Coyotes announce coach Rick Tocchet will miss Monday game vs. Flames
Mar 18, 2018, 3:30 PM
Arizona Coyotes' head coach Rick Tocchet, center, gives instruction to players during the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 in Calgary, Alberta. (John McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
(John McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
Arizona Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet will miss the team’s home game on Monday against the Calgary Flames to attend his mother’s funeral, the team said Sunday.
Assistant coach John MacLean, who filled in for Tocchet when he took a leave of absence to be with his mother last week, will coach Arizona before the head coach returns Wednesday for a game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Tocchet’s mother, Norma, 93, passed away last Wednesday after a battle with brain cancer.
The Coyotes coach stepped away from the team two days prior before returning for Arizona’s morning skate on Thursday leading into a game against the Nashville Predators.
The Coyotes have gone 4-3-1 in the month of March and enter the game against the Flames hoping to end a two-game losing streak.
After facing Calgary at 7 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station, Arizona begins a six-game road trip Wednesday at at 4 p.m in Buffalo.
Arizona sits at the bottom of the NHL standings with 57 points, a point shy of the Sabres and two points shy of the Vancouver Canucks.
