“I told them that we were going to win it,” he said.

Dineen took two tacks: He benched Murray Eaves and Joe Murphy, two top players, and booked the travel for the next four games.

“I said I made all the travel plans and exactly what we were going to do,” he said. “I also happened to have benched two players in the third game because I didn’t think they were playing extremely well.”

The combination worked. It was a wakeup call not just for the whole team. And they had to make good on those travel plans.

The Red Wings came back from a three-games-to-none deficit to win that series and then went on to beat New Haven for the Calder Cup.

Someone to relate to

Pete suggested that one of the things that made his father such an effective coach in the minor leagues was that he could understand what they players were going through.

Dineen played in the NHL as an 18-year-old and was second for rookie of the year. He knew what that felt like. But he still played most of his career in the minors.