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Anonymous (no login)
Posted May 20, 2009 1:07 AM
April 7, 2009
Todd Ewen was recently named the Saint Louis Billikens new head coach.
Ewen's pro career started when he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1984. Thereafter he joined the St. Louis Blues for a four year stint in 1987 and then moved on to Montreal where he won a Stanley Cup in 1993. After winning the Cup, Ewen served as an assistant captain for three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks before finishing his playing career in 1997 with the San Jose Sharks.
Ewen currently lives in St. Louis where he works with his wife on the "Ewen Team" for Remax Properties West. He has been actively coaching youth hockey where he served as the coaching director for the Chesterfield Falcons organization from 2004-2006. Since then Ewen has served as the head coach of the Lafayette High School Varsity Program.
The Saint Louis Billikens finished last season with a record of 10-21-1 where they competed in the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association with teams such as Mizzou, Missouri State, Iowa and Kansas. SLU finished in third place in the ten team league. Darren Helmkamp, who is stepping down as the head coach for personal reasons, will remain with the club as the General Manager and serve as an assistant coach. Helmkamp is excited about Ewen coming on board and noted, "We want to keep moving the program forward. Todd coming on as the head coach is definitely a move in that direction. I don't know of another ACHA program that has a former NHL Stanley Cup Champion as head coach."
With the team success in the win column last season and Ewen coming on board, the excitement is building. "We got a taste of winning this season and the guys want more," said Helmkamp. "We were within a few wins of winning the league and advancing to the regionals tournament. We've already seen a 50% increase in try-out numbers for next season and its only April."
Ewen shares Helmkamp's enthusiasm. "I'm honored to coach such a unique and historic university that has a rich hockey history. There is a huge opportunity to make Billikens hockey the place to get a great education and play high level hockey. We want to make all Saint Louis hockey players grow up wanting to play for the Billikens."
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