Stewart settles behind Storm bench
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
Bill Stewart has served his time.
For the first time in 10 years, the one-time NHL defenceman and American Hockey League coach of the year will get to coach on home soil as an assistant with the Guelph Storm.
“It’s been 10 years. Am I a better coach? Definitely. Am I a better person? I’d like to think so,” Stewart, 54, said during training camp workouts at the Sleeman Centre Thursday.
The last time Stewart, 54, had an official capacity on a players’ bench on this continent was 1999-2000 when he guided the Barrie Colts to the Memorial Cup final.
While that Colts team was a success on the ice, it was widely regarded as a bit of a gong show off it.
It witnessed: an attempt to smuggle a Ukrainian player across the border in the luggage compartment of the team bus; a player charged with an on-ice assault; others with sexual assault; and a display of unsportsmanlike behaviour at the Memorial Cup in Halifax that included the team marching out of the official banquet.
Instead of propelling him to another shot at a professional job, the year in Barrie left Stewart as something of a persona non grata in Canada’s hockey world.
The one-time Kitchener Ranger confirmed he had to get permission from OHL commissioner Dave Branch to be on the Storm bench this season.
