| Bill Stewart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Born | (1957-10-06)October 6, 1957 (age 68) | ||
| 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 professionalice hockeydefenceman and formercoach. He played in theNational Hockey League between 1977 and 1986, and then played in theItalian Serie A from 1986 to 1995. He later became a coach for theNew York Islanders during the1998–99 season. Internationally Stewart played for theItalian national team at the1992 and1994 Winter Olympics, and twoWorld Championships.
As a youth, Stewart played in the 1969Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with aminor ice hockey team fromYork Mills.[1] A native ofToronto, Ontario, he was drafted in the fourth round (68th overall) in the1977 NHL Entry Draft by theBuffalo Sabres and started hisNational Hockey League career in1977-78. He also went on to play for theSt. Louis Blues,Toronto Maple Leafs, andMinnesota North Stars. He left the NHL at the end of the1985–86 season choosing to play hockey in Italy until his retirement in 1995.
Stewart began his professional coaching career with theMuskegon Fury of theColonial Hockey League in 1995. After one season with Muskegon, Stewart took the head coaching position with theOshawa Generals of theOHL in 1996. Stewart got back into coaching professional hockey the following season with a stint in theAmerican Hockey League and coaching theSaint John Flames to the Calder Cup Finals in 1998, losing to thePhiladelphia Phantoms in six games.
Stewart was named head coach of the New York Islanders on January 21, 1999, afterMike 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 byButch Goring on April 30, 1999.
In 1999, Stewart returned to the OHL to become the head coach of theBarrie Colts. The roster that year included thefour "Brampton Boys", one of whom,Ryan Barnes, faced charges of assault with a weapon after astick-swinging incident during a game in October. Later in the season, three of the team's other players were charged withsexual assault. Finally, Stewart himself made headlines and was banned from entering the United States for twice smuggling aUkrainian-born player over theCanada-U.S. border in the baggage compartment of the team bus.[2] Stewart infamously walked out of theHalifax Metro Centre without conducting any interviews with the media, following Barrie's 6-2 loss to theRimouski Océanic in the2000 Memorial Cup championship game.[3]
Following the controversial season in Barrie, Stewart continued his coaching career in Germany, and made headlines during theDEL 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 aDM 15,000 fine.[5] In the finals against theMünchen Barons, he feigned fainting behind theAdler Mannheim bench to buy his star playerJan 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 inKrefeld, Stewart moved to Austria, where he coached theGraz 99ers andEHC Linz. He left Linz in December 2006 to return to Germany with theHamburg 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 ofKölner Haie[9] and was relieved of his duties in November 2011.[10] He joined theGuelph 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 coachDresdner Eislöwen of theDEL2.[13]
Stewart was appointed head coach of the DEL'sStraubing 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]
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||
| 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 |
| Preceded by | Head coach of the New York Islanders 1999 | Succeeded by |