemaire steps down Lemaire memories: Tommy Thompson Lemaire memories: Tom Lynn Lemaire memories: Mike Ramsey Lemaire memories: Bob Kurtz Lemaire memories: Bill Robertson |
Well, it was agreed at halftime that three players would be cut at the end. Guess whose job that was? Mine.
So, just before we're going to go into the stands for the second half, Jacques grabs me.
"Tommy, you know most of these players, right?"
I told him I knew them all. And he says, "When you go into the room, make sure you talk to six or seven of the guys, including those three, so that those three guys aren't singled out."
That tells me a lot about the guy.
The other thing, I think, that tells me a lot about him: Remember what he did when we won those two playoff series?
Did he come running on the ice and hugging people?
By the look on his face, he was so happy to see the team be happy out there. That's what gave him the happiness.
He didn't have to be part of it. He doesn't need to be part of those things or be receiving coach of the year awards. It's just the satisfaction of making something work.
That, to me, is what he's about.
