John Tortorella condemns old clips of his run-ins with Larry Brooks going viral after Rangers beat writer's death

During his tenure as head coach of the New York Rangers, John Tortorella had plenty of intense moments with New York Post writer Larry Brooks. Tortorella moved on from the position in 2013, and so did the both of them from their feud. The two were said to have reconciled in the later years.

After the Hall of Fame writer's news of passing circulated many tried to remember him as the journalist who had agitated Tortorella and was his hard critic. Dishing those precious clips, Tortorella, during ESPN's broadcast on Thursday, gave a heartfelt tribute to Brooks, who the veteran coach called his former "colleague" and someone he had utmost respect for.

"See, I don't even think of the clips," Tortorella stated. "The thing I always respected about Larry is no matter what the day brought, him and I disagreed, and we had a lot of disagreements. But we disagree and we go at it. But he'd be there the next day, ready to ask another question. He'd be there face-to-face." "I get the stuff, the video of him and I, [but] that doesn't fit here though," Tortorella added later. "He passed this morning."

Their rivalry started before Tortorella had even accepted the position of the head coach at the New York Rangers. During a media scrum in 2007, when he was still with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Brooks' on-the-nose questions prompted Torts to ask him to leave.

In 2010, Tortorella refused to take a question from The Post columnist as he was upset about Brooks criticizing one of his players from the previous game. Brooks thought he was getting challenged to a fight. Tortorella refused instead shooting back with, "You were probably beat up in the bus stop most of the time."

The following year during the Stanley Cup playoffs, Tortorella yet again publicly lashed out at Brooks, claiming that the journalist twisted his words and tried to get him into a tangle. Brooks blamed the Rangers head coach for ruining his good mood.

Regardless of all the bad blood, Tortorella admitted to have never felt any amount of disrespect for the acclaimed writer because of his tenacity and dedication to his job.

“That’s what we have to remember here — not the crap that you see and gets sensationalized. It’s the man. He deserves that respect,” Tortorella said.

John Tortorella opens up about reaching out to Larry Brooks' family

Tortorella noted that he had been in contact with the Brooks family after he was relayed the new of his ill health. He offered his condolences to the ones surviving the acclaimed writer.

"Aaron Portzline from Columbus texted me a few days ago and said, "Hey, Larry's struggling." I immediately text Larry," Tortorella continued. "Jordan texts me back on a different number. It was on Larry's phone. He says, "Larry can't get to it." And he kind of explained to me what was going on. And this is five weeks ago. "This all came up with Larry, and it tore him apart. And so Jordon and I talked a little bit. And I just wanted to try to help out in any way possible that I could. And we've continued the discussion the past couple of days. We talked before the show here, before I came over here. "And just, just want to send our condolences to the family, the grandkids, [Scott] 14 and [Reese] 12, Joanna, Jordan. That's what we have to remember here. Not the crap that you see and gets sensationalized. I think it's the man, right? He deserves that respect. And it's hard. It's sad."

Brooks had taken his leave from The Post few weeks into the current season. He was awarded with the Elmer Ferguson Award in 2018, bestowed on the Hockey Hall of Fame inductee from the print media industry.

Wayne Gretzky’s wife Janet responds to critics questioning his loyalty to Canada, Bobby Orr's support following 4 Nations drama

Edited by R. Nikhil Parshy