To Utah Mammoth head coach André Tourigny, hockey is a microcosm of life. Its lessons are applicable off the ice just as they are on it.
The lesson after his team’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights Monday evening in Game 4 of the ongoing first-round playoff series was figuring out bouncing back.
“In the playoffs, you have good games and bad games, individually and collectively,” Tourigny said Tuesday afternoon. “What’s important is being able to bounce back from it.
“That can happen to any player. It can happen in any circumstance. I always say, ‘In life, it’s not about if you will stumble. It’s you will stumble, whatever you’re doing in life.’
“It’s (about) how you react to it; how you bounce back to it; how you get better because of it.”
Tourigny recalled that early on in the career of Clayton Keller — now the team’s captain — he taught him that exact thing.
“He figured it out and he got much better because of it,” Tourigny noted.
At this point in the Mammoth’s build, player development is still of utmost importance. Teams rarely win the Stanley Cup without going through several seasons of playoff hardship.
While they’d love to capture the trophy this year, their true goal is for the young guys to learn these exact lessons.
One player in that boat is JJ Peterka.
After he saw just three shifts in the third period and none in overtime, social media flooded with speculation as to whether it was an injury or a coaching decision that kept him off the ice.
“That can happen to any player. It can happen in any circumstance. I always say, ‘In life, it’s not about if you will stumble. It’s you will stumble, whatever you’re doing in life.’ It’s (about) how you react to it; how you bounce back to it; how you get better because of it.”
— Utah Mammoth coach André Tourigny
Though hesitantly, Tourigny ended the speculation in his Tuesday presser, stating that it was a coaching decision. He didn’t give any specifics, but a high-sticking penalty he took in the third did set off a chain reaction that led to the Golden Knights’ game-tying goal.
The 24-year-old was primarily brought in as an offensive threat, but the extra attention he has paid to defensive details this season seems to have cut into his production throughout both the regular season and the first four games of the playoffs.
Veteran defenseman Ian Cole, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, noted that as a team, they need to focus on the things they can control.
“Each individual game stands on its own, and right now, it’s a best-of-three,” he said. “So, (it’s) obviously unfortunate about the outcome, but (it’s) not one we can dwell on. We look at it, we try to figure out what we can do better, and move forward.”
Tourigny ended his Tuesday interview with a line that applies to hockey players and common folk alike.
“Adversity will happen, so you need to find ways to bounce back.”
