- Mike Babcock
-
Mike Babcock Jr. 
Babcock coaching a playoff gameBorn April 29, 1963
Manitouwadge, OntarioCurrent team Detroit Red Wings Previous team(s) Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Stanley Cup wins 2008 Years as a coach 1991–present Years as an NHL coach 2002–present Years with current team 2005–present Michael "Mike" Babcock, Jr. (born April 29, 1963, in Manitouwadge, Ontario[1][2][3]) is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and former player. He serves as head coach of the Red Wings. He also served as the head coach of Team Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He is the only coach to gain entry to the Triple Gold Club as of June 2011.
Contents
Playing and coaching career
Before his playing days at McGill University (where he was captain), Babcock played for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL in 1980–81 and spent a season with the Kelowna Wings in 1982–83. In between, he played a year under Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan and transferred to McGill in 1983 under coach Ken Tyler. In September 1985 Babcock also had a brief try-out with the Vancouver Canucks.
Babcock graduated from McGill in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and also did some post-graduate work in sports psychology. In 146 career games with the Redmen, he tallied 22 goals and 85 assists for a total of 107 points and 301 penalty minutes, graduating as the second-highest scoring defenseman in McGill history. He moved to England in 1987 as a player-coach for Whitley Warriors (near Newcastle upon Tyne), who missed out on the league title by two points. In 49 games, he contributed 45 goals and 127 assists, accumulating 123 penalty minutes.
Coaching career
Babcock is the third McGill player to coach an NHL team (Lester Patrick guided the New York Rangers; George Burnett served in Edmonton) and in 2008, Babcock became the second McGill graduate to win the Stanley Cup, the other being Ken Dryden. He was a two-time all-star rearguard at McGill from 1983–84 to 1986–87, where he also won the Bobby Bell trophy as team MVP. He has had a distinguished coaching career and entered the 2008–09 season with a lifetime 656–470–114 regular season coaching record in 15 seasons overall, including a 231–118–61 NHL mark in five seasons (two with Anaheim and three with Detroit). He also guided Team Canada to gold medals at the 1997 world junior championships in Geneva, the 2004 IIHF world hockey championships in Prague and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Detroit marks the seventh coaching stint for the nomadic Babcock, a native of Ontario who has lived in six Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba) and four US states (Washington, Ohio, California and his current residence, Michigan).
In 1988, Babcock was appointed head coach at Red Deer College in Alberta. He spent three seasons at the school, winning the provincial collegiate championship and earning coach-of-the-year honours in 1989.
Babcock moved to the Western Hockey League in 1991 where he guided the Moose Jaw Warriors for a two-year term. He then served one season as bench boss of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, earning Canada West coach-of-the-year honours in 1993–94 after guiding Lethbridge to their first-ever appearance in post-season play and an entirely unexpected Canadian university national title with a 34–11–3 over-all mark.
In 1994, he was appointed coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, where he posted a regular-season record of 224–172–29 over six seasons for a .564 winning percentage. He was named twice as the West Division coach of the year (1995–1996 and 1999–2000).
From 2000–01 to 2001–02, Babcock guided the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, to a 74–59–20–7 record, including a franchise-high 41 wins and 95 points. The team qualified for the playoffs both years.
NHL
He was named head coach of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks) on May 22, 2002, and through two seasons, guided them to a combined 69–62–19 regular season record (including 14 overtime losses). In the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Ducks, he posted a 15–6 record, leading the Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals where they lost in 7 games to the New Jersey Devils.
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Babcock declined an offer to remain with the Ducks, and on July 15, 2005, was named head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. In three seasons, Babcock has led the Red Wings to a combined 162–56–28 regular season record and a 28–18 playoff record. Babcock and the Red Wings were eliminated by his former club, the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference Finals of the 2006–07 playoffs.
In the 2007–08 NHL season, while coaching the Detroit Red Wings, Babcock achieved his 200th NHL career win. This was on December 15 against the Florida Panthers, with a 5–2 final score. Heading into the All-Star game, as the top team in the league, Detroit's Babcock was selected to coach the Western Conference in the All-Star game. On June 4, 2008, Babcock led the Detroit Red Wings to another Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.
He was announced as a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy for the 2007–08 season, awarded to the coach who best contributes to his team's success but finished third behind Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens.[4]
In June 2008, Babcock signed a three-year contract extension with the Red Wings. In 2009, he became the second head coach (after Mike Keenan) to coach a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 with two different teams. With the Red Wings loss in Game 7, Babcock became the first head coach to lose a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 with two different teams, an unfortunate fate that Keenan avoided, though he was with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1987, as he was with the New York Rangers in 1994.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs of 2011, Babcock's Red Wings fell behind the San Jose Sharks 3 games to none in the second round, but won three straight to force a game seven, which the wings lost 3-2.
