When former Ducks look back at their Stanley Cup run under Randy Carlyle in 2007, it likely isn't a Carlyle speech that stands out. Or an in-game decision. It's a single word.
Relentless.
Carlyle's pursuit of a championship, especially when it got closer, meant that winning it all was his only focus. There could be an overtime game, a cross-country trip or a team completely banged up with injuries and Carlyle kept pushing, kept practicing. There were no days off. The reminder of what was a stake was constant.
Was there complaining among the players when Carlyle pushed his team. Of course. Did they complain when they raised a Stanley Cup? Of course not.
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- Senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine
- Wrote for Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Wrote for The Sporting News
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Craig Custance
Craig Custance joined ESPN in September 2011 as an NHL reporter for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Insider and ESPN.com. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lived for nearly a decade in Georgia working for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution where he spent time covering the late Atlanta Thrashers. He was the only Thrashers beat writer to get the team to the playoffs.
From 2008-11 he was the national hockey writer for the Sporting News, writing regularly in print and online. A member of the PHWA, he's a proud voter for the major NHL awards and can occasionally defend his selections.
Like hockey, he left Atlanta to return north where he currently lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife Cassie and their three kids.
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