Bill Stewart (ice hockey)

For the former Chicago Black Hawks coach and NHL referee, see Bill Stewart (sports official).

Bill Stewart
Born	(1957-10-06) October 6, 1957 (age 66) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Right
Played for	Buffalo Sabres St. Louis Blues Toronto Maple Leafs Minnesota North Stars EV MAK Bruneck HC Milano Saima HC Gherdëina HC Lions Courmaosta
National team	Italy
NHL Draft	68th overall, 1977 Buffalo Sabres
WHA Draft	46th overall, 1977 Winnipeg Jets
Playing career	1977–1995

William Donald Stewart (born October 6, 1957) is a Canadian-born Italian former professional ice hockey defenceman and former coach. He played in the National Hockey League between 1977 and 1986, and then played in the Italian Serie A from 1986 to 1995. He later became a coach for the New York Islanders during the 1998–99 season. Internationally Stewart played for the Italian national team at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, and two World Championships.

Playing career

As a youth, Stewart played in the 1969 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from York Mills. ^[1] A native of Toronto, Ontario, he was drafted in the fourth round (68th overall) in the 1977 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres and started his National Hockey League career in 1977-78. He also went on to play for the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Minnesota North Stars. He left the NHL at the end of the 1985–86 season choosing to play hockey in Italy until his retirement in 1995.

Coaching career

Stewart began his professional coaching career with the Muskegon Fury of the Colonial Hockey League in 1995. After one season with Muskegon, Stewart took the head coaching position with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL in 1996. Stewart got back into coaching professional hockey the following season with a stint in the American Hockey League and coaching the Saint John Flames to the Calder Cup Finals in 1998, losing to the Philadelphia Phantoms in six games.

Stewart was named head coach of the New York Islanders on January 21, 1999, after Mike Milbury himself stepped down to concentrate solely on his GM duties. After finishing the season with the Islanders, Stewart was relieved of his coaching duties and was replaced by Butch Goring on April 30, 1999.

In 1999, Stewart returned to the OHL to become the head coach of the Barrie Colts. The roster that year included the four "Brampton Boys", one of whom, Ryan Barnes, faced charges of assault with a weapon after a stick-swinging incident during a game in October. Later in the season, three of the team's other players were charged with sexual assault. Finally, Stewart himself made headlines and was banned from entering the United States for twice smuggling a Ukrainian-born player over the Canada-U.S. border in the baggage compartment of the team bus. ^[2] Stewart infamously walked out of the Halifax Metro Centre without conducting any interviews with the media, following Barrie's 6-2 loss to the Rimouski Océanic in the 2000 Memorial Cup championship game. ^[3]

Following the controversial season in Barrie, Stewart continued his coaching career in Germany, and made headlines during the DEL quarterfinals in 2001 when he was involved in a mass brawl in game three against the Berlin Capitals, ^[4] during which he hit Capitals' head coach Pavel Gross in the head and Stewart was injured as well. He was handed a two-game suspension and a DM 15,000 fine. ^[5] In the finals against the München Barons, he feigned fainting behind the Adler Mannheim bench to buy his star player Jan Alston time to get his skates sharpened. His team ended up winning the championship that year and got to the finals the following season. Stewart left Mannheim in January 2003 after being informed that his contract would not be extended at the end of the season. ^[6]

After a short stint in Krefeld, Stewart moved to Austria, where he coached the Graz 99ers and EHC Linz. He left Linz in December 2006 to return to Germany with the Hamburg Freezers. Linz challenged this transfer by seeking a restraining order, but lost the case. ^[7] Stewart was sacked by the Freezers in December 2008. ^[8]

On December 3, 2009, he agreed to take over as the head coach of Kölner Haie ^[9] and was relieved of his duties in November 2011. ^[10] He joined the Guelph Storm during the 2011-12 season as a consultant prior to being named assistant coach in 2012-13. He took over as interim head coach of the team in January 2015. The term "interim" was then removed prior to the end of the season. ^[11] He resigned from the Storm in December 2015 after only two wins ^[12] and went back to Germany in January 2016 to coach Dresdner Eislöwen of the DEL2. ^[13]

Stewart was appointed head coach of the DEL's Straubing Tigers in April 2017. Concerning his past, he stated at that time: "I have experienced a lot in Europe, have had great success, but have to admit that I have gone too far at times. These moments happened some years ago and, in the meantime, I have learned and become more quiet." ^[14] He was sacked as Straubing head coach on October 18, 2017, after his team won only five of the first 13 games of the season and dropped to the very bottom of the DEL standings. ^[15]

