Quebec, Ontario or the Western League. “Wayne would sometimes come on the ice and practise with us—and this was Wayne Gretzky in his heyday. It’s pretty amazing when the greatest player in the world is even mentioning your name, much less skating with you.”
Where Gretzky inspired awe, there was, typically for his new young charges, outright terror where Burns was concerned. “Oh, he was an intimidating person, and not just for the players. He was also feared by opposing coaches,” says Russell. “You never knew if he was going to come over the glass after you if you were the other team’s coach. And that rubbed off on us. We felt like we had an extra man on the ice because we had Pat behind us. He was the big brother.” In one particularly violent game, Burns actually did come over the glass, squaring off at centre ice with his opposite, Ron Lapointe, a fight neither would admit to losing, even years later. That notorious incident would carry into NHL bitterness when Burns was coaching Montreal and Lapointe took over behind the Quebec Nordiques bench. They
hated
each other and it was real, not staged, animus. Burns simply looked more the part, with his chronic scowl, glowering. His rare smiles, in-game, were sneers.
“At my first training camp in Hull, I was standing outside the rink one day and this guy rides by on a motorcycle, all decked out in leather, with a beard,” remembers Russell. “One of our players waved to him. I said, ‘Who’s that?’ He said, ‘That’s Pat.’ And this was a month after I’d started practising with the team. I didn’t even recognize him. He was a big,imposing figure, intimidating, intense. But he was an intelligent guy, a great motivator and the kind of coach who always found a way to get the best out of you.”
The youthful Russell, wet behind the ears though pegged early as a skill player, was agog, eyes like saucers, upon arrival in Hull. “This was my first time being coached by a professional. I didn’t really have anyone to compare him to. It wasn’t until later, when I’d played for some other guys, that I realized what a great coach he was.”
Russell’s first night at training camp, all the players were anxious, many pining for home. Burns joined the teens, sat down with them and cracked jokes, told stories for the next two hours. “He made us laugh, and that kind of broke the ice. Of course, the next day when the puck dropped, it was all business and Pat cracked the whip. But you respected that and you followed along because you knew that there was a fair side to him as well. Pat was the kind of guy, even though he had a tough exterior and looked like a big tough biker, he knew the right time to sit you down for a one-on-one talk. At that time, Hull was bringing in a lot of Maritimers and Americans, guys a long way from home. Pat had the gruff exterior but knew when you needed to have a good heart-to-heart. I had a tough time my first two years after leaving home, and he really helped me get through that.”
Through three years up and down in the minors, and then a decade-long NHL career spent almost entirely with Chicago, Russell played for some of the hardest-nosed coaches in hockey, including Mike Keenan and Darryl Sutter. Burns had provided a primer for dealing with that type of individual. But it wasn’t until much later on that Russell, eventually coach and now GM of the Halifax Mooseheads, would stop to consider where Burns had learned the tactics and psychology he applied. Unlike Russell, Burns had no significant mentors in the game, hadn’t been exposed to elite coaching, and learned only by one-step-removed osmosis. Yet he thirsted for hockey knowledge and was alert to shifts in the style of the game as it was being played in the NHL. From close access to Gretzky, he adopted drills then almost exclusive to Edmonton Oilers practices,incorporating the long breakout in Hull, for all that he remained obsessed with defence-first hockey.
He was
Where Gretzky inspired awe, there was, typically for his new young charges, outright terror where Burns was concerned. “Oh, he was an intimidating person, and not just for the players. He was also feared by opposing coaches,” says Russell. “You never knew if he was going to come over the glass after you if you were the other team’s coach. And that rubbed off on us. We felt like we had an extra man on the ice because we had Pat behind us. He was the big brother.” In one particularly violent game, Burns actually did come over the glass, squaring off at centre ice with his opposite, Ron Lapointe, a fight neither would admit to losing, even years later. That notorious incident would carry into NHL bitterness when Burns was coaching Montreal and Lapointe took over behind the Quebec Nordiques bench. They
hated
each other and it was real, not staged, animus. Burns simply looked more the part, with his chronic scowl, glowering. His rare smiles, in-game, were sneers.
“At my first training camp in Hull, I was standing outside the rink one day and this guy rides by on a motorcycle, all decked out in leather, with a beard,” remembers Russell. “One of our players waved to him. I said, ‘Who’s that?’ He said, ‘That’s Pat.’ And this was a month after I’d started practising with the team. I didn’t even recognize him. He was a big,imposing figure, intimidating, intense. But he was an intelligent guy, a great motivator and the kind of coach who always found a way to get the best out of you.”
The youthful Russell, wet behind the ears though pegged early as a skill player, was agog, eyes like saucers, upon arrival in Hull. “This was my first time being coached by a professional. I didn’t really have anyone to compare him to. It wasn’t until later, when I’d played for some other guys, that I realized what a great coach he was.”
Russell’s first night at training camp, all the players were anxious, many pining for home. Burns joined the teens, sat down with them and cracked jokes, told stories for the next two hours. “He made us laugh, and that kind of broke the ice. Of course, the next day when the puck dropped, it was all business and Pat cracked the whip. But you respected that and you followed along because you knew that there was a fair side to him as well. Pat was the kind of guy, even though he had a tough exterior and looked like a big tough biker, he knew the right time to sit you down for a one-on-one talk. At that time, Hull was bringing in a lot of Maritimers and Americans, guys a long way from home. Pat had the gruff exterior but knew when you needed to have a good heart-to-heart. I had a tough time my first two years after leaving home, and he really helped me get through that.”
Through three years up and down in the minors, and then a decade-long NHL career spent almost entirely with Chicago, Russell played for some of the hardest-nosed coaches in hockey, including Mike Keenan and Darryl Sutter. Burns had provided a primer for dealing with that type of individual. But it wasn’t until much later on that Russell, eventually coach and now GM of the Halifax Mooseheads, would stop to consider where Burns had learned the tactics and psychology he applied. Unlike Russell, Burns had no significant mentors in the game, hadn’t been exposed to elite coaching, and learned only by one-step-removed osmosis. Yet he thirsted for hockey knowledge and was alert to shifts in the style of the game as it was being played in the NHL. From close access to Gretzky, he adopted drills then almost exclusive to Edmonton Oilers practices,incorporating the long breakout in Hull, for all that he remained obsessed with defence-first hockey.
He was
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