Hockey Quote: Bruce Boudreau

Hockey Quote:
Bruce Boudreau

There are few things that are certain in this world:

Peanut M&M’s are delicious,

A bad game playing hockey is better than a good day at work, and

Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau is never at a loss for words.

To be honest, I’m kind of surprised that it took Boudreau three whole games to make headlines for something he said to the media, but alas, here he is, better late than never.

Big Brucey-Bruce recently earned tons of media attention this week after he criticized the layout of Madison Square Garden, home to the Capitals first round opponents, the New York Rangers.

Here’s the one quote that drew the most attention:

"Well, the one thing, its reputation is far better than the actual building," Boudreau said on a Washington-based radio show. "I mean, it's nothing. The locker rooms are horrible. The benches are horrible. There's no room for anything. But the reputation of being in Madison Square Garden is what makes it famous. Also, our building's a lot louder, too. So I mean, they can say what they want, but it's not that loud in there."

MSG is in the midst of a multi-year renovation that will upgrade the building’s entrances, concourses, seating, scoreboards, locker rooms and benches. It’s estimated to be about $775 million to $850 million worth of changes. As for the loudness of the crowd and the building, well, I mean, it’s filled with 18,200 New Yorkers. Enough said.

Today, Boudreau somewhat retracted his comments – in his own Boudreau’ish way – when asked by a reporter about his quotes:

“You know, you guys mustn’t have a lot of work to do, because they’re making improvements to the arena. Are they not? Are they not making $800 million worth of improvements to the arena? It’s a fabulous place to play, the atmosphere is great – it’s the world’s most famous arena. All I said was that the conditions in the dressing room were not up to par.”

On the Rangers getting amped up about his comments:

 “You think a Ranger player is gonna play harder because the coach of the other team said his home team building is a little louder? Was I supposed to say, you know what, the Rangers’ building is so much louder than our building? I can’t tell the decibels; they might be equal. To me – I’d rather take the Washington building, that’s all.”

 “An athlete will use something that is degrading or something to them. If it takes me to talk about a building to get an athlete more jumped up, then we’re in trouble.”

This guy’s a character. I doubt that his quotes will have an impact on the Rangers players, per se, but the crowd, I’m sure will get pretty pumped up to see big Boudreau behind the tiny MSG benches tomorrow night. Interested to hear what chant the conjure up.