What happens when your preparation comes up empty-handed?
Marc Crawford has won a Stanley Cup and spent the majority of his life behind the bench in professional hockey, but he's likely most famous for two special events: his recent appearance on the Glass & Out Podcast and his decision to not use Wayne Gretzky in the shootout of a semi-final game at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. However, to hear Crawford's side of the story is to understand the thought process behind that decision to leave the greatest offensive player of all-time on the bench with a trip to the gold medal game on the line.
Did he simply go on gut feel when he chose not to use Gretzky in the shootout?
I was surprised to hear that the answer to this question is yes. He used his instinct and ultimately it turned out to be the wrong decision.
For those unfamiliar with this famed semi-final shootout, here it is.
A lot of preparation was done prior to that choice of not using Gretzky. Long before the tournament ever started Crawford and his staff identified three players who they would tap if they ever got to a shootout: Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic, and Paul Kariya. Remember that the Czechs had grown up playing international rules hockey, so they were well-versed in the shootout from a young age. North Americans had little experience in the event - the NHL hadn't sent players to the Olympics prior to Nagano in '98 and few of the players had ever been involved in a World Championship because their club teams were normally still participating in the NHL playoffs.
The Czechs knew that if they could push the gold medal game to the shootout, they had the X-Factor in net: Dominik Hasek, one of the three or four best goaltenders of all time. Canada had one of the others, Patrick Roy.
Back to Lemieux, Sakic, and Kariya. Defensible decisions, right? Wayne Gretzky is the best playmaker to ever lace up skates, but Lemieux could probably challange for that title depending on who you ask. Sakic has a blistering wrist shot, harder and more accurate than either of the two legends. He might be a rung or two beneath 66 and 99, but Kariya was one of the best players on the planet in the late 90's, and combined the best attributes of all three.
The problem with preparation is that sometimes you can do everything possible to prepare and still get left to make a last minute decision. Lemieux was recovering from cancer while Sakic and Kariya were injured. None of them were available. So when the inevitable shootout arrived, Crawford was left with nothing more than his instincts. The Czechs were ready and eager, and Canada, in his words, was terrified looking at Hasek at the far end of the rink, a rink that hadn't been cleaned since prior to the 3rd period.
When it comes time to make a decision, your instincts are informed by your preparation. You have assistant coaches, managers, scouts, and mentors for a reason. Lean on them. You might not be able to make every decision before its time, but you can prepare for those decisions when the lights shine brightest. That's what Crawford did.
And as an aside, when you seek input from people and you're the Head Coach or the General Manager and you're empowered to make the final call, be prepared for the reality that your decisions might not be approved of by everybody.
Our will to survive hinges on our ability to hear our inner voice. Hockey coaches aren't cavemen hiding from sabretooth tigers, but we have instincts all the same. Crawford trusted his instincts in the moment, it was the wrong decision, and the result was a narrow storybook championship for the Czechs.
That's ok. It happens! Roy gave up one goal and Eric Lindros hit the post. Canada would have to wait until 2002 to win gold at the Olympics. Gretzky wasn't on the ice once again as the buzzer sounded in the final game. But Lemieux, Sakic, and Kariya were. Gretzky, Team Canada's General Manager, was in the crowd praying.
