Many sports fans throughout North America have been amazed by an event that played out over the past couple of weeks, namely the defeat of the Washington Capitals by the Montreal Canadiens. What made this hockey playoff event so interesting was that the 8th place team defeated the first place team in a best of seven game hockey series. What does have to do with trucking? For me there were a lot of parallels. I will explain.

Winning a best of 7 game hockey series is different from a 96th seeded tennis player defeating a number 2 seed. A singles tennis match is between two players. Hockey games are played by teams with multiple sets of players. Many top tennis players have off days. However to lose 4 games over a two week period is a different story. It is not about playing one bad game or set but about being defeated on 4 different occasions.

For most of the season the Montreal Canadiens were a mediocre team, barely securing the last playoff spot in their division. The Washington Capitals were the class of the division with some of the elite players in the game. The Caps team finished 33 points ahead of Montreal in the regular season. Very few hockey experts gave the Canadiens much chance of winning this series, particularly after they fell behind 3 games to 1. Most hockey fans gave them up for dead.

So what happened? Some hockey experts are giving all the credit to Montreal’s young goalie, Jaroslav Halak, who was excellent in the Canadiens’ last 3 victories. There is no doubt that he performed at a very high level and was a big factor in the team’s success.

But the explanation for the team’s success goes back to the off season. The team’s head of hockey operations, Bob Gainey, had a vision of the kind of team that he was looking for. In an unprecedented move, he replaced nine players on the team. A number of small skilled forwards joined the team. Several new defensemen were brought in. A number of very experienced veterans including the team’s former captain were moved out. He also hired a new coach.

For most of the year, the vision did not translate into success. The team was inconsistent. Mr. Gainey left the organization. Then something unusual began to happen.

The team began to execute on Mr. Gainey’s vision. The team bought into the plan of the coaching staff. The small speedy forwards skated hard. A top defenceman was brought in from a minor league team to replace an existing veteran in the playoffs. The players checked the Capitals as hard as they could. The team took away the time and space from the star forwards on the Caps team. The Caps’ best player, Alexander Ovechkin, was forced to shoot the puck from the outside lanes. Everyone on the team bought into the idea of blocking shots. The young goalie played brilliantly. The result was that David defeated Goliath.

The lessons for trucking firms are very clear. The leader of the company must have a vision of what his trucking company must do to win. The leader must hire a management team that can train, motivate and lead its employees to execute on the vision of the owner or CEO. The players must all be committed to executing the game plan and the game plan must be realistic and achievable. The lesson learned is that a cohesive, well motivated team, that can execute a well thought out game plan, can compete with their less well coached industry giants and win.

Can the Habs do it again? Well the element of surprise is gone. Enjoy the series.