Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Congrats Corey!

Lost in the headlines today that Chris Chelios gave Father Time the finger again and Florida locked up their No. 3 defenseman for six more years, was the news that Corey Hirsch was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the their goaltending coach.

Hirsch, who was most famously posterized - or should I say stamped? - by Peter Forsberg in the '94 Olympics, is also a former Ranger. He was initially pegged as the goaltender of the future by the Blueshirts but they had that Mike Richter guy and the coaches wanted an experienced back-up.

Hirsch was dealt to the Canucks for Nathan Lafayette, who subsequently played 25 games as a Ranger and had zero points. Hirsch went on to rack up frequent flier miles over the next 10 years playing for Syracuse, Milwaukee, Utah, Albany, Cincinnati, Portland, Philadelphia (AHL), Dallas, Washington, Timra and Kassel. Well, it just goes to show that teams wanted him and saw something there worth paying for.

Now he is in Toronto where he will get to work with the Leafs prospects as well as Vesa Toskala. Hopefully in their relationship Hirsch learns a thing or two from his pupil, who was lucky enough to learn under the great Warren Strelow. Through all of his travels, Hirsch learned what it to be a professional and that is some knowledge that the woeful Leafs certainly could use ... Best of luck to him.

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