Peter Laviolette and Joel Quenneville will coach against each other as the hockey world watches once again, only this time the stakes are much lower.
A coin-flip decided the coaches for the 2011 NHL All-Star Game this weekend. Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks will coach Team Staal while Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks and Laviolette of the Philadelphia Flyers will coach Team Lidstrom.
Quenneville received an invite to the game because he was the coach of the Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks. Vigneault and Laviolette were invited because they coach the top teams in the Western and Eastern Conference, respectively.
We predicted that Team Lidstrom would have a lot of Blackhawks since Patrick Kane is one of their alternate captains, but now Quenneville might be whispering in Eric Staal’s ear to add ‘Hawks as well.