Belichick Disappointed With Bruins Firing Of Cassidy

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10 months ago at 3:57 pm ET

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick tends to be someone who isn’t afraid to speak his mind and he took some time on Tuesday to voice his thoughts about the recent firing of Boston Bruins Head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

As the New England Patriots got set for the first mandatory practice of the week, Belichick spoke to reporters and opened his press conference with his thoughts on the firing of Cassidy, which he was clearly disappointed by.

“First of all, sorry to see what happened with [Bruins coach] Bruce [Cassidy] yesterday,” said Belichick. “Really enjoyed my relationship with him. Always support the Bruins but he was a good friend and somebody that I had a really good relationship with.”

Cassidy’s firing ended an extensive tenure by the now-former coach where he was behind the Bruins’ bench for 399 games, finishing with a record of 245-108-46.

As Belichick pointed out, Cassidy took Boston to the playoffs in each of his six seasons as their head coach, which included a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2019. He brought the Bruins to the postseason again this year but they were eliminated in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes in a series where Boston lost the opening two games but won three of the next four – all at the TD Garden – to force a game seven in Carolina.

Unfortunately, despite fighting back from an 0-2 start to the series, they couldn’t advance and it ultimately cost Cassidy his job with the club.

In the end, Belichick knows it’s a business, but he said it’s still disappointing.

“[He] took the teams to the playoffs, and got pretty close to the finals and all that,” said Belichick. “I understand what the business is, but I’ll miss him.”