Bowness chasing Stanley Cup with Lightning in playoffs

TAMPA -- Rick Bowness looked in the back seat of his car, packed with his kids, Rick, Ryan and Kristen. They were traveling from Ottawa to New York in the summer of 1996, the beginning of a new journey to yet another home.

The guilt of moving his family for the sixth time in 14 years for his hockey coaching career was getting to him.
He turned to his wife, Judy.
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"I said, 'What are we doing to these kids?' " Bowness said Sunday, recalling the story from 22 years ago.
He remembers the guilt being flushed away seconds later.
"Ricky said, 'Daddy, don't worry, we're a hockey family,' " Bowness said. "That sticks with you."
Daddy, an associate coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, has stuck with hockey. He played 173 games in the NHL plus many more as a minor leaguer, and has since been a coach for 33 seasons, including 31 in the NHL.
Bowness, 63, passed Scotty Bowman last season as the League's all-time leader in regular-season games as coach, an associate or an assistant. He's up to 2,274, including 463 as coach of the Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, New York Islanders and Phoenix Coyotes (he went 123-289-3 with 48 ties).
He's been married to Judy for 41 years. Ryan, 37, is a pro scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rick, 33, lives in Denver after working in media relations for the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets. Kristen, 31, works with the Lightning as a community hockey coordinator.
"I remember talking to the kids after getting fired in Ottawa (in 1996) and saying, 'Dad doesn't have to do this, we can do something else,' " Bowness said. "And they said, 'No, Dad, you love coaching.' "
The only thing missing from his resume is the Stanley Cup.
"So I want to keep going," Bowness said.
He has reached the Stanley Cup Final twice, with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 and the Lightning in 2015. Maybe his Cup drought will end this season.
The Lightning are tied 1-1 with the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Second Round. Game 3 of the best-of-7 series is at Boston on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS).

"Anybody that's met him through the years will all say the same thing, 'What a great guy,' " said Alain Vigneault, who was Bowness' assistant with the Senators from 1992-96 and his boss with the Canucks from 2006-13. "I'm rooting for him on this one here. We've become real good friends, our families are real tight, kids are real tight, so everybody is pulling for [Bowness].
"He's without a doubt in my mind one of the best coaches in the NHL."
Lightning coach Jon Cooper won't argue that. Bowness' experience and wisdom proved invaluable to Cooper when they first worked together with Tampa Bay in 2013. Cooper was new to the League, which is why he wanted Bowness on his staff.
"I remember I called (former Canucks players) Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa, who I had never met before," Cooper said. "Just cold-called them to ask about Rick. They gave me their insight and it was all positive. I wanted a player perspective. So, I called Rick up out of the blue. We met in Toronto. We met at Jack Astor's (restaurant) out on the deck. We talked and that was it."
Bowness was put in charge of the Lightning defensemen and penalty kill and began forging lasting relationships with his players.
Victor Hedman, a Norris Trophy finalist this season, credits Bowness for making him believe in himself.
"I've never seen him have a bad day, to be honest with you," Hedman said. "He makes you feel good about your game."

Former Tampa Bay defenseman Jason Garrison said the first time he met Bowness after signing with the Canucks on July 1, 2012, was impactful because Bowness reached out to him, not the other way around.
"He wanted to grab a beer somewhere in Vancouver," Garrison said.
They talked hockey, systems and more. Garrison said he felt comfortable when he showed up for training camp months later.
Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi said Bowness reached out to him immediately after he signed as a free agent July 1, 2017. They talked on the phone about their summers and about living by the lake. There was some hockey talk but it didn't dominate the conversation.
"Just a true professional," Girardi said. "We all have so much good stuff to say about him."
The age gap between Bowness and most of his players -- there's 43 1/2 years between him and rookie defenseman Mikhail Sergachev -- never seems to be an issue. The players say it's because of how he interacts with them.
Bowness will skate laps with players before practice and talk about anything, including baseball. He'll do 1-on-1 video sessions and talk positively even while showing clips of mistakes.
"I dare anybody to find a player that can't relate to Rick Bowness," Vigneault said.
Bowness remains relatable because he's always found a way to adapt when the game changes, as it has many times in his almost four decades of coaching.
He started as a player-coach for the Sherbrooke of the American Hockey League in the 1982-83 season, when he was 27. He would take his regular shift, come back to the bench, stand behind it and coach until it was time for his next shift.
He even remembers coaching from the penalty box, which in Sherbrooke was directly next to the bench, while serving a five-minute fighting major.
"So I'm telling the guys who is up next," Bowness said. "The referee comes over and yells at me saying, 'You can't do that.' So I said, 'Show me the rule that says I can't coach from the penalty box.' He skated away. It was different.
"I remember taking commercial flights carrying two VCRs with VHS tapes. Everything about the game has changed. You change with it."
Bowness has adapted without losing his passion to live in the game and to win.
"I'm just doing what I can to get a Stanley Cup," Bowness said. "I still love it."