Leafs Head Coach Craig Berube Admits to Embarassing Blunder Involving Max Domi
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has admitted to making the same mistake over and over with Max Domi, but at least he has a sense of humour about it.
During his playing days, Berube was one of the more feared enforcers around the National Hockey League. With 3149 penalty minutes over his lengthy NHL career, Berube was a tough customer when he played the game. Long after his playing days, however, he has also become one of the more revered coaches in the league.
The dynamic between Max Domi and Craig Berube is certainly an interesting one. After all, Berube and Max's father, the legendary Tie Domi, made careers out of punching one another in the face. While Max is nowhere near as fierce an enforcer as his dad once was, he is still fearless and thrives in games where the emotions are high and the state of the game is a little more on the chaotic side. It's no wonder that Berube sometimes refers to Max as "Tie".
On Saturday, ahead of the Leafs' pre-season finale against the Detroit Red Wings, Berube actually referred to Max as Tie during an interview. He then revealed that he has done it before and that Tie is very much still in his head.
Tie Domi amassed more than 3500 penalty minutes during his career, but surprisingly, even though he and Berube had combined for more than 2000 NHL games in their careers, they have never managed to play on the same club at the same time -- largely because most teams didn't see the need for more than one enforcer of that caliber.
Berube referring to Max as Tie might just mean that he sees him as a chip off the old block, even though Max plays with much more skill than his dad ever did. Still, I bet if you asked Max about it, he'd be honored, as his dad is a beloved Maple Leafs icon. I'm sure Max would relish the opportunity to be remembered in Toronto as fondly as his dad is, even nearly two decades after his retirement.
Max signed a 4-year extension with the Maple Leafs this summer that will see him earn a very team-friendly $3.75M per season.
