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Flames coach Glen Gulutzan goes on tirade at practice

Expectations were high for the Calgary Flames heading into the season and so far it would not be unfair to say the team has not really met them.

Even after Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings (a big win!) the Flames still find themselves on the outside of the Western Conference playoff picture, three points out of a spot with a handful of teams still ahead of them.

It is not a hopeless situation by any means, but it is not exactly great at the moment, either.

Given how much money the Flames spent this offseason and the talent that was returning it is only natural that there is going to be a little bit of frustration at this point.

On Friday, that frustration seemed to reach a boiling point for coach Glen Gulutzan as he was not particularly pleased with the team’s performance or effort in practice.

Naturally, there were cameras rolling to catch Gulutzan as he screamed some profanities, told his team to “check the [expletive] standings,” and then threw his stick deep into the stands.

A coach shouting his players and swearing at them really isn’t all that uncommon, especially when it happens to be a struggling team that has probably underachieved a little for half of the season. It happens over an 82-game season. It is the angry stick toss though that really makes this. Just look at the passion and anger in that throw!

“It’s an everyday league. It’s not warm and fuzzy,” Gulutzan said. “It’s everyday. Today, what you saw was a coach reminding his team that one game doesn’t make a season.”

In case you were wondering, his stick nearly made it into the upper deck!

That is actually a heck of a throw. Impressive!

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.