体坛英语新闻：Vancouver Canucks hire ex-Ranger bench boss Tortorella as new coach

VANCOUVER, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Neither the Vancouver Canucks nor the New York Rangers were happy with the leadership behind their respective benches this year and both fired their coach when their NHL season ended.

Now, in a twist of fate, both teams have each other' s ex-coach. Four days after the Rangers hired former Canucks bench boss Alain Vigneault, Vancouver on Tuesday announced the signing of ex-New York coach John Tortorella as their new head coach.

At a packed news conference covered live on TV and radio, Tortorella, who signed a five-year deal, said he had been talking to Vigneault for the past two weeks, exchanging notes on each other' s former team.

"He' s a hell of a coach and I think he (Vigneault) will do a terrific job in New York," said Tortorella, who was fired May 29 after the Rangers were knocked out by Boston in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

Vigneault, the most successful coach in Vancouver franchise history, was fired by the Canucks last month after the team failed to get past the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season.

" He (Vigneault) leaves me with a situation here that' s a pretty good situation, so yeah, it is a little bizarre," Tortorella said.

As the most successful American-born coach in NHL history with a record of 410-340-37-67, Tortorella becomes the 17th head coach in Canucks franchise history. After leading Tampa Bay to a Stanley Cup in 2004 and the Rangers to the Eastern Conference final last year, all the achievements of the 55-year-old Boston native will mean nothing if he can' t win a championship with a talented-but-underachieving Canucks squad in hockey-mad Vancouver.

The Canucks, who won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies as the NHL' s top team in the regular season in 2011 and 2012, went to the Stanley Cup final two years ago, losing to Boston in seven games.

Since then, the early playoff exits to lower-seeded teams ultimately led to Vigneault' s sacking after seven seasons in Vancouver.

Tortorella, a career minor leaguer as a player who was behind the bench in New York for five seasons, said it had always been a dream of his to coach in Canada where hockey is a national passion. He added he understood the desire of the Vancouver fans and team ownership to win the Cup, something the Canucks have never been able to achieve since coming into the league in the 1970-71 season.

"It' s a pretty unique situation coming to a team that' s winning, that has done a lot of great things along the way here, a couple of years ago almost winning a Stanley Cup. It' s the next level the organization' s looking for," he said.

"There' s no question, I' m going to push the players. That' s a big part of coaching and I am going to push them as individuals, and also to create a concept while we' re doing that together. I really believe that' s where the improvement needs to be."

The often-fiery Tortorella, who has promised to "rectify" his well-publicized battles with the media, will be expected to get the most out a core group of aging veterans in star forwards Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows and the oft-injured Ryan Kesler.

The Canucks may also be able to get a solid return for star goalie Roberto Luongo who has been on the trading block for a year after Cory Schneider took over the No. 1 spot in net.

"It' s an interesting dynamic here. It' s an older team. A number of players have gone through the process. I' m a big believer in the process of working with younger players and understanding what it is to be a pro," he said.

"We have a really good leadership group here. They have gone through that process, but we have not won the Stanley Cup. There is going to be more asked of them, and that starts from the (Sedin) twins right on down as far as accountability and asking for more."