On December 4, 2017, Stewart was named head of Adler Mannheim, returning for a second stint in charge at the club. ^[16] His contract expired at the end of the 2017-18 season in which he guided the Adler team to an appearance in the playoff semifinals. ^[17] He subsequently worked as a scout for the Adler organization. ^[18]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1973–74	Dixie Beehives	OPJHL		41	9	24	33	38		—	—	—	—	—
1974–75	Kitchener Rangers	OMJHL		55	6	15	21	70		—	—	—	—	—
1975–76	Kitchener Rangers	OMJHL		4	1	3	4	4		—	—	—	—	—
1975–76	St. Catharines Black Hawks	OMJHL		48	9	31	40	57		—	—	—	—	—
1976–77	Niagara Falls Flyers	OMJHL		59	18	37	55	202		—	—	—	—	—
1977–78	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		13	2	0	2	15		8	0	2	2	0
1977–78	Hershey Bears	AHL		54	6	18	24	92		—	—	—	—	—
1978–79	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		67	1	17	18	101		1	0	1	1	0
1979–80	Rochester Americans	AHL		63	12	28	40	189		4	1	2	3	42
1980–81	Rochester Americans	AHL		6	1	6	7	12		—	—	—	—	—
1980–81	St. Louis Blues	NHL		60	2	21	23	114		4	1	0	1	11
1980–81	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	CHL		2	0	0	0	2		—	—	—	—	—
1981–82	St. Louis Blues	NHL		22	0	5	5	25		—	—	—	—	—
1981–82	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	CHL		40	2	12	14	93		10	0	6	6	12
1982–83	St. Louis Blues	NHL		7	0	0	0	8		—	—	—	—	—
1982–83	Salt Lake Golden Eagles	CHL		62	10	42	52	143		5	1	4	5	8
1983–84	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		56	2	17	19	116		—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		27	0	2	2	32		—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	St. Catharines Saints	AHL		12	2	5	7	11		—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Minnesota North Stars	NHL		8	0	2	2	13		—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Springfield Indians	AHL		59	7	19	26	135		—	—	—	—	—
1986–87	EV MAK Bruneck	ITA		40	20	21	41	91		—	—	—	—	—
1987–88	EV MAK Bruneck	ITA		34	8	35	43	62		—	—	—	—	—
1988–89	HC Milano Saima	ITA		18	4	11	15	24		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Alaska Milano	ITA-22		25	27	32	59	40		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	HC Milano Saima	ITA		34	11	33	44	52		10	0	9	9	10
1991–92	HC Milano Saima	ITA		17	3	16	19	8		12	0	6	6	20
1991–92	HC Milano Saima	ALP		20	2	6	8	64		—	—	—	—	—
1992–93	HC Devils Milano	ITA		12	2	4	6	26		11	1	4	5	28
1992–93	HC Devils Milano	ALP		32	0	9	9	60		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	HC Gherdëina	ITA		17	3	7	10	17		2	0	0	0	0
1993–94	HC Gherdëina	ALP		27	5	12	17	21		—	—	—	—	—
1994–95	HC Lions Courmaosta	ITA		31	1	13	14	68		5	1	2	3	2
1994–95	HC Lions Courmaosta	ALP		17	4	7	11	18		—	—	—	—	—
ITA totals				203	52	140	192	348		40	2	21	23	60
NHL totals				260	7	64	71	424		13	1	3	4	11

International

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1992	Italy	OLY		7	0	3	3	12
1992	Italy	WC		5	0	0	0	6
1993	Italy	WC		6	0	0	0	4
1994	Italy	OLY		6	0	0	0	0
Senior totals				24	0	3	3	22

NHL Coaching statistics

NHL coaching statistics

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	T	Pts	Finish	Result
New York Islanders	1998–99	37	11	19	7	29	5th in Atlantic	Missed Playoffs

Awards and achievements

• 1997–98 - Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award - Saint John Flames

Transactions

• October 30, 1980 - Traded by the Buffalo Sabres to the St. Louis Blues for Bob Hess and a 4th round pick in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft (Anders Wikberg)
• September 10, 1983 - Signed as a free agent by the Toronto Maple Leafs
• September 15, 1985 - Signed as a free agent by the Minnesota North Stars

References

1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
2. CHL article on the end of the Barrie Colts season, numerous suspensions and controversies Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
3. Hockey on trial as coach appeals suspension for throwing game
4. "DEL-Playoffs: Schlagfertig" (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-13.
5. "15.000 Mark Geldstrafe: Adler-Trainer zwei Spiele gesperrt". RP ONLINE. 13 April 2001. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
6. "ADLER Mannheim". www.adler-mannheim.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
7. "Linzer Gericht lehnt Einstweilige Verfügung gegen Bill Stewart ab". Hockeyweb (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-13.
8. Steinbach, Dirk (13 December 2008). "Freezers entlassen Trainer Bill Stewart". www.abendblatt.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-13.
9. Stewart am Freitag in Krefeld erstmals als KEC-Cheftrainer an der Bande – Sonntag Heimspiel gegen Nürnberg.
10. SCHAFFNER, STEFAN. "Mit Video!: Kölner Haie entlassen Bill Stewart". Express.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-13.
11. "Walker steps down as head coach – Guelph Storm". 12 October 2023.
12. "Guelph coach resigns | Peterborough Examiner". www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-04.
13. "Eislöwen holen Skandal-Trainer Bill Stewart - MOPO24". Archived from the original on 2016-01-03. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
14. "Straubing Tigers - Aktuelles im Detail". www.straubing-tigers.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
15. "Eishockey: DEL: Straubing feuert Trainer Bill Stewart". Die Zeit (in German). 2017-10-18. ISSN   0044-2070 . Retrieved 2017-10-18.
16. "Adler trennen sich von Teal Fowler, Sean Simpson und Colin Müller". www.adler-mannheim.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-12-04.
17. "Adler-Saison vorbei! Titelverteidiger München zieht souverän ins Finale ein". mannheim24.de (in German). 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
18. "Adler erweitern Scoutingnetzwerk". www.adler-mannheim.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-04-26.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com , or  Eliteprospects.com , or  Eurohockey.com , or  Hockey-Reference.com , or  The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Mike Milbury	Head coach of the New York Islanders 1999	Succeeded by Butch Goring