When you are considered one of the best coaches in any sport, anything you say or do is amplified to the highest degree possible. Such was the case with Bill Belichick, who skated with Claude Julien today heading into the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium, and had some good things to say about hockey to NESN.
“Oh, yeah. I mean we didn’t have a lot of ice in Maryland, but skated at Andover, skated (at) Wesleyan,” Belichick said. “I played in the old huff-and-puff league when I was in New Jersey with the Giants. … Oh, you know, it’s like 30-, 40-year-old guys playing at midnight — it’s the only time you could get ice time — drive 45 minutes to go out there and fall around and slash each other. “I wish I could have played hockey. That’s a great sport. It’s fast, lot of action, contact, skill, speed.”
Here is a clip of Belichick skating with Julien today:
It is only a short taste of him skating, but I would have loved to see him skate around with other coaches when he was with the Giants and show some real passion and energy.
Julien also had a good quote about Belichick’s skating ability and vast improvement.
“He’s played hockey before, and I told him before I went out there, I said those skates are going to be a lot stiffer than what you’re used to. So it was just about getting used to it, from what I saw from him, to be honest, was the second he put his skates on to how he finished, he improved quite a bit. I wish my players could improve that quickly.”
It’s always fun watching different sports collide.
