It's been a disaster of a tournament for Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey and it comes as little surprise that a great deal of the criticism has been laid at the feet of head coach John Tortorella. Tortorella has long been a magnet for negativity, largely due to his abrasive personality, but how the public view him may not be how his players view him.
On Wednesday, coming off the heels of a devastating loss to Team Canada, Chicago Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane came to the defense of his coach, not only refusing to criticize him, but signing his praise for Tortorella as a coach.
“Tortorella is just one of the most passionate guys I’ve ever seen about hockey,” Kane said as per Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’ll never say a bad thing about him. He’s just a great coach. We didn’t show up for him I feel bad in that sense.”
[pub]
Kane instead shifted the focus to himself, and it genuinely felt like he was disappointed in the way he performed for his country in this tournament.
“You want to show up for your country, and you want to be able to produce,” Kane said. “I obviously didn’t do my job this tournament."
