MONTREAL – If Carey Price secures some serious hardware at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, you can count his former bench boss in Tri-Cities among the many people who’ll be smiling from ear to ear.
Veteran WHL head coach Don Nachbaur knew he had a special player on his hands back when the pair crossed paths in Washington State for the first time in 2003-04. Price was making his first foray into the CHL ranks back then with the Tri-City Americans, and his All-World talent was evident from the start. It’s been 11 years since Nachbaur last called Price a full-time pupil, but the former NHLer, who currently helms the Spokane Chiefs and boasts over 1,000 games of coaching experience in the WHL alone, still vividly recalls working with the Canadiens starter all those years ago.