Posted in Claude Julien No Comments August 2nd, 2007
Julien’s and Ward’s Bulldogs
To shed a little more light on the history of Claude Julien and Geoff Ward…in particular their 2002-03 season with the Hamilton Bulldogs…here’s an article from the 4/9/03 Hamilton Spectator, courtesy of Factiva.
They have been friends for years, their philosophies on the game of hockey are very similar and yesterday Claude Julien and Geoff Ward were named co-winners of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding head coach.
Julien was the Hamilton Bulldogs’ head coach until the Montreal Canadiens made him their bench boss on January 17. Ward, who had been Julien’s assistant, moved up to be the top Dog.
Under first Julien and then Ward the Bulldogs built a 49-19-8-4 record, the best in the AHL, and the media in the league’s 28 cities took the unusual step of naming them co-winners.
Not surprisingly both Julien and Ward gave much credit to the other. “In Wardy’s case you really have to tip your hat to him,” said Julien who pointed out that his former assistant had to deal with a team weakened by callups and injuries.
“He had to deal with playing forwards on defence and calling guys up from every different league. For him to keep that team still winning and finishing first overall is a credit to him. He had the toughest task of the two of us to keep that team together.”
Said Ward: “When Claude was the head coach he really allowed me to be a contributor to it. Our philosophies were very similar, which is one reason we ended up working together in the first place.
“We were able to work through the program together and Claude always included me in the decisions and allowed me to use my strengths. That really helped me when I became the head coach.”
Ward also credited Joe Patterson who was hired to be his assistant.
“He’s another main reason why this has happened,” said Ward. “Joe has come in and fit in well. He has head-coaching experience and has been an integral part of everything that’s happened.”
Bulldogs’ captain Benoit Gratton said Julien and Ward are worthy recipients for the award especially for what they did at the start of the year making one team out of players from both the Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.
“At the beginning of the year, with players coming from two teams, I had my doubts because I was in that situation before in Portland and I knew it was not easy,” said Gratton. “They did a good job, right from the first day telling us what they were thinking. The guys responded, so we have to give them both credit.”
To make sure that the Bulldogs didn’t split into two cliques, Julien said the coaching staff took the unusual step of assigning the dressing room stalls themselves. In many dressing rooms, stalls are assigned based on seniority. Julien said they made sure the players from both teams were interspersed throughout the room and they also tried to mix up the European players, as well as the French-speaking and English-speaking players.
This is the first time two coaches from the same team have shared the Pieri Award; Maine’s Mike Milbury and Hershey’s John Paddock were co-winners after tying in the voting in 1988. Previous winners of the award include Frank Mathers (1969), Fred Shero (1970), Al MacNeil (1972, ‘77), Don Cherry (1974), John Muckler (1975), Jacques Demers (1983), Larry Pleau (1987), Marc Crawford (1993), Barry Trotz (1994), Peter Laviolette (1999) and Bruce Cassidy (2002).
“It’s nice to be mentioned in the company of a lot of great coaches who have won the award before,” said Ward. “Being able to share the award with Claude makes it that much more special.
“I’ve always believed a coach-of-the-year-award is a function of how the team performs. The players have done an outstanding job and it’s been an easy team to coach. They’re a great group to work with, so I look at it as a team award more than anything else.”
Ahhhh, the Bruins can only hope for a 49-19 record this year….
Also a member of that 2002-03 Bulldogs team? Bobby Allen.
