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Just got an e-mail stating that Tony Curtale is actually 50 years old, not 48. Sorry, Tony. (I think.)
Too bad he couldn't have attained these achievements with more class....
Cody: Care to explain yourself a bit further?
I think this an interesting story that Randy wrote on Coach Curtali and I do not see a problem with a story on a Coach who continues to win Nat'l Championsships.
Tony,
If you have to ask that question, you either don't know much about Curtale's history or are viewing it with blinders.
If you really want details, I have an entire off-season of content we can dig into. At this point, I don't see the need because it is just that...history.
Tony,
Stephen pretty much took the response I would have had out of my mouth. Personally, I would love for Stephen to bring out the mountains of dirt on Tony Curtale. However, I got my fill of Curtale when he brought The Jr. Blues and Tornado to play Danville and it is now, as Stephen said, history.
Stephen,
The taste of so much bile in your mouth must make it difficult to not to gag! Your apoplexy over the Texas Tornado, coached by Tony Curtale, achieving the NAHL’s highest honor – winning the Robertson Cup – must be awful for you. Oh boohoo! Take a Tums!
Regardless of your personal distaste for coach Curtale I wouldn’t have imagined you to let your bias to influence you’re not congratulating the Tornado. That’s really low, even for a “big time” publisher!
JH.COM started the Robertson Cup coverage fair and balanced with your predictions. But the further the tournament went on and your predictions proved to be not so good, the less coverage. Could it be it was really that the Tornado kept winning? I think so…
I think you couldn’t spit the words out to congratulate the Tornado and Coach Curtale yourself and under your masthead. So, Randy stepped in and wrote a nice piece on Tony instead.
You have come far in building Jr Hockey.com but not far as a journalist.
DWDunlap
David,
Randy is the real journalist, that is why we hired him. Please don't confuse what I have to say with his many years of experience.
My distaste for Curtale is well documented so pardon me for not wanting to pat the man on the back. If you want to sit there and believe that he should be singing in the choir, so be it... but I know better, as does anybody that has followed his career.
Coverage of the Robertson Cup was equal to coverage of the Royal Bank Cup. Nothing more and nothing less.
I am not here to please Frisco fans and I will never be a supporter of an organization that allows the Tony Show to go on. There is a really good reason he has been coaching in the NAHL so long, it is because the USHL was never going to let the gong show play there. College jobs? Forget about it.
Heck, I am hearing that the bosses are not too excited abut the man either. Gee, why am I not surprised?
Oh, please do talk about Tony's days with the OHL and in Peoria, Springfield.
Tony has never achieved what he should as a coach for the same reasons he never achieved them as a player. Skill he has...
Harry,
I saw Tony play 3 seasons in the OHL with the Brantford Alexanders. His stats speak volumes. He averaged more than a point per game as a defenceman and he was a pretty tough customer. I can't speak for his days as a minor-pro player. I only saw him as an OHL player -- and he was a good one.
Regards,
RR
Randy is giving credit where credit is due - Texas won the Robertson Cup (again) with Tony as the Coach (again).
"Tony has never achieved what he should as a coach for the same reasons he never achieved them as a player."
If his record is one of non-achievement I would like to see what you consider successful.
His teams have won 6 National Championships.
His Tornado teams have made the playoffs each and every year of that he has been head coach.
His teams have won more than 560 NAHL games (counting playoffs).
Just over the past few years there have been 29 ex-Tornado players playing D1 hockey (and that is only the ones that I could think of off the top of my head).
Just the past two seasons I can think of 12 ex-Tornado players that have played at the AHL or higher with 5 reaching the NHL.
I think that is a record of failure that most coaches should strive to achieve.
Kirk,
The failure is the fact that he can not control his own behavior. Is he the kind of example that a parent would like to expose their son to? Not my kid.
We can take that another step further, I don't recommend that any parent send their son to a Tony Curtale coached team. What he did in Corpus Christi sealed the deal as far as I am concerned. Classless, classless, classless, and every bit as stupid as what he did in Danville many years ago.
For sure, not my kid. Ever.
"For sure, not my kid. Ever."
May the blessings never cease.
