from Mark Whicker of the LA Daily News,
There is a miniature Stanley Cup, next to his bed. Even before sunrise he can see the glimmer.
“It’s why you have to draw the line,” Darryl Sutter said. “You have to be able to leave it. Stories about how this job takes away from your personal life, your actual existence on this earth? It does.
“You have to know when not to think about it. Because, once the season starts, it’s the first thing you think about each morning. You only play for a championship. For me, it’s not lifestyle or salary, None of that is relevant, not anymore.”
Sutter began coaching the Kings near the halfway point of the 2011-12 season. In his first three springtime drives, they won their first two Stanley Cups.
His, too. He coached Calgary all the way to Game 7 of the 2004 Finals, where the Flames lost at Tampa Bay, and Sutter was too exhausted to move from his bench when it was over.
The nonstop glare of the Cup finally pulled the Kings under. They did not make last year’s playoffs. “Even though we had the identical record (40-27-15) we had in 2012, when we won,” Sutter said.
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