Hartley Named New Avs Coach

June 2, 1998 / 10:40 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Bob Hartley's transition from 40-hour work weeks at a Canadian paper mill to a coaching job in the National Hockey League is complete.

Hartley, a veteran of minor league coaching, was hired Tuesday as coach of the Colorado Avalanche, six days after Marc Crawford stunned the team by resigning after being offered a contract extension.

"I don't think that my experience is a barrier to my expectations," Hartley said. "I feel that I've paid my dues. I did every little step at every league."

Hartley, 37, spent the last two years as coach of the Hershey (Pa.) Bears, Colorado's top farm club in the American Hockey League. He is a longtime friend of Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix.

"Bob is without a doubt part of the elite group of the young coaches in professional hockey today," Lacroix said. "He represents the logical choice for the future of our hockey club."

The Avalanche began looking for a coach last Wednesday after Crawford rejected a contract extension that would have kept him in Colorado through the 2000-2001 season.

Hartley immediately was dubbed the front-runner to succeed Crawford. He led Hershey to the AHL title in 1997.

"My one-year plan's very simple: We need to win," Hartley said. "The pressure of winning is part of our daily business. This is a challenge I was looking for."

Hartley has more than 11 years of minor league coaching experience that began when he juggled a job at the paper mill with his duties as coach of his hometown hockey team in Hawkesbury, Ontario.

When the paper mill shut down in 1987, Hartley took a job with the local windshield-making plant before deciding at 26 to devote his life to a coaching career.

"Working 40 hours a week and going back to your house with a lunch box as not something I wanted to do," Hartley said. "I thought I would be manufacturing windshields forever."

Before taking over in Hershey, Hartley coached Colorado's former AHL affiliate in Cornwall for three seasons. He also has coached in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Central Major Junior Hockey League.

"If you look at the background that Bob Hartley has, he's won everywhere he's been at every level," Lacroix said. "My peers have acknowledged this guy is one of the youngest potential great coach for the future."

Lacroix said several people applied for the job, but he made his decision quickly after interviewing Hartley on Monday. Hall of Fame center Bryan Trottier also interviewed and accepted an offer to be Hartley's assistant.

Crawford, meanwhile, remains under contract with the Avalanche. If he is released from his final year with Colorado, he is not expected to be out of work long. His name has already been linked with Toronto, though Mike Murphy remains the Maple Leafs' coach, and Chicago is ooking for a coach.