Canucks face fan backlash over Bruce Boudreau firing
With the hiring of Rick Tocchet, the Vancouver Canucks are now on their third head coach in the last 14 months – and the front office is feeling the heat from fans over the way it handled the firing of Bruce Boudreau.
Management announced Boudreau had been let go on Sunday morning.
“Bruce is a great guy. And this ownership has made so many mistakes,” said Earl Babych, a lifelong fan who supported the former coach.
Another fan outside Rogers Arena told CTV News it seemed like Boudreau was being cast aside as a scapegoat.
Indeed, the coach took the fall for an underperforming team – which is to be expected for head coaches in the world of professional sports.
But it is the way the Canucks went about letting Boudreau go that has drawn the ire of fans.
The name of his replacement has been the worst kept secret in hockey for weeks, leaving Boudreau to continue coaching while awaiting the inevitable.
"Unfortunately it turned out the way it did. Nobody takes great pride in this,” said Canucks president Jim Rutherford at the news conference introducing Tocchet. “I've known Bruce for a long time. He's been a friend and I feel very bad about it.”
Watching the saga unfold of several weeks, the fan base has overwhelmingly sided Boudreau.
Signs spotted at the arena recently include some saying “I stand with Bruce!” and “We love you Bruce."
Anticipating the end, immediately following Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Boudreau lingered for a moment behind the bench to listen as fans at Rogers Arena serenaded him one last time.
Chants of "Bruce, there it is!" rained down from the stands as a teary-eyed Boudreau tapped his heart and waved to the crowd.
Fans have been chanting the phrase to the tune of ‘90’s hip hop song “Whoomp! There it is!” since Boudreau joined the team in December 2021.
"It'll obviously be something that'll stay with me for my whole life,” he said about the fan support. "I've had a couple of people like me in the past but not the way the fans have treated me. It's just...this city is amazing."
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