Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Tortorella drops Forrest Gump reference to show disdain for coach’s challenge

John Tortorella,  Boone Jenner, Jared Boll

Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella, center, reacts to a penalty between Boone Jenner, left, and Jared Boll during the second period an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. Winnipeg won 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

AP

John Tortorella isn’t a fan of the coach’s challenge, and he let everyone know it on Monday night.

After he challenged the call on the ice, Torts was expecting the officials to overturn Loui Eriksson’s first period goal because he felt the Bruins forward’s skate impeded goalie Joonas Korpisalo from making the save.

The officials decided to stick with the original call. Good goal.

Does Tortorella have a case? You be the judge.

The Blue Jackets won the game, 6-4, but you can just imagine what Torts’ mood was like after the game.

“Just get rid of the coach’s challenge. Just get rid of it,” said Tortorella, per The Dispatch. “The whole (reason for) being of the coach’s challenge is to get it right. If we can’t get it right on that call, then get rid of the coach’s challenge. All I did was waste a timeout. It’s discouraging. That is a no-brainer call. If they vote again for it, no coach’s challenge as far as this organization is concerned.”

When he was asked about Bruins head coach Claude Julien challenging a call later in the game (the ruling went Columbus’ way), Torts offered this gem of a quote:

“Claude does the right thing to make the call. Why not? It’s a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”