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‘I understand the passion': Oilers coach Eakins on fans’ frustration

Edmonton Oilers v Vancouver Canucks

VANCOUVER, BC - OCTOBER 5: Head coach Dallas Eakins of the Edmonton Oilers watches his team face the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on October 5, 2013 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Ben Nelms/Getty Images)

Ben Nelms

Times are tough for Edmonton Oilers’ fans.

So tough, in fact, that head coach Dallas Eakins’ young daughter is hearing about it from her peers at school.

October has come to an end, and the Oilers, with growing expectations levied upon them this season, have a record of 3-9-2, good enough for last in the Pacific Division.

“I have kids bugging my daughter at school. That’s not very much fun,” Eakins said Thursday, as per the Edmonton Sun.

“I’m walking my daughter to school yesterday and I have one kid yelling at everybody ‘There’s the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers!’ And my five-year-old daughter gets real excited because, ‘That’s my daddy.’

“And then I have another kid yelling, ‘You suck!’”

That’s not very nice. However, kids rarely come with filters. But that’s not the only situation in which Eakins has heard it from an increasingly frustrated fan base. Adults, too.

“I understand the passion. I understand the guy who yells out of his car at me when I’m at the gas station, then speeds away. I understand people, as I walk into a restaurant, murmuring something under their breath. I’m OK with it,” said Eakins, as per the Edmonton Journal.

“When we do turn this thing around ... that passion will turn the other way. The guy at the gas station will probably buy me my gas and the people in the restaurant are probably going to buy me dinner. So if I’m OK with that part of it, I’d better be OK with this.”

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