John Tortorella, a.k.a “Torts”, will be introduced as Team USA’s head coach for next fall’s tournament in Toronto, according to TSN.
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Prior to the leak, USA Hockey announced that the coach would be unveiled on ESPN by Steve Levy following Monday Night Football.
Volleyball: Poland rallied to beat the United States 17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-15, handing the US men’s team its first loss of the World Cup in Tokyo.
“The Boston-born Tortorella “ renowned for his combative personality “ has a Stanley Cup championship pedigree, along with more National Hockey League victories than any American-born coach. Tortorella said he is working on controlling his temper. The most recent World Cup of Hockey was won by Team Canada in Toronto in 2004.
Nashville’s Peter Laviolette and Buffalo’s Dan Bylsma, who coached the USA team in the Sochi Olympics in 2014, were also thought to be candidates, as was Columbus’ Todd Richards.
The Team United States of America job will be Tortorella’s second worldwide head coaching assignment after leading Team U.S. at the 2008 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
Tortorella joins Ralph Krueger of Team Europe as the only World Cup coaches to be named so far. The tournament will feature eight teams representing the US , Canada, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Finland.
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For a short tournament like the World Cup of Hockey, Tortorella said it won’t necessarily be the team that has the best players that wins but rather the one that jells quickest that will have the most success. He has also coached the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. That he’s not the lunatic who tried to bum rush the Flames’ dressing room during the first intermission to punctuate his disagreement with Calgary coach Bob Hartley during his lone season behind the Canucks’ bench. He needed to be restrained by players and coaches.
