Game On Magazine 2017 Nov Game On low res | Page 70

LEE IS
“ DEDICATED
TO PLAYERS
PERSONAL
GOALS
”
These days, he spends most
of his free time watching
his kids play the game. His
daughter is a hockey player and
his son is learning to skate. No
matter where he goes, hockey
is – and always has been – a big
part of his life.
“I started when I was five
years old playing for Greendell
Falcons,” he said. “I played
with them for about a year and
then my parents moved to the
Dakota Community Club area
and I played at Dakota from
the time I was about six until I
played Double A.
“I started playing Double
A for the St. Vital Vics from
the time I was 12 or 13-years-
old. We won a championship
there when I was 13. From
there I went on and played
Triple A hockey with the
Warriors. I played there from
the age of 14 until I was
17 and then moved on and
played my junior career with
the Winnipeg Saints (now
Virden Oil Capitals). After that
I played one year of NCAA
Division 3 hockey at the
7 0 | G AM E ON | N OVEM BER 2017
Manhattanville College.
“I’ll never forget, I moved
out there a couple of weeks
before Sept. 11, 2001. I had
just done a tour of downtown
and then the Towers came
down. I was a Canadian boy
out there to play hockey and I
didn’t know what the heck was
going on. It was a different
experience that’s for sure.”
After returning to Winnipeg
and enrolling at the U of M,
Stubbs had one thing in mind
– get a degree and get a job in
sports.
“When I was in university
I had a couple of different
paths I wanted to go down,”
he said. “I wanted to maybe
get into orthopedics because
I love sports and wanted to
get into that and there was
also the thought of getting
into athletic therapy. I didn’t
know exactly what I wanted
to do, I just knew I wanted to
be involved in sports – and
hockey -- in some aspect. That’s
why I decided to go down the
athletic therapy route because
I thought that would help
me get involved with hockey
and a hockey team and that’s,
ultimately, the path it took
me down. And being from
Winnipeg, every youngster
plays hockey from a young age
and it was a passion of mine.”
His boss, Programming
Manager Dean Court loves
having Stubbs on his team.
“Lee has an experienced
coaching resume,” said Court.
“He is a valued member of our
team of professional coaches
with a proven track record
that emphasizes hockey skill
development for all levels of
players from grassroots to the
National Hockey League.
“Lee is dedicated to players’
personal goals, he has a strong
network of hockey contacts
and uses these resources to
bring innovative and advanced
hockey skill training to the
Jets Hockey Development
program. We are very aware of
the many program offerings by
other organizations and we are
respectful to them, however
the level of experience and
understanding that Lee and all
our Jets Development team
has is unparalleled.”
Stubbs would certainly
agree. He can’t imagine a
better training culture.
“With Jets Hockey
Development here at the
Iceplex, we work on individual
skill work,” he said. “When
players are with their
respective winter clubs, they
work on systems and flow
drills and stuff like that.
Here we work on developing
young players. So we work
on skating – breaking down
edge work and skating stride
work – and puck handling,
shooting mechanics, passing,
positioning. We teach specific
skills. That’s the difference
between coaching players and
coaching teams.
“We work on breaking
everything down, being
patient and teaching the kids
and developing relationships
with them. We work very hard
to gain the trust of the players
and their parents. We really
care about what we do.” ❍