Jake Oettinger addresses dispute with coach after playoff loss to Oilers
Photo credit: USA Today Sports
On the first day of Dallas Stars' training camp Thursday, goalie Jake Oettinger spoke about his previously fractured relationship with his ex-head coach Pete DeBoer, which he now looks back on with a laugh.
DeBoer pulled Jake Oettinger only 7:09 into the 1st-period of last season's playoffs, after allowing two goals on the only shots he faced in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Oilers.
Ex-Dallas Stars coach publicly blamed goalie for playoff elimination
After the game, then head coach DeBoer quickly pointed out that Oettinger had lost six of his previous seven playoff games against the Oilers, dating back two years.
"I didn't blame it all on Jake," DeBoer had said following the 6-3 loss to Edmonton, who won the series 4-1. "But the reality is if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton. And we give up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. ... That's a pretty big sample size."
Following this comment, it took Jake Oettinger some time before he again spoke with Pete DeBoer. Now that a full-summer has passed, Jake is looking back on the incident a little more constructively.
In the long run, I feel like I'm gonna look back on it as something that helped me. And when we do win it all, it's going to be, you know, look back and laugh and feel like that was something I had to go through in order to get to that.
I think stuff happens, emotions run high and people say and do things on a whim that maybe they look back and regret. I mean, I've done that in my life. I'm sure everyone here has done that...You just learn from it.
- Jake Oettinger
I think stuff happens, emotions run high and people say and do things on a whim that maybe they look back and regret. I mean, I've done that in my life. I'm sure everyone here has done that...You just learn from it.
- Jake Oettinger
At the time, Dallas had been to the Conference Finals in three-consecutive campaigns, losing all three, twice to the Oilers, so you can excuse the former Dallas Coach from being frustrated.
Yet, he too has had time to reflect; he also looks back on his Dallas experience with a more open mind. The reality is that a team wins and loses together.
«Listen, we were all to blame for coming up short again, and it starts with me,» DeBoer said in his first public comments since being fired. «It was on me, it was on all the coaches, it was on all the players, it was on the organization as a whole. We all created the disappointment. We were all to blame, not just one guy.»
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 20 | 341 ANSWERS Jake Oettinger addresses dispute with coach after playoff loss to Oilers Was goalie Jake Oettinger to blame for Dallas losing in the Western Conference Finals last year? | ||
| yes | 49 | 14.4 % |
| no | 172 | 50.4 % |
| yes, but also the rest of the Dallas Stars | 120 | 35.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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