Todd Ewen is gone but not forgotten.
The family of the St. Albert hockey product, who won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, has donated his brain to researchers studying chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The progressive degenerative disease afflicts the brain of people who have suffered repeated concussions and traumatic injuries, including athletes who take part in contact sports.
“We wanted to do it,” said Janet Cripps, Ewen’s sister.
Ewen, 49, died last Saturday of a self-inflicted shotgun wound in St. Louis, Mo., where he lived with his family.
Ewen played for four NHL teams and in 518 career regular-season games, the right-winger recorded 36 goals, 40 assists and 1,911 penalty minutes (60th all-time), including 146 fighting majors.
Ewen, whose on-ice nickname was The Animal, is the fifth former enforcer to die a premature death in the past five years. The others included Bob Probert, with whom Ewen waged two epic fights within the same game in 1987. With the St. Louis Blues, Ewen knocked down the Detroit Red Wings’ tough guy with one punch in only his second NHL fight and after they served their majors, they fought again after leaving the penalty box in a scrap that reportedly lasted 40 seconds and ended with both players falling to the ice.
Ewen was recently interviewed for the Chris Nilan documentary The Last Gladiators, which explored the psychological impact of being an enforcer.
“He wasn’t your finesse player but he played 13 years in the Show and he did a job that was required, not that that job exists anymore, but he did it,” Cripps said.
A private funeral is to take place Sunday in St. Louis.
“His wishes were for just a small family service,” Cripps said. “There has been an outpouring of response and it’s too bad that my brother didn’t know how much he was loved before he took his life because that would’ve changed probably his thinking, or maybe with concussions he couldn’t. but I don't know. We’re really saddened by this.”
A celebration of life memorial in St. Albert has been confirmed for Oct. 9 at the Victory Life Church, with a wake to follow at The Celtic Knot, but plans were still being worked out at press time. Details will appear in the Gazette when finalized.
“That’s what he wanted, a celebration of his life,” Cripps said. “I have people calling me from everywhere saying, ‘Are you going home to St. Albert?’ It’s really important to us that we come home. We have a lot of people in the community that are reaching out to all of us.
“We were born in Saskatoon but we grew up in St. Albert. We’re really proud to say we’re from St. Albert.”
Ewen’s parents, John (deceased) and Marilyn, who taught at Bellerose Composite High School and now lives in Kelowna, played active roles in the early years of the hockey careers of Todd and his younger brother, Dean.
Ewen established his reputation as a fierce competitor in junior with the New Westminster Bruins and in 1984 was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the eighth round, 168th overall, but never played a game for the Oilers.
Ewen made his NHL debut with the Blues in the 1986/87 season and played parts of four seasons in St. Louis. He was later traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 1990 and before the start of the 1994 season was acquired by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in their first trade after the expansion draft and served as an assistant captain.
Ewen’s best season in the NHL was with the Ducks, scoring nine goals to go with nine assists as well as 272 penalty minutes in 79 games.
It was with the Ducks that he started working on a children’s book, A Frog Named Hop, as author and illustrator.
Ewen joined the San Jose Sharks as a free agent in the 1996/97 season, his last in the NHL. He later attended the Phoenix Coyotes’ camp, but officially retired after suffering a knee injury.
Ewen moved back to the St. Louis’ suburb of Wildwood and started coaching in the Chesterfield Hockey Association at various age levels and was also the coaching director for three years. He helped do coaching seminars with USA Hockey and eventually got involved in high school hockey at Lafayette High School for three years.
In 2008, Ewen served as an assistant coach for the Saint Louis University Billikens’ varsity team – the next year served as the head coach. He led the team to its first Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association championship and Central Regional Qualifier in 2011.
Ewen also made several coaching videos with a production company, liked to create sculptures out of hockey tape and played various musical instruments.
Todd Ewen is survived by his wife, Kelli, and two sons, Tyler and Chad.
