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Mike Babcock to speak at 7th Annual RDC Kings & Queens Scholarship Breakfast
03/01/2010 ... Red Deer ... On the heels of Canada’s historic Olympic men’s hockey gold medal win yesterday, RDC congratulates, and is excited to welcome, Canadian Coach (and former RDC hockey coach and instructor) Mike Babcock back to central Alberta.
Babcock will speak to an enthusiastic crowd on Tuesday, March 16 from 7:30 am to 9:30 am at the Capri Centre. He will be the guest speaker at RDC Athletics 7th Annual Kings & Queens Scholarship Breakfast, presented by BMO Bank of Montreal. All proceeds from this event support RDC Athletic Scholarships. Last year, $40,000 was raised towards scholarships for RDC athletes.
Mike Babcock was RDC Kings Hockey Coach from 1988-1990. He was ACAC Coach of the Year for the 1988-89 season and also led the Kings Hockey team to an ACAC Championship that year. He is currently Head Coach of the Detroit Red Wings, in addition to his recent duties as Head Coach of Canada’s Olympic Men’s Hockey Team.
Tickets are still available but selling fast for this event. Tickets are only $60 each, or $400 for a corporate table that includes seven seats and one guest RDC student-athlete.
For your tickets, contact RDC Athletics by calling Carolyn at 403.343.4093 or email: carolyn.neufeld@rdc.ab.ca.
RDC Athletics would also like to congratulate Melody Davidson, head coach of Canada’s Olympic Women’s Hockey Team for her most recent Olympic success, leading her team to a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics. Davidson is an RDC alumnus of the Physical Education Diploma program (1984), now referred to as the Kinesiology & Sports Studies program.
About RDC: Red Deer College has served the needs of students and the community for 45 years. With more than 75 programs to choose from, we pride ourselves on providing a practical education, in a genuine and sustainable learning environment. Our 7,800 full-time and part-time credit students and more than 13,000 continuing education students are at the core of everything we do. RDC – when you get here you understand.
For more information on RDC, please visit our website: www.rdc.ab.ca For additional information, contact:
Gord Inglis, RDC Athletics Director 403.342.3242
RDC | 100 College Boulevard | Box 5005 | Red Deer | AB | Canada | T4N 5H5 | Bus: 403.342.3300 | Fax: 403.340.8940 | www.rdc.ab.ca
Mike Babcock Bio
Mike Babcock is currently in his 5th season as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings and in his 7th season in the National Hockey League. He has compiled a 300-151-75 record through six-plus seasons in the NHL and a 231-89-42 record in Detroit. He is the first coach in NHL history to guide his team to four consecutive 50-win seasons in his first four seasons with that team.
Under his watch, the Red Wings have twice captured the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s regular season champion (2005-06 and 2007-08). Babcock was recently named the NHL’s coach of the decade by the Sporting News (2000-09). He was the head coach of the Western Conference at the 2008 NHL All-Star Game and was a runner-up for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year in 2008.
Last season, he guided the Red Wings to their 8th consecutive Central Division title and their NHL record-setting 9th consecutive 100-point season.
Babcock’s NHL post-season success is equally as impressive. He guided the Red Wings to the 2008 Stanley Cup championship and has taken two other teams to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final (Anaheim in 2003 and Detroit in 2009). He holds a 58-32 post-season record and his .644 winning percentage is tops among NHL coaches since 2003. Through his first six post-seasons in the National Hockey League, he has led his teams to the Stanley Cup final three times and the conference finals four times.
Prior to stepping behind the bench in the NHL with Anaheim, Babcock spent two seasons as head coach of the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (2000-02). He led that Club to a franchise-best 41 wins and 95 points (41-26-9-4) in 2000-01. Cincinnati qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs both seasons under his direction. Babcock moved to Cincinnati following a successful six-year run as the head coach of the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (1994-95 through 1999-2000). He had a regular season record of 228-173-29 in Spokane. He was twice named WHL Coach of the Year (1996 and 2000) and was named head coach of the 2000 WHL West Division All-Star Team.
In 1993-94, his only season with the Lethbridge Pronghorns of Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Babcock guided his team to a national championship winning the CIS University Cup and was named CIS Coach of the Year. Babcock has also represented his native Canada at several international competitions. In 2004, he led Team Canada to the gold medal at the World Championships in Prague. Under Babcock's direction, the Canadians posted a 7-1-1 overall record and defeated Sweden 5-3 in the tournament final.
In 1997, he earned the honour of coaching Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Switzerland. Under his guidance Team Canada secured gold with a 2-0 win over the United States in the championship game. He became the first Canadian coach to serve as bench boss for both the Canadian World Junior team and Canadian World Championship team. Because of his success at both the NHL and International levels, Babcock was again tabbed by Hockey Canada to serve as Head Coach of the Canadian Men’s Ice Hockey Team at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, where the team won a gold medal.
