Mike Keenan: Iron Mike

I bet you didn’t know that Mike Keenan’s first ever coaching gig was the high school lacrosse coach at Toronto’s Don Mills Collegiate. He grew up playing lacrosse in Whitby/Oshawa and the rest is history.

Mike Keenan is one of the most successful coaches ever. He began his hockey coaching career at Forest Hill Collegiate in Toronto, and his star ascended rapidly. He won an Ontario championship in junior with Peterborough, a Canadian university championship with the University of Toronto, and a Calder Cup in the AHL with Rochester. In the NHL, he took Philadelphia (twice) and Chicago to the Stanley Cup final before he led the New York Rangers to the title. Along the way, he led Team Canada to two Canada Cup victories, and later in his career won a Kontinental Hockey League championship in Magnitogorsk, Russia. He is still coaching today, with the Italian national team. Mike Keenan coached some of the greatest stars in hockey and is remembered as one of the game’s most colourful personalities.

His book Iron Mike is out now, and, on this podcast, we talk about what he brought to hockey from lacrosse, line juggling and experimentation on the ice, if his methods would work today and why Gretzky to Lemieux was such a wild concept back in the day.

You can find Iron Mike, My Life Behind the Bench wherever you buy books. Or here -->

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