Fred Shero

Fred Alexander Shero (October 23, 1925 – November 24, 1990) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and head coach, who is most well known for coaching the Philadelphia Flyers to two Stanley Cups.

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 * Win together today and we walk together forever
 * Message Shero wrote on the team's blackboard prior to Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup Finals


 * A man with a dream of pleasure can go forth and conquer a crowd and three. With a new song's measure can trample a kingdom down.
 * Message Shero wrote on the team's blackboard prior to Game 6 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals


 * 1) Never go offside on a three on two or two on one. 2) Never go backwards in your own end except on a powerplay. 3) Never throw a puck out blindly from behind your opponent's net. 4) Never pass diagonally across ice in your own end unless 100 percent certain. 5) Wings on wings in neutral zone—unless intercepting a pass. 6) Second man goes all the way in for a rebound. 7) Defense with puck at opponents' blueline—look at each teammate before shooting. 8) Wing in front of opponents' net must face puck and lean on stick. 9) Puck carrier over center with no room and no one to pass to must shoot puck in. 10) No forward must ever turn his back on the puck. 11) No player must be more than two zones away from puck. 12) Never be outnumbered in defensive zone. 13) On delayed penalty puck carrier must look for extra man. 14) Be alert to time left on opponent's penalty.
 * Shero's "bible"


 * I swear I have never told a player to attack another player. In fact, I have told my players if they ever hear me saying something like this, they can break a stick over my skull. I ask only that they play aggressively.


 * I think hockey is a game, a child's game, played by men and to play it effectively you must have fun just like children do. I've been with too many teams in sports through the years where you weren't allowed to open your mouth, you weren't allowed to laugh, you weren't allowed to question the coach or anyone in authority … You lived in fear. My players don't live in fear. They get up in the morning, they're happy and they go to bed, they're happy. And that's the type of person I am.
 * From the 1975 Stanley Cup Finals film: "A Silver Fantasy."


 * Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.


 * Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. For your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
 * Jackson, Jim, Walking Together Forever: The Broad Street Bullies, Then and Now


 * When you have bacon and eggs for breakfast, the chicken makes a contribution, the pig makes a commitment.
 * Jackson, Jim, Walking Together Forever: The Broad Street Bullies, Then and Now


 * We know that hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death. Life is just a place where we spend time between games.
 * Jackson, Jim, Walking Together Forever: The Broad Street Bullies, Then and Now


 * To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.


 * Success requires no explanations, failure presents no alibis.
 * Liebman, Glenn, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners


 * Arrive at the net with the puck and in ill humor.
 * Liebman, Glenn, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners


 * If you keep your opposition on their ass, they don't score goals.
 * Liebman, Glenn, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners


 * I don't live in the fast lane I live on the off ramp.
 * Liebman, Glenn, Hockey Shorts: 1,001 of the games funniest one liners


 * We're in a weird position. All year long people keep telling us that we're bad for hockey, bad for the NHL, bad for Canada because we're too rough. Now we're supposed to save the game for the NHL, for Canada, for everyone. Hah! For the first time we're the good guys.
 * Shero prior to the 1976 Flyers-Red Army game

About Fred Shero

 * He won at every level. He was the first guy to use video, first guy to hire an assistant, first to coach an expansion team to the Stanley Cup. First guy to use a system that involved the entire team. They said it was too late for last year's selections. He'll be considered this year. He belongs. Absolutely.
 * Bobby Clarke on Shero's Hockey Hall of Fame candidacy.


 * The absence of Shero, a pioneer who studied systems in the Soviet Union well before it became vogue and was the first to add an assistant coach to his staff and behind the bench, must be the result of a vendetta. There is no other way to explain it.
 * Larry Brooks on Shero's absence from the Hockey Hall of Fame


 * Sometimes I don't think he knows Wednesday from Thursday, and then sometimes I think he's a genius who's got us all fooled
 * Scotty Bowman on Fred Shero


 * If you looked inside Freddie's brain, you would find a miniature hockey rink.
 * Mariette Shero on her husband