The head coach who lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Montreal Canadiens in the spring of 1993, Barry Melrose, must face a much more dangerous opponent: Parkinson’s disease.
His long-time colleague at the American broadcaster ESPN, John Buccigross, announced on Tuesday that the 67-year-old had resigned from his duties for obvious reasons. He has been working for this station since 1996. One of his important tasks is to comment on news surrounding the National Hockey League (NHL) in the studio.
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“Barry Melrose […] is moving away from our family at ESPN to spend more time with him. I have worked with Barry for over a quarter of a century. There was cold beer and hearty laughter at the cigar bars. He was a very intelligent man who reacted quickly, always arrived early and was well dressed. I love him and will miss him,” Buccigross wrote on his X account.
Melrose managed the Los Angeles Kings from 1992 to 1995. In his second season in California, he saw his team lose to the Habs in the finals. Sometime after this defeat, he also criticized his opponent Jacques Demers, who, towards the end of the second duel, had asked referee Kerry Fraser to measure defender Marty McSorley’s (illegal) stick. This decision changed the course of the series, as Montreal took advantage of a numerical advantage to tie the game and ultimately win in overtime. The Canadian won the next three encounters.
The former ice hockey player was at the helm of the Tampa Bay Lightning for just 16 games from 2008 to 2009. As a player, he had a career spanning 300 games and 728 penalty minutes in the NHL from 1980 to 1985.