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In episode 299 of the Glass and Out Podcast we welcome one of our presenters at this June's TCS Live, Grizzlys Wolfsburg Head Coach Mike Stewart.

At the time of this recording, he is currently preparing for his fifth season leading the Grizzlys.

He has a unique origin story as a player that includes his mother discovering a loophole that would enable him to enroll at Michigan State University without a high school diploma, which lead to being drafted in the first round by the New York Rangers.

Following his retirement due to injury, he would immediately jump behind the bench as an Assistant Coach with Villacher SV of the Austrian ICE Hockey League. Now 15 seasons later, Mike has spent the bulk of his coaching career in the DEL. He remains a student of the game, and is engaged with the challenge of leading the Grizzlys, a smaller market club in a league with no salary cap, to a DEL title.

Listen as he shares why the best coaches are the best thieves, why passing is a lost art, and why North America should adopt Olympic-sized rinks.

Video Timestamps:

• 0:00 TCS Live
• 1:30 Early training camps in Europe
• 4:30 Advantages of longer training camp/roster turnover
• 7:55 Reflecting on the season
• 13:15 Season post-mortem/analytics
• 19:40 Picking an area to focus on
• 23:15 Practice execution
• 28:30 European influence on practice
• 31:30 Shortened schedule/World Championships
• 37:25 DEL league structure
• 42:40 Recruiting German players
• 45:40 Playing a physical style
• 52:10 What he looks for watching hockey
• 54:40 Fundamentals in pro hockey
• 1:00:25 Growing up on a ranch
• 1:05:40 Small town hockey is dying
• 1:08:45 Loophole to college
• 1:11:50 Starting at Michigan State
• 1:18:05 Exposure to other sports/resources

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