By DAVID SHOALTS
Toronto — Ken Hitchcock, known far and wide as the National Hockey League’s quote machine, finally was at a loss for words on Wednesday morning.
The Philadelphia Flyers head coach was introduced to the Dalai Lama at a Toronto hotel and could not come up with anything to say. Neither could the fellow who made the introduction, a professional talker by trade, Hockey Night In Canada play-by-play man Bob Cole.
“Cole told me to get in line and I didn’t know what we were doing standing in this line,” Hitchcock told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “So I got in line. When we get up there, Bob didn’t know what to say to him and I didn’t know what to say. We’re standing there and the next thing you know, there he is. So we said, ‘Thank you.'”
The Dalai Lama is in Toronto as part of his tour of Canada, and the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet will be here for 10 days of spiritual teachings. His message to academic leaders on Tuesday was about a calm mind and compassion being good for physical health, something that might be lost on hockey coaches.
“It was neat,” Hitchcock said of his meeting. “He was speaking to people beside us. I never asked him about hockey and I didn’t talk to him about our forecheck.”
Hitchcock was surprised to see a revered spiritual leader signing autographs and thought he showed some nifty moves.
“After we left, people told me the Dalai Lama was signing autographs,” he said. “I couldn’t believe that.
“He seems like a pretty spry guy for his age. He was like a foot away from me. I was too shocked and didn’t know what to say. I met President Clinton when we won the Stanley Cup in the Dallas in 1999 and George Bush when he was Governor of Texas and still had a piece of the Texas Rangers. But I never met a Dalai Lama.”
As for Wednesday night’s playoff game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hitchcock figures there will not be too many calm minds now that the series is finally back to a game every other night after too many off-nights because of television scheduling. The Flyers lead the series 2-0.
“The series hasn’t started yet,” Hitchcock said. “We’ve had two games in six or seven nights. We need to play a game or two and then we’ll get some name-calling going.”
Centre Joe Nieuwendyk took to the ice for the Maple Leafs in the morning skate, which raised hopes among Leaf fans that his back spasms had subsided enough for him to play Wednesday night. But Nieuwendyk said he will not play even though his ailment is progressing.
It looks like Wade Belak, who has yet to play in the playoffs thanks to a league suspension and then an overcrowded lineup, will dress in Nieuwendyk’s place.