Thus far into his coaching career he has accumulated a playoff record of 63-39. In October 2010, Babcock signed a further four-year extension with the Red Wings that will see him through to the end of the 2014-15 season.[5]
International
On June 24, 2009, he was announced as the head coach of the Canada men's national ice hockey team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[6] The team finished the round robin with a regulation win over Norway, a shootout win over Switzerland, and a loss to the United States. In the elimination rounds they defeated Germany, Russia, and then Slovakia to advance to the gold medal game where they defeated the USA 3-2 in single overtime.[7]
With the win Babcock became the first coach (and only thus far) in the International Ice Hockey Federation's Triple Gold Club.[8][9] In addition to the Olympic gold, Babcock earned a World Championship title coaching Canada in 2004 and a Stanley Cup championship coaching the Detroit Red Wings in 2008.[8][9]
To honour Babcock's entrance into the Triple Gold Club, the City of Saskatoon announced that July 17, 2010, will be known as "Mike Babcock Day."[10]
Personal
Mike and Maureen Babcock have three children: Alexandra, Michael III and Taylor.[11][12][13] Although he was born in Manitouwadge, Ontario, he grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which most media guides incorrectly state as his birthplace. He spent the majority of his childhood moving around between Northern Ontario, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, before his family settled in Saskatoon, which he considers his hometown. Babcock's family didn't establish their roots in the city until 1975. Babcock attended both St. James Elementary School (since closed) and Holy Cross High School on Saskatoon's east side. Babcock is also one of the many notable graduates on Holy Cross High School's "Wall of Honour."
Coaching career statistics
Minor league
Year Team League W L OT/T Finish Playoffs 1991–92 Moose Jaw Warriors WHL 33 36 3 6th East Lost East Division quarter-final 1992–93 Moose Jaw Warriors WHL 27 42 3 8th East Out of playoffs 1994–95 Spokane Chiefs WHL 32 36 4 5th West Lost West Division semi-final 1995–96 Spokane Chiefs WHL 50 18 4 1st West Lost WHL finals 1996–97 Spokane Chiefs WHL 35 33 4 3rd West Lost West Division semi-final 1997–98 Spokane Chiefs WHL 45 23 4 2nd West Lost West Division final 1998–99 Spokane Chiefs WHL 19 44 9 7th West Out of playoffs 1999–2000 Spokane Chiefs WHL 47 19 6 1st West Lost WHL finals 2000–01 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 41 26 13 2nd South Lost in first round 2001–02 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 33 33 14 3rd Central Lost in preliminary round National Hockey League
Team Year Regular season Post season G W L T OTL Pts Division rank Result Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 2002–03 82 40 27 9 6 95 2nd in Pacific Lost in Stanley Cup Final 2003–04 82 29 35 10 8 76 4th in Pacific Missed playoffs Detroit Red Wings 2005–06 82 58 16 - 8 124 1st in Central Lost in first round 2006–07 82 50 19 - 13 113 1st in Central Lost in Conference Finals 2007–08 82 54 21 - 7 115 1st in Central Won Stanley Cup 2008–09 82 51 21 - 10 112 1st in Central Lost in Stanley Cup Final 2009–10 82 44 24 - 14 102 2nd in Central Lost in second round 2010-11 82 47 25 - 10 104 1st in Central Lost in second round Total 656 373 188 19 76 References
- ^ http://www.athletics.mcgill.ca/varsity_sports_player_profile.ch2?athlete_id=1413
- ^ http://www.universitysport.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=11929
- ^ http://media.www.mcgilltribune.com/media/storage/paper234/news/2008/09/30/Sports/Exclusive.Interview.Mike.Babcock.A.Former.Redman.Earns.His.redwings-3459185.shtml
- ^ "BOUDREAU WINS JACK ADAMS AWARD AS TOP COACH". TSN.ca. June 12, 2008. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=240518&lid=sublink06&lpos=topRelated_main. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ . http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=540214.
- ^ "Babcock named Canada’s Olympic team bench boss". National Post. June 25, 2009. http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=1731753.
- ^ Elliott, Helene (March 1, 2010). "Canada defeats U.S., 3-2, to win gold medal in men's hockey". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-hockey1-2010mar01,0,4522301,print.story. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ^ a b "Hockey's exclusive company". International Ice Hockey Federation. http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/history/the-iihf/triple-gold-club.html. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
- ^ a b Merk, Martin (February 28, 2010). "Triple gold for Eric Staal". IIHF.com. http://www.iihf.com/channels10/olympics-2010/news/news-singleview-world-championship-2009/article/triple-gold-for-eric-staal.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=3469&cHash=32a0274281.
- ^ "Mike Babcock Day announcement". http://smhask.sasktelwebhosting.com/L2NR_mikeBabcock.htm.
- ^ "Mike Babcock - Head Coach". Detroit Red Wings. http://redwings.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=win_coachbio_1477. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
- ^ Wolfe, Cory (2008-06-05). "Dream Come True". The Star Phoenix. http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/columnists/story.html?id=51c36b37-f392-43f7-8922-5b8dd0e3fe5a. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
- ^ Niyo, John (2008-06-06). "Babcock sticks to winning blueprint". The Detroit News. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080606/OPINION03/806060403/1341/SPORTS0103. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
Categories:- 1963 births
- Living people
- Canadian ice hockey coaches
- Detroit Red Wings coaches
- McGill Redmen ice hockey players
- Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coaches
- People from Saskatoon
- Stanley Cup champions
- Triple Gold Club
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
