Clare Drake, the winningest coach in Canadian college hockey history and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, died Sunday. He was 89.
Drake was coach of the University of Alberta for 28 years before leaving in 1989, finishing with 697 victories and six University Cup championships. He also coached the Edmonton Oilers during the 1975-76 World Hockey Association season, was co-coach of the 1980 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team in Lake Placid and was a Winnipeg Jets assistant in 1989-90.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this past November.
Drake was considered a mentor to many current and former NHL coaches, including Mike Babcock (Toronto Maple Leafs), Barry Trotz (Washington Capitals) and Bill Peters (Calgary Flames).
"Clare was one of those iconic coaches when I was growing up that won at every level, but to me he was a teacher of the game," Trotz said. "If you were an opponent or you were a young kid, who I was over the time, he was a guy that would try to teach and show and he didn't care if you were the opponent. And he developed a lot of great young men who became coaches and a lot of great players and an outstanding winning tradition at Alberta."
Babcock referred to Drake as "the John Wooden of hockey." Wooden won 10 NCAA men's basketball championships in 12 seasons with UCLA, including a record seven in a row from 1967-73.
"I'm a head coach today because of Clare Drake," Babcock said. "A lot of the tactical and strategical growth that Canadian hockey has enjoyed through the National Coaching Certification Program came from his contributions.
"The biggest thing for me is that Clare Drake, if he was coaching in the NCAA, he'd be John Wooden. That's who he is. And that's how many people he's impacted. That's the kind of integrity he had, that's the kind of moral fiber he had. Most of the players he coached ended up being good people -- good doctors, good lawyers -- not necessarily good pro players, but what an impact he had on the community. And for coaches who fell under his influence along the way -- Dave King or Hitch or whomever -- he helped us all.
"I was fortunate enough to meet John Wooden when I coached in Anaheim. I had the great privilege to work with and learn from Scotty Bowman with the (Detroit) Red Wings. Clare Drake is a leader and builder like both of them, but never got the same recognition because most of his work was done outside the public eye. It was time to change that."
Former Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said, "Clare had a profound impact on a lot of coaches because we all learned what determined teaching really was. He was relentless in doing it right but he did it by not berating people. A very patient but determined man."
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