RUTHERFORD RINK BREEDING GROUND FOR… WORLD CLASS COACHES

By P.J. Kennedy

Mention the 1929 vintage Rutherford Rink as a “breeding ground” and one’s thoughts will turn perhaps to chilled but plentiful rodents, pneumonia-risking fans with sore posteriors or spectators with double vision from viewing games around strategically placed posts! Yet in reality, University of Saskatchewan has played a role in the development of several “top notch” hockey coaches.

Former Huskie player (1969-71) and national Canadian Inter-university Athletic Union (CIAU) national championship (Huskies of 1983) team coach Dave King (1979-83) is undoubtedly the best known ice mentor. He went on to coach the Canadian National and Olympic teams as well as be head coach of Calgary and Columbus in the NHL and assistant coach with Montreal. In addition he coached in Japan and is currently head coach of Metallung Magnitogorsk. He had a 62-39-0 ledger coaching Huskies 1979-83. Less well known, but nevertheless a former Huskie bench boss, is Dave Chambers who fashioned a 23-13-0 record behind the Green and White bench from 1967-69. He used the CIAU as a stepping stone from the OHL as a junior coach at Guelph and Toronto St. Michaels ultimately to take a position as an assistant coach with Minnesota North Stars and then head coaching position with Quebec Nordiques (1990-92).

Former Huskie defenceman Dave Dunn (1966-70) completed an NHL playing career in 1976 with Toronto and moved into an assistant coaching position with Vancouver Canucks. Todd McLellan (1991) went from Huskie player to coaching at Swift Current and is now and assistant coach with Detroit Red Wings. Current head coach with the Red Wings is Mike Babcock (1982) who called the shots as bench boss for WHL teams in Moose Jaw and Spokane, for Cincinnati in the AHL, and then the NHL’s Anaheim Mighty Ducks from 2002-05 before taking up his head man duties at the motor city in spring 2005.

Brent McEwen, Bill Seymour and Dave Adolph all played Huskie hockey and then went on to coach the Dogs as well as work for other teams. Currently a scout for the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, McEwen toiled for several years as general manager of the Saskatoon Blades. McEwen was behind the bench at Rutherford Rink from 1983-92 with 1990-91 in Norway when Seymour, who suited up as a player with the Dogs in 1965-66, moved from former assistant to head coach for the 1990-91 campaign. He, in turn, has coached Team Saskatchewan at Canada Winter Games in both 1983 and 1987 and was general manager of Team Canada at Universiade at Italy and an exchange coach for seven weeks in China. Seymour is currently Convenor of Canada West Men’s Hockey and Education Consultant with Saskatoon Blades. Dave Adolph who has been Huskies coach for more years (12) than any other man, and has guided his charges to over 100 victories, played with the Green and White in 1978 and from 1980-83. He coached at University of Lethbridge before accepting his current position with the Dogs in 1996.

Other notable former Huskies who went on to coaching success are Willie Desjardins (1979-83) current coach of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and former Blades and Canadian National team coach, Wally Kozak (1964-67) who has coached in Japan and in recent years been a vital part of the Canadian National women’s team, and Peter Anholt (1982-84, 86) who after coaching at Seattle, Red Deer and Kelowna, currently leads the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. Indeed, current commissioner of the WHL, Ron Robison, who has a long resume of service within the WHL, is also a former Huskie, having performed for U of S in 1974. Dallas Thompson (1996-98) is current general manager of Prince George in the WHL. Another former Huskie coach is Lyn Bannister (1969-72) who had a later job as head coach at Mount Royal College in Calgary.

Others such as Lorne Frey (1969; 72-74), Marc Chartier (1982-86), and Glen Gulutzan (1993-94) have been junior, midget AAA, or minor professional bench bosses. Gulutzan, for example, has directed traffic from behind the pines for Fresno of the defunct West Coast Hockey League. Brian McGregor (1984) coached Kelsey Amaruks to Canadian College Athletic Association national playoffs won gold with Team Saskatchewan at Canada Winter Games. Perhaps one of the most powerful men in professional hockey has a connection to University of Saskatchewan Huskies. Alumnus Max McNab (1946) eventually became general manager of the Washington Capitals after a stellar minor professional league playing career that extended into several seasons with Detroit Red Wings.

It should be noted that Charlie Hay, former captain of Huskies and goaltending great, also coached for the Huskie women’s team. Indeed, Hay is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder for his tireless labours on behalf of Hockey Canada in the last decades of the 10th century. Another person who went from toiling on behalf of the women’s Green and White to major contributions for hockey is Shannon Miller. She went from Huskies to coaching the Canadian National women’s team and is currently coaching at the US university level.

The CIS can be proud of how many hockey leaders have been developed in part here at University of Saskatchewan in both the men’s and women’s programmes.

This is #5 in a series of Huskie Hockey History excerpts from Kennedy’s forthcoming book Dogs on Ice: A History of Hockey at University of Saskatchewan with research by the author and Bill Seymour and Kerri Archibald.