Islanders head coach Barry Trotz spoke Wednesday ahead of Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum. (Credit: Newsday / Casey Musarra)
Barry Trotz did not use Mount Everest as an analogy. This was a real mountain climbing story.
The Islanders coach has a close friend who failed in multiple attempts to scale the Himalayan peak, at 29,029 feet the world’s tallest. Finally, though, Trotz’s friend succeeded. Then he discovered that doing it once was simply not enough.
“He’s done it multiple times now,” Trotz said. “I’m like, ‘That’s really, really difficult.’ But it’s an addicting thing.