Yesterday I received my season subscription renewal packet. When I opened it up, I was surprised to see the photo I consider to be the best taken during the last season. I first saw the photo in the 2006-07 yearbook. It touched me deeply.

The photographer had captured coach Tom Renney and his superstar, Jaromir Jagr, just as Jagr was about to take the ice for the second period. Renney is holding the hem of Jagr’s jersey, offering him one last word of advice, one final word of encouragement before heading off to compete.

This photo is both fatherly and coach-like at the same time. It brought instantly to mind how I would give my girls one final word of encouragement before an Irish Dance competiton. That is perhaps why it struck such a chord for me. As a parent or a coach, when your child/player goes out to compete you hope for three things: that they do their best, that they are dealt with fairly by judges and officials and, that they finish uninjured. The player in the photo is listening attentively to those words of his coach and taking strength from them.

This photo conveyed all those things without any caption. It spoke volumes to me about both men in the picture, the coach and the player. I had been formulating in my mind what words of homage to write about Tom Renney, gentleman, class act, best coach the Rangers have had in decades… Then I saw this picture again and realized that words to describe how I feel about Coach Renney are not necessary. This one photo says it all.

(The photo appears toward the middle of the yearbook. It was taken right before the start of the second period on 11/21/06 8:20:22pm against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers defeated the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes 4-0. Jagr had two goals, one in the second and one in the third period)