Ex-Warrior Mike Babcock

Anyone who follows the NHL knows who Mike Babcock is and that he is Head Coach of one of the NHL's original six, the Detroit Redwings, but how many of you know that he spent a year in Whitley Bay as player coach of the Warriors?

Babcock moved to England in 1987 and accepted a teaching job at Northumberland Community College. While teaching there he joined the Warriors as player/coach and only just missed out on the league title by two points. In 49 games for the Warriors, he contributed 45 goals and 127 assists, accumulating 123 penalty minutes. An impressive record to say the least and though he only played one season at Whitley he was a great success at Hillheads.

Prior to his move to England 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. Babcock also had a brief try-out with the Vancouver Canucks.

Babcock graduated from McGill in 1987 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.

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 first McGill graduate to win the Stanley Cup. 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 and the 2004 IIHF world hockey championships in Prague.

Detroit marks the seventh coaching stint for the nomadic Babcock, a native of Saskatoon 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 (1995–96 and 1999–00).

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.

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 Mike 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 2007–2008 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.

Thus far into his coaching career he has accumulated a playoff record of 59-30.

As I'm writing this Babcock is just one win away from lifting Lord Stanley's Cup, his Detroit Redwing's side leading the Pittsburgh Penguins by 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final, with game six to be played in Pittsburgh tonight.

I'm sure most Warrior fans will be wishing Babcock good luck for the game and hoping that he get's his hands on the Stanley Cup once again!