Todd Ewen

Todd Gordon Ewen (March 22, 1966 – September 19, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for several teams in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Junior career As a youth, Ewen played in the 1979 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from St. Albert, Alberta.

Ewen started his junior career with the Kamloops Junior Oilers at age 16. He started the season in Kamloops but was traded to the Nanaimo Lakers at the end of the season. That was the last year that the team was in Nanaimo and they then moved back to New Westminster. Ewen played three years for the New Westminster Bruins of the Western Hockey League (WHL), where he was awarded the most improved player by the WHL and served as his team's assistant captain. At New Westminster, Ewen was teammates with future NHL players Mark Recchi, Bill Ranford, Cliff Ronning and Brian Noonan, as well as with his younger brother Dean, who went on to be a career minor league enforcer.

In his last year with the Bruins Ewen had 6 points and over 200 minutes in penalties by Christmas. Oilers head scout Barry Fraser flew in to see Ewen's performance. Ewen ended up with 52 points and 289 minutes in penalties. When the season ended with New Westminster, Ewen was loaned to the Maine Mariners for the playoffs. He centered a line which had Archie Henderson and Mitch Wilson as line mates. He was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the eighth round, 168th overall, of the 1984 draft.

Professional career Ewen never played for the Oilers but was called up to the team for the 1985 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Coaching career Ewen was involved in coaching after his retirement. Having moved back to St. Louis, he became involved in the local Chesterfield Hockey Association and was the coaching director for three years. He also was involved in doing coaching seminars with USA hockey for levels 1-3 along with other St Louis Blues alumni Rob Ramage, Mike Zuke and Rick Zombo. During his tenure with Chesterfield hockey, Ewen was the head coach for every level from mini-mite to midget major central states. The opportunity to get involved in high school hockey was a welcome change and Ewen moved to Lafayette High School for three years.

In 2008, he also began serving as the assistant coach for the Saint Louis University Billikens Men's Ice Hockey Club and took over in 2009 as the head coach. He led the team to a 2011 MACHA Gold championship (the first in club history) and a Central Regional qualifier.

Death Ewen died suddenly on September 19, 2015, at the age of 49. The next day, numerous media outlets reported Ewen committed suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Ewen's family would later report that he had allegedly been suffering from depression for several years. On February 10, 2016, it was reported that Ewen's results from a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) examination performed by Lili-Naz Hazrati, a researcher in Toronto with the Canadian Sports Concussion Project, came back negative and that Ewen's widow had been given the results the month before. However, at the request of Ewen's wife, Boston University's Ann Mckee reexamined Ewen's brain using a more extensive test. CTE was found in the frontal cortex section of Ewen's brain and that "the staging was considered to be consistent with Stage 2 of the disease."

Awards and achievements 1993 Stanley Cup Championship (Montreal) Anaheim Ducks team record: Most penalty minutes in one season (285 in 1995-96)

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1982–83 Kamloops Junior Oilers WHL 3 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1982-82 Vernon Lakers BCJHL 42 14 10 24 178 — — — — — 1983–84 New Westminster Bruins WHL 68 11 13 24 176 7 1 2 3 15 1984–85 New Westminster Bruins WHL 56 11 20 31 304 10 1 8 9 60 1985–86 New Westminster Bruins WHL 60 28 24 52 289 — — — — — 1985–86 Maine Mariners AHL — — — — — 3 0 0 0 7 1986–87 Peoria Rivermen IHL 16 3 3 6 110 — — — — — 1986–87 St. Louis Blues NHL 23 2 0 2 84 4 0 0 0 23 1987–88 St. Louis Blues NHL 64 4 2 6 227 6 0 0 0 21 1988–89 St. Louis Blues NHL 34 4 5 9 171 2 0 0 0 21 1989–90 Peoria Rivermen IHL 2 0 0 0 12 — — — — — 1989–90 St. Louis Blues NHL 3 0 0 0 11 — — — — — 1989-90 Montreal Canadiens NHL 41 4 6 10 158 10 0 0 0 4 1990–91 Montreal Canadiens NHL 28 3 2 5 128 — — — — — 1991–92 Montreal Canadiens NHL 46 1 2 3 130 3 0 0 0 18 1992–93 Montreal Canadiens NHL 75 5 9 14 193 1 0 0 0 0 1993–94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 79 9 9 18 272 — — — — — 1994–95 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 24 0 0 0 93 — — — — — 1995–96 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 53 4 3 7 285 — — — — — 1996–97 San Jose Sharks NHL 51 0 2 2 162 — — — — — NHL totals 518 36 40 76 1914 26 0 0 0 87