Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville has led the team to two Stanley Cup Championships in the last four years, and after the team's latest title win general manager Stan Bowman extended the coach for three years, much to the excitement of his players.
Quenneville is the only Blackhawks coach to lead the Original Six team to two Stanley Cups since its inception in 1926.
Following a win over the Boston Bruins in six games that saw Chicago hoist its second Cup since 2010, Bowman wanted to make sure the coach was locked in to a longer deal. Quenneville's players all watched together as the coach had a press conference to announce the extension on Friday. If the team's respect for Quenneville was ever in question, Patrick Sharp erased any doubts.
"I'm excited," Sharp told NHL.com of the extension before kicking off the Sixth Annual Blackhawks Convention. "He certainly earned the extension, and you look around the League, I don't think there are any other coaches out there with his track record or his proven winning record," the left wing said.
Quenneville has been coaching the Blackhawks since 2008 and his extension means that he'll remain with the team until the 2016-17 season and his players couldn't be happier.
"He's very knowledgeable about the game," right wing Patrick Kane told NHL.com. "He's respectful of the players and knows a lot of different buttons to push when things maybe aren't going right or when they are going right."
Quenneville, a nominee this past season for the Jack Adams Award that goes to the NHL's best head coach has coached 1,211 career NHL games and boasts a 660-389-77-74 overall record.
Even though Quenneville lost out on the Jack Adams Award to Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean, he's excited about the extension and believes his team has what it takes to hoist another Stanley Cup this season.
"I'm privileged to coach probably the best group in the League," Quenneville said.
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