Where is Dominique Ducharme? Canadiens coach back for Stanley Cup Final Game 3

It might not have been as obvious as a player missing from the bench and all the space that it creates, but the Canadiens were without a key component for Games 1 and 2 of their Stanley Cup Final against the Lightning. Head coach Dominique Ducharme was out due to a required COVID-19 quarantine, but he is back for Game 3 on Friday with his team trailing 2-0.
“I was really looking forward to this,” the bench boss said before Game 3. “It’s been several days that I’ve been looking forward to coming back. When they said it would be July 2, I was looking at that date and really looking forward to it being here. So I’m really happy to be here with the staff, with the players, with everyone to continue this battle.”
It was revealed June 19 that Ducharme tested positive for COVID-19. He missed every Canadiens game after that, beginning with Game 3 of the semifinals against the Golden Knights.
“Being vaccinated twice, the chances are really slim,” Ducharme told reporters June 20. “I really wasn’t lucky on this one. . . . It’s frustrating because I’ve been doing everything they asked us to do. I never exposed myself.”
Ducharme had both doses but was still within the two-week window before becoming fully vaccinated. He was just eight days removed from getting his second jab.
“I know personally it would be killing [me] inside to miss the grandest ball of them all, and that’s the Stanley Cup Final,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said before Game 2, adding: “This is a time you should enjoy, and for him to have a team be in the final and not be part of it, I feel for him, even if he’s the competition.”


