Dominique Ducharme, who will surely be back behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens next season, without the "interim" label, appeared before the media praising his soldiers, true warriors. Ducharme also explained the nature of his players' injuries, which gives us some insight into the makeup of some, including Tyler Toffoli and Brendan Gallagher.
Toff and Gally were playing with a groin injury, which limits a field hockey player's speed/fluidity. In the case of the captain, it was known that he was playing with a serious thumb injury, as was Petry, who was playing with two crippled fingers. Ducharme emphasized, with great emotion, what true warriors his soldiers are. He is proud of his troops.
Carey Price, Shea Weber and Brendan Gallagher were outed, but the coach wanted to reassure them, in a way, that the team was going to come back to play in a Stanley Cup Final before they retired.
In front of the media, Ducharme spoke like a man who was already on a mission for next year and the future. He wants to get this team back to the Stanley Cup Finals, but it won't be a simple process. It's still quite a mission to make it to the final four two seasons in a row. But it's not impossible!
