By teaching Ottawa how to roll with punches, coach Dave Cameron led turnaround
Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron has a great sense of humor. That much was evident in his press conference following a season-ending Game 6 loss on Sunday. The coach was asked about disappointment following the game, and he told the media that his biggest disappointment was missing out on the heated toilet seats he would have been able to enjoy at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Montreal if his team had advanced to Game 7.
"When you're old, you learn to roll with the punches," Cameron explained to the media.
The Senators suffered many blows this season. General manager Bryan Murray is currently battling incurable colon cancer, and assistant coach Mark Reeds died of esophageal cancer one day before the 2015 playoffs began. Cameron came in as coach in the middle of the season after former coach Paul MacLean was fired in December. The Senators also famously went 21-3-3 in the final 27 games of the regular season in order to make up a 14-point gap in the standings to make the playoffs.
Ottawa is a young team, and each of those events could have been a knockout blow to this squad. But Ottawa instead learned how to battle through the tough times, and Cameron said the off-ice adversity the team faced helped it put the on-ice game into perspective.
"What we went through with [Reeds], that's no analogy. That's real life," Cameron told NHL.com. "I think what that will do is give our guys a real good balance and be able to find out that, 'Hey, we have it pretty good here.' Our profession is good, and our job is real good, but at the end of the day don't take anything for granted."
After the sting of the end of the season wears off, Ottawa will look back at an incredible year for the team, and the lessons learned by battling through turmoil both on and off the ice during the 2014-15 season should benefit the Sens in the years to come.
(h/t NHL)
Photo by Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
