So I was looking up some ancient history, and I stumbled on this from 1910:
Quote:
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Renfrew should have won the cup this winter. Why they had positively the greatest collection of players that I have ever seen together. Why did they lose? Simply because the team lacked confidence in itself and because it was not properly handled until Alf Smith took charge. Those men didn't know the extent of their hockey abilities. They became discouraged too easily and again did not appear to take things with sufficient seriousness. —Bruce Stuart
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Alf Smith was a pretty darn good player, then coached the Ottawa Silver Seven to multiple Stanley Cups in the days before the NHL. Kind of a Darryl Sutter resume.
Coaching matters!