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// OCTOBER 2023 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOS COURTESY Getty Images; Detroit Red Wings
HE BEATLES SANG A
FAMOUS S ONG about
a long and winding road.
Derek Lalonde, the head coach
of the Detroit Red Wings, has
traveled it.
Lalonde grew up in a tiny place
in upstate New York called Brasher
Falls. In fact, with a population of
769, it's not even a town or a village. It's
officially classified as a hamlet. How far
north is it? Well, it's a half-hour drive
to the Canadian border and a 353-mile
drive away from New York City.
A goaltender in high school, Lalonde
left Brasher Falls and played Division
III college hockey at Cortland State
with the idea of becoming a gym teach-
er. However, hockey had taken a hold of
the young man, and the odyssey began.
Western Massachusetts, a few stops
back to New York, Michigan, Denver,
Green Bay, Toledo, Des Moines and
then the big stage in Tampa. Finally,
in 2022, Motown, where the kid from
Brasher Falls was given the reigns of
T
Derek Lalonde's
Journey To Head
Coach Of The Detroit
Red Wings Has Come
Via A Long And
Winding Path
MOTOWN
AN
ODYSSEY
TO
by Neal Boudette