You know Stephen, there was already some bad blood between Corpus Christi and the Tornado that carried over from last season when the Icerays that it was the MMA not NAHL. Add to that the brawl started by Pietreniro and Taff on Oct 20.
Does that justify what Spiller did? No and I have never said that Spiller should not suffer the consequences for what he did. He did his time.
I have pointed out your Double Standard where Tony is concerned time and again. Someone whose vision is so colored by personal prejudice will always see anything done by the other in a negative light and often heap undue vitriol upon that person.
You are just such a person blinded by your prejudice.
"You are just such a person blinded by your prejudice"
Me and the USHL, NCAA, and everybody else?
So tell me Kirk, why is TC still in Frisco? Because nobody else will touch him with a ten foot pool. Is that my opinion? I don't know, but from this angle, it certainly looks like reality.
I haven't denied Tony's success on the ice as a coach in the NAHL. However, after his success at Springfield, where his antics were tolerated, he moved up the ladder to the OHL. His antics were not tolerated there and his coaching career was over as far as moving up the ladder.
The rumor is he, after all these years, will get another chance in the ECHL. I hope they're ready for him. Pro players may take a different view of his style than kids do. Looks interesting. I stand by my statement.
In a stunning move, Bill Warren has resigned as coach of the NAHL North Division champion Port Huron Falcons. Here is Bill's response to me when I e-mailed him to ask about the resignation:
----- Original Message -----
From: bill@phfightingfalcons.com
To: Randy Russon
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: ?
Randy
I was replaced as GM today by Steve Shannon and I chose not to return as coach I believe the writing was on the wall! I wanted to thank you for all the positive words you had for my team! I hope our Monday morning talk will continue some day!
All the best BW
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harry,
I also stand by my statement.
Bill Warren Coach of the Year ... suddenly resigns????
WTF???
Stephen,
I happen to know for a fact that there was at least one minor pro offer befor ethe 2009/10 season. An offer from a fairly successful progam I might add.
Did you ever stop to think that maybe he enjoys working with this level of player and helping them develop into players ready for the next level? I know in my own life that I have been offered jobs that most would have considered a promotion which I turned down because I enjoy what I am doing or for family considerations. Does that make me a failure?
Kirk makes a good point. The winningest coach in Canadian Hockey League history -- Brian Kilrea of the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League -- was never a head coach anywhere but in junior hockey. Kilrea coached 32 -- 32! -- years in the OHL with the same team, the Ottawa 67s.
The Ottawa 67's could be considered a career position, as would some stops in the USHL.
IF TC wanted to make Frisco his last stop... I'd agree with you
You can put any spin on any situation. All of us can. And I wasn't asking you to agree with me.
P.S. Bruno Bragagnolo of the Soo Eagles is also a career coach. Coached minor hockey in Chicago for 28 years before moving 400+ miles to the Soo (without his family) to coach Junior A. I consider Bruno one of the best coaches I have come across in 35+ years of covering junior hockey. Point is, you coach where you are comfortable. And maybe -- just maybe -- Tony Curtale is comfortable in the NAHL.
Randy,
Ok, I'll buy that... but I am hearing that he is no longer really that comfortable. Maybe that is because some real hockey guys are running the show and know that Tony's show is outdated.
Stephen,
Tony's show -- as you call it -- may in fact be outdated (I'm not saying it is or isn't because I am not qualified to say, either way) but he is still the head coach of the Texas Tornado team that won another Robertson Cup. There is nothing to agree or disagree with there. The facts are in the books.
if the guy stuck to the x's and o's I would not have a problem with him. Heck, he has always been a good HOCKEY coach. It's the other stuff that gets to me. Danville, Corpus Christi, and Windsor are just three situations that soil his career.
Like a guy that spent 99.9% of his life as an outstanding person, son, dad, and husband who sits on death row because of a momentary fit of rage. It only takes one stupid act to wash away years of good. TC has had more than his fair share of meltdowns.
About TC in the ECHL... that little intimidation trick that he uses on the juniors will land him in the hospital in the pros.
Randy
I think both of our statements can be true.
Great player in juniors (but his penalty record was not a plus)
Good coach with terrible temper and old-time hockey back alley style that landed him hot water everywhere he went except Texas.
Harry,
I think so, too.
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