Game On Magazine 2017 Nov Game On low res | Page 69

THE COACHES
LEE STUBBS
WE CARE
ABOUT WHAT
WE DO
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by Laurie Anderson
L
ee Stubbs is not an old man. At
36 and in the shape he’s in, he
could probably find a high-end
Triple A Senior team or even a
low-end pro team to play for.
In fact, he might be a good
candidate for a 2018 Allan Cup squad.
Stubbs was a skilled centre who could
score and make plays -- a former MJHL
player who still spends three or four hours
a day on the ice. He’s always skating,
always moving and always teaching.
Lee Stubbs is a hockey coach. But
he’s also one of a growing number of
modern coaches who don’t worry about
winning and losing. His job is to focus
on making young hockey players better.
He’s good at it, too. He has experience,
skills and most importantly, passion for
the game and the people who play it.
“After playing hockey for a year at
Manhattanville College, a Division 3
school just outside New York City, I came
home and decided I wanted to finish
my degree at the U of M,” he said. “I
started on the track toward becoming a
physical therapist, worked part-time, took
part-time classes and plugged away and
finished my degree in about five years.
“From there I started working at Focus
Fitness downtown on Stradbrook. Of
course, Focus Fitness is here now in the
Bell MTX Iceplex, but I worked downtown
for a couple of years, training athletes
and going on the ice working with
grassroots players as well as professional
athletes. I worked with all different
age groups and skill levels and from
there, I got hired on by the Moose.”
He worked with the Moose for
almost three years as a strength and
conditioning coach. His first year
was basically volunteer work, but he
was part of the team the year they
went to the Calder Cup. Soon, he
would be more than a volunteer.
“The following year, Zinger (Moose
GM Craig Heisinger) hired me to
work full-time with the Moose,” he
said. “I worked two full seasons with
the Moose and then three years
with the Jets and now I’m here.”
His main job with the Jets was strength
and conditioning and he still does “a bit of
that,” in his current role as the Head On-
Ice Skills Instructor/High Performance
Trainer for Jets Hockey Development at
the Bell MTS Iceplex. However, by his own
admission, his job has become planning
and programming off-the-ice and a load
of skill development training on it.
“I’m on the ice a ton,” he said with a
smile. “It helps keep me in shape.”
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