LOS ANGELES — Let Greg Cronin tell the story of the unfettered and unscripted interview with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek that led him, at age 60, to secure his first NHL head coaching job.
Keep in mind, while reading silently or aloud, that Cronin's Boston accent is as thick as New England clam chowdah. Enough so that he marveled at Verbeek's "fahm" upbringing and spoke of having driven his "cah" from Anaheim back home to Maine after the Ducks hired him a few weeks ago.
"Here's a Western Ontario guy that did a little bit of pig farming as a kid growing up, and here I am, a Boston guy, and I grew up in the city and I never played in the league, but how did these two guys ever meet each other and sit down across a desk from one another in the Marriott hotel in Palm Desert for five hours and never open up a notebook?" Cronin said.
