Hometown: Chippewa Falls, Wis.
Playing Career:
-University of Alaska-Anchorage
-USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, CHL’s Memphis RiverKings and Tulsa Oilers, ECHL’s Pensacola Ice Pilots and Augusta Lynx
Coaching Career:
-USA Select 14 and 17
-Bantam AA East Coast Eagles
-Sioux Falls Stampede
“But honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” – 1 Peter 3:15
Dallas Steward’s path to the Sioux Falls Stampede bench began as a player chasing his NHL dreams. After a successful career in college and in the minors, the Chippewa Falls, Wis., native decided to hang up the skates and pick up a whistle. Transitioning from player to coach has been a learning experience, but the same passion with which he played is now being translated to his players through his Christ-like modeling of dedication and determination.
FCA: You are newer to the coaching ranks, tell us about your hockey playing career.
DS: I started playing hockey as a young boy and left home early like the typical player does in America. I played in several programs before I got a Division I scholarship to the University of Alaska-Anchorage. After I earned my degree, I played in the minors for six years until I was 30, but, because of five surgeries in a two-year span, I made the choice to hang up my skates earlier than I wanted.
From there, I went to seminary for a year and decided to work at hockey schools in the summer. In August 2011, I interviewed with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL for a coaching position that I have now been in for more then a year.
FCA: How have you carried your competitive mindset as a player into coaching?
DS: As a player, I could go out and change the game with aggressiveness, intensity, lead-ership and physical play. Now, as a coach, I have to channel that intensity and passion in more of a teaching and communicative way. I think that’s what makes coaching a challenge for me. We have to teach 23 young men who all have their own goals to get on board with our one team goal, and initially I had to learn how to communicate that.
FCA: What do you hope your players learn from you?
DS: Having played until I was 30, I can share with them my experiences in the next levels of the sport. More importantly, I want to be a good influence and share with them what I’ve been through and what I am going through now as a man living for God in a different season of life.
I also want to teach them that faith can be implemented into their sport. Hockey is very physical, and at times violent, but they can be strong Christian men and still be good hockey players. I want them to see that in me as a coach, too. And if they're not believers, I would hope for them to be drawn to behaviors that model Christ, in ways that open the door to share my faith.
I hope my players would say I’m a passionate hockey coach who loves them even if they don't understand it sometimes, even through discipline. I don’t want to go to my grave with a bunch of trophies, championships and records, and that’s the only way people remember me. Ultimately, I want to be known as a man who impacted lives for what matters most: Having a relationship with the Lord.
FCA: How have you been involved with FCA Hockey?
DS: I’ve been a part of FCA since I was in middle school, but more recently it's been a real privilege to meet and get to know FCA Hockey’s Rick Randazzo on a personal basis. We coached together, and now as a dear friend I’m helping him reach the hockey world for Christ. I'm just thankful that God connected us as brothers in Him to fulfill both of our desires to reach people within this subculture for Christ.
*****
FCA Staff Quote:
“Dallas has been a huge blessing to the FCA Hockey ministry and the entire hockey world. His servant leadership impacts players, coaches and families across the country as he shares the love of Jesus with everyone he comes into contact with. He is the perfect role model for players of all ages, as well as coaches who want to transform the lives of their players.” – Rick Randazzo, FCA Hockey National Director
Originally Published: March 2013
Photos courtesy of J.J. Renli/jayjimages and the Sioux Falls Stampede