DUCKS GO FOR A `JUMP-START'.Byline: Frank Welch
Frank Welch (1835 – 1878) was a Nebraska Republican politician. He was born at Bunker Hill, Charlestown, Massachusetts on February 10, 1835 and moved to Boston in with his parents. Staff Writer ANAHEIM - In the eyes of Mighty Ducks
Mighty Ducks is a half-hour Disney animated series aired on ABC and The Disney Afternoon in the fall of 1996. Twenty-six episodes total were produced. general manager Pierre Gauthier Pierre Gauthier is an ice hockey administrator in the National Hockey League. Gauthier started out in the NHL working for the Quebec Nordiques in various scouting roles from 1981 to 1993. , the tension and frustration of a current NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there season slowly slipping away from his club's reach suddenly became too much to handle. And it reached a breaking point Thursday morning. So with that, Gauthier fired head coach Craig Hartsburg Craig Hartsburg (born June 29, 1959 in Stratford, Ontario, Canada) is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played ten seasons with the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League from 1979-80 until 1988-89. after the Ducks early-afternoon practice and he promoted assistant Guy Charron to the head-coaching position for the remainder of the season. Charron, 51, becomes Anaheim's fourth head coach but its first to land the position during the season. Previous coaches Pierre Page (1997-98) and Ron Wilson (1993-97) were let go after completing seasons. Hartsburg, under fire for the past month because of the Ducks' subpar sub·par adj. 1. Not measuring up to traditional standards of performance, value, or production. 2. Below par in a hole, round, or game of golf. results through 33 games (11-15-4-3), was in his third season with Anaheim. Hartsburg ends his Mighty Ducks tenure at 80-85-29-3. Gauthier's decision Thursday was hardly surprising, since the Ducks have sputtered with just five wins in their last 21 games. However, the announcement came a day after a 5-4 overtime home victory, albeit over the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional men's ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). . ``I decided to do this as tension mounted around the club,'' Gauthier said during a conference call. ``This wasn't something I wanted to do; no disrespect to Guy, but we needed to jump-start this club. ``I don't think there is anything wrong, but there was some tension with some of our young people, and they didn't handle it very well or in the same way. This was a very tough decision for me to make because I believed in everything Craig was trying to do.'' The tension around the club was a product of lack of victories. The club's confidence level, Gauthier said, had become fragile. And it often showed on the ice, where numerous defensive breakdowns and lack of consistent offensive production - even from stars Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne - became a recurring theme of the sagging club. Charron, hired by the team June 29, will take over behind the bench tonight when the Ducks play host to the New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York, U.S.A. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). at The Pond. He and current assistant coach Terry Simpson will run the show. ``I am very grateful to Pierre and the organization, but I wish it came under different circumstances,'' Charron said. ``I'd like to say I have a long list of priorities, but I don't. We won't change a lot, we just need the players to go out and play with confidence and do the work. It's just business as usual and we have to go with it.'' Charron has 16 games of NHL experience after filling in with the Calgary Flames during the 1991-92 season. He replaced Doug Risebrough and was 6-7-3 in that span. The Flames finished 31-37-12 and did not make the playoffs. Charron, a veteran of 12 NHL seasons as a center with five teams, spent the previous two seasons as the head coach of the International Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a hockey team in the American Hockey League. They play in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA at the Van Andel Arena. They are the minor league affiliate of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings. . Last May, he was named the IHL IHL International Humanitarian Law IHL I Have Lost IHL Institutions of Higher Learning IHL International Hockey League IHL Internet Header Length IHL International House of Logorrhea IHL Idiopathic Hearing Loss IHL Idiopathic Hepatic Lipidosis Coach of the Year after leading the team to the Turner Cup Finals. He also has spent seven seasons as an NHL assistant with Calgary (1990-95) and the New York Islanders The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, a hamlet located on Long Island in Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. (1995-97). ``I believe having a qualified person like Guy around, this is the right thing to do,'' Gauthier said. ``We believe he can give this team a jump-start. ``He has been around a lot of great coaches with great credentials and he knows and works well with this club. We believe we can get back in this thing real quick. Our short term goal is to get back in the hunt and get in the playoffs.'' DUCKS vs. N.Y. RANGERS Time: 7:30 p.m. at the Pond TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net 2; 690-AM Matchup: Anaheim won at New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of on Oct. 18, during the middle of its successful Eastern road swing. The Ducks are 8-3-1 overall against the Rangers and they are 5-1 at home. The Rangers are in the middle of a West Coast trip and their problem this season has been defense. They entered Thursday's game against the Kings giving up the most goals in the NHL (112). That has to be music to the Ducks' ears, especially since they showed signs of life offensively during a 5-4 overtime victory over expansion Columbus on Wednesday. Winger Teemu Selanne is expected back after missing his first game of the season because of a groin pull. - Frank Welch CAPTION(S): box Box: DUCKS vs. N.Y. RANGERS (see text) |
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