Todd Ewen

Todd Ewen
Born (1966-03-22)March 22, 1966
Saskatoon, SK, CAN
Died September 19, 2015(2015-09-19) (aged 49)
Wildwood, MO, USA
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 (March 22, 1966 – September 19, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for several teams in the NHL.[1] A right wing, Ewen was primarily known as an enforcer.[1] He played for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks.[1] Ewen retired with 1,911 penalty minutes, putting him 58th for all time career. He was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and raised in St. Albert, Alberta. Ewen won the Stanley Cup in 1993 with the Canadiens.

After leaving his professional career Ewen made several coaching videos with Championship Productions on "How to buy equipment for your child", "Break out Basics" and "Checking". He also was coaching director for the Chesterfield Hockey Association, Lafayette Varsity head coach and assistant coach for Saint Louis University Billikens.

In 2015, after allegedly suffering from depression for several years, Ewen killed himself with a gunshot to the chest. His family wondered if he might have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy as a result concussions he had suffered during his playing career, like some other recently deceased NHL enforcers. However, tests of his brain came back negative for CTE.

Junior career

Ewen started his junior career with the Kamloops Junior 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. At New Westminster, Ewen was teammates with future NHLers Mark Recchi, Bill Ranford, Cliff Ronning and Brian Noonan, as well as with his younger brother Dean, who would go on to be a career minor league enforcer.

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 to the team for the 1985 Stanley Cup playoffs.[1] At the beginning of the next season, Ewen 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.[1] 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 Probert 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, Ewen 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, but officially retired after suffering a knee injury in camp.

Coaching career

Ewen was involved in coaching after his retirement. Having moved back to St. Louis, he became involved in the local Chesterfield Hockey Association and was the coaching director for three years. He also was 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, Ewen 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 Ewen moved to Lafayette High School for three years.

In 2008, he also began serving 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. He led the team to a 2011 MACHA Gold Championship (the first in club history) and a Central Regional Qualifier.

Death

Ewen died suddenly on September 19, 2015 at the age of 49.[1] The next day, numerous media outlets reported Ewen committed suicide via self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[2] Ewen's family would later report that he had allegedly been suffering from depression for several years.[3] On February 10, 2016, it was reported by TSN that Ewen's results from a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) examination performed by Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati, a researcher in Toronto with the Canadian Sports Concussion Project, came back negative and that Ewen's widow had been given the results the month before.[4]

Awards and achievements

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1982–83 Kamloops Junior Oilers WHL 3 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0
1982-82 Vernon Lakers BCJHL 42 14 10 24 178 — — — — —
1983–84 New Westminster Bruins WHL 68 11 13 24 176 7 1 2 3 15
1984–85 New Westminster Bruins WHL 56 11 20 31 304 10 1 8 9 60
1985–86 New Westminster Bruins WHL 60 28 24 52 289 — — — — —
1985–86 Maine Mariners AHL — — — — — 3 0 0 0 7
1986–87 Peoria Rivermen IHL 16 3 3 6 110 — — — — —
1986–87 St. Louis Blues NHL 23 2 0 2 84 4 0 0 0 23
1987–88 St. Louis Blues NHL 64 4 2 6 227 6 0 0 0 21
1988–89 St. Louis Blues NHL 34 4 5 9 171 2 0 0 0 21
1989–90 Peoria Rivermen IHL 2 0 0 0 12 — — — — —
1989–90 St. Louis Blues NHL 3 0 0 0 11 — — — — —
1989-90 Montreal Canadiens NHL 41 4 6 10 158 10 0 0 0 4
1990–91 Montreal Canadiens NHL 28 3 2 5 128 — — — — —
1991–92 Montreal Canadiens NHL 46 1 2 3 130 3 0 0 0 18
1992–93 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 5 9 14 193 1 0 0 0 0
1993–94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 79 9 9 18 272 — — — — —
1994–95 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 24 0 0 0 90 — — — — —
1995–96 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 53 4 3 7 285 — — — — —
1996–97 San Jose Sharks NHL 51 0 2 2 162 — — — — —
NHL totals 518 36 40 76 1911 26 0 0 0 87

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Former NHL enforcer Todd Ewen dies at 49". USA Today. September 20, 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Report: Ewen's death being classified as suicide". TSN. September 20, 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Police classify death of former NHLer Todd Ewen as suicide: Report". Yahoo Canada. September 20, 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Westhead, Rick (February 10, 2016). "Researcher sheds light on exam of former NHL player Todd Ewen's brain". http://www.tsn.ca. Retrieved February 11, 2016. External link in |website= (help)
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