Welcome to the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League New Bench Bosses series. This series highlights each new league coach and next is Levi Stuart of the 100 Mile House Wranglers.
Stuart, a Merritt native, comes to 100 Mile House after having spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Nipawin Hawks in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.
KIJHL: How will your experience with the Hawks help you in your first full season as a head coach?
LS: Immensely. It was a great experience to get out to Saskatchewan and see the different styles of hockey – different compared to what I was used to in B.C. I got to learn under a great coach in Tad Kozun, an experienced young guy, who played pro hockey. He taught me a lot and we learnt together as coaches and got to experience different things. We helped kids move on to Division 1 and U SPORTS and some Division 3 as well. It helped prepare for the small community feel and see the support.
KIJHL: What were some big learning moments with Nipawin that you will lean on to help you this season?
LS: I understand better when and when not to be hard on players I think was a big one. It’s learning each and every individual’s personality and how to read players. Who needs what push and who needs a pat on the back. There are guys you can be extra hard on, and really push them and they thrive off you giving it to them, while others crumble under that. You might need to give them a hug and tell them to take a deep breath and then they go out there and score a goal, right? It’s about adapting to their personalities and how they need to be coached.
KIJHL: What is your coaching style in terms of how you will want your team to play?
LS: I’ve always been a guy that likes structured hockey. That is the way I’m going to be running this team with Russell Sanderson and Lee Hansen. We are all on board with teaching these guys the right fundamentals and playing, not necessarily a defence-first style, but outprocessing the other team and doing things the right way. Playing a detailed game in which everybody is unselfish.
You look at last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs with the Boston Bruins, you see a guy like David Pastrnak, a pure goal scorer with amazing talent, but he was out there blocking shots, and even fighting a guy like Matthew Tkachuk. He was showing his brothers that he’s willing to do anything for them.
KIJHL: What do you enjoy about coaching?
LS: It’s all about helping the kids. I didn’t get to play junior hockey after I had a career ending injury during my last year of midget AAA. I was paralyzed from the waist down for two months on a hit from behind. It took me almost half a year to get back to skating again. I was lucky enough that the Vancouver Giants got me into video coaching and scouting right away. I got to job shadow some really cool people in Scott Bonner (general manager) and work alongside guys like Don Hay and other numerous big name coaches.
Something that Don Hay said when I first started working with him was that he always had offers to go to the NHL and be an assistant coach. For him, he didn’t care about winning a Stanley Cup. He got so much more pride and that positive feeling when he was able to help a guy move on to play professional hockey. That is something I have always really taken to heart and tried to do myself. I want to help these kids move on and play hockey if that is something they want to do. Others just want to finish junior and get into working which is about helping them become good people and teammates and having the best junior hockey experience. It’s supposed to be the funnest time of your life, while creating that brotherhood and that bond, and that family that not everybody is lucky enough to have.
KIJHL: Do you have a coach who made such an impact on you that you lean on when needed for advice? Why is that person so important?
LS: Don Hay is the one who I absorbed the most out of. He was there for my first few years and even before I started coaching, and was trying out for the team, and watching as a fan, he was the guy. He is the winningest coach in the WHL and it wouldn’t be smart to not listen to every single thing he had to say. He taught me a ton.
However, I would say that is my dad, John Stuart. His team just won the men’s fastpitch World Championship in Surrey at Softball City. He is the coach and manager for Team Canada and has won gold medals and championships. He is a Canadian National Coach of the Year. He’s the guy. I call him whenever I need and has taught me everything I know. If I’m getting overly emotional, or not sure how to handle a situation, he’s definitely the guy I call.
KIJHL: What is your favourite hockey moment as a player or coach?
LS: I have some great moments as a player that I will never forget, but I’d say it was my first win as a head coach with the Merritt Centennials during the BCHL Pod season during COVID. It was a struggle and tough year, but a ton of learning experiences. We hadn’t beaten Prince George the entire season and they were a very good team. I got the opportunity to be the head coach on the bench alone, and we pulled out a comeback victory. It was a pretty big celebration, kind of like our championship moment there. That’s definitely a moment I will never forget and cherish for the rest of my life.
KIJHL: Away from the rink, what are things you enjoy doing?
LS: I’m pretty much a hockey guy through and through. When I’m not at the rink, I’m watching video on other teams or my own team or players. I’m trying to gather as much knowledge as possible.
In the summers I do like to fish, but I don’t get out as much as I would like to. In the off-season I run some skates in the Lower Mainland, training my younger brother, who plays professionally in Austria. We have some other guys from the AHL, ECHL, Division 1 and it’s a smaller group that I’ve known since they were little. They approached me a few years back wanting me to train them. Those are things that I love to do. They are kids that are dedicated and want to learn.
A couple years back I had a back injury from a bad car accident that affects me to this day with day-to-day stuff and ability to do physical activities. I was coming home on the Kelowna connector and flipped my car and had to have the jaws of life get me out. I broke two vertebrae, one in my neck and one in my back and I was in a neck brace for a while. That was a pretty traumatic experience.
I was laying in the snow with my windshield smashed in and the car squished down. My face cut open. I was in dress clothes, coming home from coaching. I was there for God knows how long and I really didn’t know if anyone would find me as I was in a ditch. Lucky for me, I was honking my horn and a couple of semi drivers pulled over. I credit those guys for saving my life. They came checking on me when they heard my voice and I don’t think they were expecting anybody to be alive. They got the ambulances there and the jaws of life to get me out. It definitely changed the way I look at life and it made me appreciate being here every day that much more. It makes you appreciate the little moments that much more.
