Joel Quenneville's Triumphant Return

Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire

I’ve got a lot of Joel Quenneville stories from my years covering him when he was an assistant coach with the Avs, to later when he was the head coach.

First off, very few people know more about three things than Quenneville, and none of them relate to hockey.

The first is, he’s a premier expert on horse racing. He knows all the top horses and is a great handicapper on the sport. The second is, very few people know about the history of tobacco and cigars more than Q. Most of his knowledge came from marrying his wife, Elizabeth - universally known to his and her friends as “Boo.” She was the heir to a large tobacco fortune in Connecticut, which is where they met when Q was a player with the Hartford Whalers.

The third is, he’s a wiz at “Name That Tune.” He knows almost every pop song, especially from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. He will name that tune on the first note, and he’ll also tell you the name of the group that sang it. Back when I rode the buses with the Avs and music played, Q would name that tune instantly, every time.