PHOTOS COURTESY OF DETROIT RED WINGS
well-rounded Well-grounded,
MIKE BABCOCK, COACH OF THE 2010 CANADIAN OLYMPIC MEN’S HOCKEY TEAM AND THE DETROIT RED WINGS, IS SO MUCH MORE THAN HIS BENCH PERSONA We think we know Mike Babcock by who we see on our television screens. He comes off as a steely-eyed competitor, a taskmaster who pushes and prods his players to strive for an on-ice perfection that, by the nature of the game, is unattainable. In the end, we see a hockey
coach and a man who has won at virtually every level of the sport – a champion. That Mike Babcock is for public consumption. He is the button-down, blazer-wearing Stanley Cup champion and coach of Canada’s 2010 Canadian
Olympic Men’s Hockey Team. He is just a sliver of the true Mike Babcock. For as much as Babcock strives to be at the pinnacle of his sport, his upbringing and family values tell him that true success is measured off the ice.
“My wife always laughs — she sees me wearing a suit behind the bench and wonders who that is because I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt and ball hat most of the summer; I’m just like everybody else,” says Babcock. “It’s just that when people see me, they have me
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