Todd Ewen

Todd Ewen
Born March 22, 1966
Saskatoon, SK, CAN
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 230 lb (100 kg; 16 st 6 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for St. Louis Blues
Montreal Canadiens
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
San Jose Sharks
NHL Draft 168th overall, 1984
Edmonton Oilers
Playing career 1986–1997

Todd Gordon Ewen (born March 22, 1966 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised in St. Albert, Alberta) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played for several teams in the NHL. He played right wing and was primarily known as an enforcer. He played for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks. Todd retired with 1911 penalty min. putting him 58th for all time career.

After leaving his professional career Todd has made several coaching videos with Championship productions on "How to buy equipment for your child", "Break out Basics" and "Checking". He has also been the coaching director for Chesterfield hockey association, Lafayette Varsity head coach and assistant coach for Saint Louis University Billikens.

Junior career

Ewen started his junior career with the Kamloops Oilers at age 16. He started the season in Kamloops but was traded to the Nanaimo Lakers at the end of the season. That was the last year that the team was in Nanaimo and they moved back to New Westminster. Ewen played three years for the New Westminster Bruins of the WHL, where he was awarded the most improved player by the WHL and served as the assistant captain. In his last year with the Bruins he had 6 points and over 200 minutes in penalties at Christmas. Oilers head scout Barry Fraser flew in to see his performance. He instructed Ewen to start playing hockey as well as the aggressive style. He ended up with 52 points and 289 minutes in penalties. When the season ended with New Westminster, Ewen was loaned to the Maine Mariners for the playoffs. He centered a line which had Archie Henderson and Mitch Wilson as line mates. He was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in round 8, #168 overall of the 1984 Draft. Some of the other notable players in the organization at that time were Cliff Ronning, Craig Berube, Bill Ranford, Link Gaetz, Alan May, Brent Hughes, Pokey Reddick and Brian Noonan.

The team was coached by junior hockey coach Ernie "Punch" Mclean, most noted by the teams that he assembled and inducted in the British Columbia Hockey Hall of Fame, but also for the fact that he survived a plane crash, a car wreck and having a bulldozer roll over him.

Professional career

Ewen never played for the Oilers but was called up with the team for the 1985 Stanley Cup playoffs. At the beginning of the next season Todd was assigned to the Minors in Nova Scotia where he had a run-in with Coach Larry Kish. He was traded to the St. Louis Blues. He played parts of four years with St. Louis and had one of his most memorable fights with Bob Probert. In his second fight in the National Hockey League he knocked out Probert with one punch. This would be the start of the battles with Bob that would continue. He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 1990 in their attempt to add an enforcer to the team for a Stanley Cup run. He played four seasons for Montreal which culminated in a Stanley Cup Championship in 1993. Before the start of the 1994 season he was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim after the expansion draft and was the first trade made by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim along with Patrick Carnback. He spent the next three seasons protecting the team's star players Paul Kariya and Teemu Selänne along with his partner Stu "the grim reaper" Grimson. During this time with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Todd served as the assistant captain for all three years. The Mighty Ducks achieved a record for the winningest expansion franchise team in history. After three years with the Mighty Ducks, Ewen joined the San Jose Sharks as a free agent in 1996–97, his last season in the NHL. His career ended with double knee surgery. He attended camp with the Phoenix Coyotes. He officially retired after suffering a knee injury in camp.

Coaching career

Todd has been involved in coaching since his retirement. Having moved back to St. Louis he became involved in the local Chesterfield Hockey Association and was the coaching director for 3 years. He also has been involved in doing coaching seminars with USA hockey for levels 1-3 along with other St Louis Blues alumni, Rob Ramage, Mike Zuke, and Rick Zombo. During his tenure with Chesterfield hockey Todd was the head coach for every level from mini-mite to midget major central States. The opportunity to get involved in High School hockey was a pleasant change and Todd moved to Lafayette high school for 3 years. In 2008 he also began as the assistant coach for the Saint Louis University Billikens Men's Ice Hockey Club and took over the reins in 2009 as the Head Coach. Since then, Todd has led the team to a 2011 MACHA Gold Championship(First in club history) and a Central Regional Qualifier.

Awards and achievements

External links