LAS VEGAS — Asked the usual question people in Las Vegas get — “You up or down?” — Joe Sacco was quick with his reply Tuesday:
“Well I’m here, so I must be up,” the Avalanche coach said as he strolled into a media gathering as part of the NHL’s awards ceremonies at the Palms Hotel. “I mean, to be surrounded by these guys here, something must be going right.”
Sacco will find out tonight whether he leaves Las Vegas with a Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. He’s one of three finalists, along with Nashville’s Barry Trotz and Phoenix’s Dave Tippett. The betting line seems to heavily favor Tippett, but whatever happens in Vegas will stay a positive experience for the native of Medford, Mass.
It was only a year ago, after all, that he was the coach of the Avs’ minor-league team in Cleveland and headlines screamed that the organization was courting Patrick Roy to be the next coach.
“Yeah, a year ago I certainly wouldn’t have expected this. It’s a great honor. I’m lucky to be here with Barry Trotz and Dave Tippett — guys that have been coaching a long time in this league,” Sacco said. “But I have to give a lot of credit to the players, for them believing in one another and believing in us as a coaching staff. I think that was the key this year.”
Only in the last couple of weeks has Sacco really been able to start winding down mentally from his first year on the job. After the Avs were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by San Jose, he left for Germany to serve as an assistant coach on the U.S. World Championship team. Then his oldest son, Joseph, had some hockey tournaments in Vancouver, British Columbia, that he traveled to see.
Sacco is giving himself some time before devoting most of his waking hours to trying to make the Avs a better team in 2010-11, and isn’t the type to reflect too long on his first, surprising season. But he acknowledged the first-round loss to the Sharks still eats at him at times.
“I think I’ve moved on,” Sacco said. “It took a long time for it to kind of go away. It’s hard. That series against San Jose, I truly believe that we had a good chance to win. Obviously, we didn’t, so you have to give San Jose a lot of credit. But I just felt that we matched up pretty good against them.”
Sacco will travel on with the rest of Avs management on hand here to Los Angeles this weekend, for the NHL draft. The Avs own the 17th pick in the first round and should add more youthful depth to a team already young and considered deep by many.
“There’s a lot for our team to look forward to. We just want to keep growing and improving, and we certainly can’t grow complacent by any means,” he said.
Avs center Matt Duchene, who is a finalist for the Calder Trophy Award as rookie of the year, said of Sacco: “He’s amazing. He brought so much poise to our team. He doesn’t get bent out of shape too often, but he’s very intense and holds everyone accountable. It’s very well deserved, the honor he’s up for.”
