By Brice Burge
Editor in Chief
Former Northern Michigan University goaltender Bill Zaniboni has announced that he is coaching 15 of the 16 franchises of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League (MnJHL) through remote controlled robots.
"Yes, I am the head coach of the Royales and the (Wisconsin Dells) Ducks and the majority of the teams in the league," Zaniboni said in a press conference before leaving for the USA Hockey Tier III National Championships in Sudbury, Conn. "I don't know why this is such a big deal -- I'm a pretty awesome coach."
Editor in Chief
Former Northern Michigan University goaltender Bill Zaniboni has announced that he is coaching 15 of the 16 franchises of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League (MnJHL) through remote controlled robots.
"Yes, I am the head coach of the Royales and the (Wisconsin Dells) Ducks and the majority of the teams in the league," Zaniboni said in a press conference before leaving for the USA Hockey Tier III National Championships in Sudbury, Conn. "I don't know why this is such a big deal -- I'm a pretty awesome coach."
Zaniboni said he was coaching all but one of the teams in the league since 2010. Inspired by the villain "A" from the ABC Family television "Pretty Little Liars", Zaniboni got hired after sending anonymous emails, text messages and reports to team owners to get the jobs.
"Yeah, the whole "A" thing worked pretty well until I was asked to do phone interviews and I knew I sounded like the same guy," said the former Mississippi Surge player and robotics prodigy. "If this was going to work, I had to go bigger."
Bigger he went. Based out of his mother's basement in Plymouth, Mass., he set up a huge network of cameras and monitors to recreate the NHL's instant replay room in Toronto. He would then use over 30 robots to execute his decisions, whether they were head coaches or assistants.
In MQT, both Royales Head Coach Mike Stanaway and Goalie Coach Jim Stanaway were robots controlled by Zaniboni, but MQT Social Scene is happy to report that Royales Assistant Cliff Cook is -- in fact -- a real person.
"I'm still trying to grasp this whole concept," Cook said. "You bond with a couple guys with what you think are strong ties to area and then they don't exist. No wonder we didn't get coverage."
Junior hockey enthusiasts are also sharing the shock of the Stanaway brothers non-existance.
"To be honest, we're pretty relieved that Mike isn't a real person," said JuniorHockey.com writer Stephen Heisler. "Stanaway was such a pompous and arrogant snob that no one really liked."
Questions were raised about who was coaching the teams after another media source's article implied that both the Royales and Ducks were coached by the former CCHA Goaltender of the month.
No word on what USA Hockey will do to Zaniboni, but they told MQT Social Scene that the were "working on" a press release. Early reports state that the Illiana Blackbirds -- the one team not coached by Zaniboni -- may get the MnJHL autobid for winning their conference.
Brice Burge is the Editor in Chief of MQT Social Scene. He can be reached at [email protected].
"Yeah, the whole "A" thing worked pretty well until I was asked to do phone interviews and I knew I sounded like the same guy," said the former Mississippi Surge player and robotics prodigy. "If this was going to work, I had to go bigger."
Bigger he went. Based out of his mother's basement in Plymouth, Mass., he set up a huge network of cameras and monitors to recreate the NHL's instant replay room in Toronto. He would then use over 30 robots to execute his decisions, whether they were head coaches or assistants.
In MQT, both Royales Head Coach Mike Stanaway and Goalie Coach Jim Stanaway were robots controlled by Zaniboni, but MQT Social Scene is happy to report that Royales Assistant Cliff Cook is -- in fact -- a real person.
"I'm still trying to grasp this whole concept," Cook said. "You bond with a couple guys with what you think are strong ties to area and then they don't exist. No wonder we didn't get coverage."
Junior hockey enthusiasts are also sharing the shock of the Stanaway brothers non-existance.
"To be honest, we're pretty relieved that Mike isn't a real person," said JuniorHockey.com writer Stephen Heisler. "Stanaway was such a pompous and arrogant snob that no one really liked."
Questions were raised about who was coaching the teams after another media source's article implied that both the Royales and Ducks were coached by the former CCHA Goaltender of the month.
No word on what USA Hockey will do to Zaniboni, but they told MQT Social Scene that the were "working on" a press release. Early reports state that the Illiana Blackbirds -- the one team not coached by Zaniboni -- may get the MnJHL autobid for winning their conference.
Brice Burge is the Editor in Chief of MQT Social Scene. He can be reached at [email protected].
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