According to Russo Richards ran a really nasty practice, here's some quotes from his twitter
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This is going to be a nasty practice. Todd Richards lays down gauntlet immediately, telling tm w expletives didn't win a battle last nt.
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Richards tells team they're going to spend practice battling until they get it.
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Clutterbuck and Falk nearly come to blows after Falk two-hands him on ankle. Clutterbuck and Lats next. Now Barker and Brodziak
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Richards breaks up Barker and Brodziak by basically telling Barker to go to other side of rink. Bouchard may get setback just watching this
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Schultz just throws his stick at Staubitz, then spends a minute screaming at him. You've got to admit, I called this nasty practice
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Richards is skating the you know what out of the boys now. Burns picked a good practice to miss
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In 4 corners, players are all bent over. Richards standing in middle of rink. Silence in arena for minute. He turns to group of 4: "3 laps!"
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In 16 years, I have not covered a practice like this, and I've covered 10 coaches, including Mike Keenan
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In John Madden's entire career, he's never had a bag skate that long: "Message sent, message received." #mnwild
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Andrew Brunette was sensational: "It's not a good time right now. ... A storm's been brewing." #mnwild is 4 games in! Tm is under duress
Personally I think its crazy the amount of pressure the teams under after 4 games, but I'm also sick of them not playing 60 minutes. I'm glad that Richards finally decided to call the team out on something (although he very well could have before, but I just never heard anything about it).
It's probably not a good thing that the players are throwing sticks and yelling at each other. Running a hard practice is fine, but players turning on each other doesn't seem like the best thing for team chemistry.
It's probably not a good thing that the players are throwing sticks and yelling at each other. Running a hard practice is fine, but players turning on each other doesn't seem like the best thing for team chemistry.
Yeah, but the Wild did a lot of 'team bonding' stuff in Finland and that hasn't helped their play much. And its hard to say if they're actually angry at each other, or placing their anger with Richards, the way they played, the way the team has started, or anything else, and taking it out physically.
Not too surprised with this practice. The Wild were pretty much a no-show in the 1st period. This team is not good enough for half-a** efforts if they want to win games.
they're all grown ass men, im sure they can take a lil screaming from one teammate to another. I'd rather see them get some aggression out and let their teammates know if they are doing something wrong. Imo sounds like a good practice to get all that pressure out of your mind and to focus on one game at a time.
Richards needs the team to hate him, so they don't have enough time to hate eachother.
Getting these players to wake up early and start showing some emotion and willingness to do what ever it takes to win with failure as not an option, is exactly what this team needed. The only good thing i've said about richards since he got here.
we've played better over the last 3 games, but better obviously isn't gonna cut it, we need to be the best. Time to start showing up game in and game out.
The clown finally the lost the team. Maybe now we'll lose the clown.
Players willing to fight eachother after being called out by the coach shows the exact opposite of "losing the team". There are a lot of things that you can question about Richards coaching ability, but i cant see how you can blame him for the players lack of consistent effort.
The clown finally the lost the team. Maybe now we'll lose the clown.
They're grown men and they should be ****ing pissed off. It's a problem when the fans show more emotion than the players on the ice. Good for Richards.
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"Will beats skill when skill doesn't have enough will."
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Players willing to fight each other after being called out by the coach shows the exact opposite of "losing the team". There are a lot of things that you can question about Richards coaching ability, but i cant see how you can blame him for the players lack of consistent effort.
Sorry, but that's losing it. The LAST thing you want is the players to turn on themselves. I know it's been 8 years since the 2002-03 team was out there, but I'll never forget the quote by, I think, Darby. That team played for each other. They were that close, and it was why a low-talent squad could do so much. This is not team building.
I don't blame the coach for everything since he's been dealt a crap team to work with. But, he's obviously no Jacques either. If the players don't believe in him, the effort can go away too.
Sorry, but that's losing it. The LAST thing you want is the players to turn on themselves. I know it's been 8 years since the 2002-03 team was out there, but I'll never forget the quote by, I think, Darby. That team played for each other. They were that close, and it was why a low-talent squad could do so much. This is not team building.
I don't blame the coach for everything since he's been dealt a crap team to work with. But, he's obviously no Jacques either. If the players don't believe in him, the effort can go away too.
Richards reluctance to show emotion before and have light practices was him trying to build team chemistry, trust, and to by into the system. He gave them that chance to make the transition as smooth as possible, but that hasn't worked to the point where he should be satisfied. Now he's changing it up, every loss is another day gone for richards and hes going to do what it takes to turn this bad start around. Im starting to see this team commit more to the system and look more like a team, so maybe this is the lil push they need to bring it all together. Guess we'll find out tuesday! =D
I'm not quite sure why, but for some reason I've got a hunch that Tuesday is Richards' last chance. Like maybe this practice was his reaction to an ultimatum he received after Saturday's game.
