HOCKEY Bowman, Torre appreciate championship chat

The two coaches have combined for 13 championship teams.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Scotty Bowman and Joe Torre had plenty to talk about, not the least of which were the 13 teams they've coached to championships.
"It's a nice club to be in, you know," said Torre, who managed the New York Yankees to four World Series titles in five years. "I always felt sort of something missing when you sit and talk with the guys who have won championships."
Not many can match Bowman's record of success. He coached nine teams to the Stanley Cup championship, the last being Detroit in 2002. The clinching win over Carolina was his last game as an NHL coach.
"In his case, he kept doing it over and over and over again," Torre said when Bowman visited him in spring training.
Bowman spent time with the Yankees on Wednesday. He watched batting practice and introduced himself to Alex Rodriguez.
Torre was a player with the Cardinals while Bowman was also in St. Louis as coach of the Blues.
"I love it. He comes over here and he sits like he's known you for a hundred years," Torre said. "He sits down and starts talking to you. It's great. [Derek] Jeter comes out, and he said 'You're from Kalamazoo, you must be a Red Wings fan.' "
While Bowman is a master hockey tactician, he holds quite a respect for baseball and its managers.
"I like the idea that you have to make a lot of decisions. And you sort of have to think ahead," Bowman said. "That's what you have to do in hockey. You have to think who you're putting on next. You're also watching the other team, not only watching you're own."
More coach talk
Joel Quenneville was one of three NHL coaches to lose his job this week, keeping him from possibly achieving quite a dubious distinction.
Quenneville was let go by St. Louis on Tuesday in his eighth season as the Blues' coach. He reached the playoffs in his first seven years, nothing new in St. Louis where the Blues have qualified for the postseason 24 straight years.
Only three times have the Blues failed to get into the playoffs in their 36 seasons of hockey. Quenneville was in danger of being in charge of the fourth unproductive season.
Only Jean-Guy Talbot and Lou Angotti in the 1973-74 season, and Leo Boivin and Barclay Plager in 1978 and 1979 failed to get the Blues into the playoffs.
It's now up to Mike Kitchen, an assistant with the Blues since 1998, to save this season.
Phoenix fired Bob Francis as coach on Tuesday, and Glen Sather stepped down from behind the New York Rangers' bench Wednesday to concentrate on his team president and general manager duties.