BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Grant Standbrook has had an incredible eye for hockey talent, but also the unique ability to shape it into something better.
That was evident during his time as an assistant coach at Wisconsin, where his fingerprints found their way onto multiple national championship trophies.
That was evident from his association with three Hockey Hall of Fame inductees.
Standbrook's sizeable legacy will be recognized Friday night at the Kohl Center when the Badgers open a Big Ten Conference series with Ohio State.
He'll share the marquee with Wisconsin's Face Off Against Cancer night, which will shine a light on funding research initiatives at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.
Standbrook's influence on the Wisconsin men's and women's hockey programs runs deep, starting in 1976 and continuing to this day.
He assisted legendary coach Bob Johnson during NCAA championship runs in 1977 and '81 and helped tutor Johnson's son Mark, now the winningest coach in NCAA women's history who has led the Badgers to national crowns in 2006, '07, '09 and 11.
When Bob Johnson left for the NHL in 1983, Standbrook assisted his successor, Jeff Sauer, on the way to the national title in '83 and helped bring in the talented foundation for the NCAA titlists in 1990.
Standbrook also worked closely with Mike Eaves, who captained the 1977 squad to the national championship and coached the Badgers when they won their sixth NCAA men's title in 2006.
Mark Johnson, the all-time career goal-scoring leader at Wisconsin with 125 in 125 games, said Standbrook was an innovator in the areas of conditioning, tactics and skills and, besides his father, "probably had as big an influence as anybody" on his career as an Olympic and NHL player and college coach.
"He loved to teach and I was a recipient," Johnson said, recalling a long-ago series of summer hockey camps in Alaska, Colorado and Wisconsin. "He taught me a lot on how to play, how to play the right way, how to become a better skilled player. I certainly owe a lot to him."
Standbrook, now 81, also recruited Tony Granato, the current Wisconsin men's coach.
"He was way, way ahead of his time," Granato said. "I never had a coach like that.
"All of us who were lucky to have him for a coach, he helped us in some way shape or form. I still call him. He still watches our games for us, so I call him and ask questions all the time."
Standbrook's influence also reaches to the Hockey Hall of Fame, where Bob Johnson was inducted in 1992 and two understudies, Chris Chelios and Paul Kariya, are enshrined.
Both players are on any short list of the greatest NHL skaters to spend time at the college level: Chelios played for the Badgers from 1981 to '83; Kariya at Maine from 1992 to '94.
Both helped guide their schools to NCAA championships: Chelios with Wisconsin in 1983; Kariya with the Black Bears in '93.
Both are recent inductees in the Hockey Hall of Fame: Chelios, a defenseman, was inducted in 2013; Kariya, a left wing, was added in '17.
Both were chosen to play in multiple Olympic Games: Chelios with Team USA in 1984, '98, 2002 and '06; Kariya with Team Canada in 1994 and 2002.
Both Chelios and Kariya — despite being from different countries, playing different positions and attending different elite college programs — credit Standbrook for shaping their legendary careers.
Chelios is a native of Chicago who went on to play for three Stanley Cup titlists and become a three-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's top defenseman.
Not only did Chelios single out Standbrook for praise during his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, he wrote in his autobiography that Standbrook helped him learn to play defense, everything from stick placement to blocking shots.
"He could watch you for five minutes and break down your (skating) stride and give you pointers on how to make yourself a better skater," Chelios wrote of Standbrook in his book "Made in America."
According to Chelios, Standbrook had something to offer any player at any position, including goaltender.
"There was nothing he couldn't do," Chelios wrote. "He was a perfectionist."
Grant Standbrook and Bob Johnson
Standbrook was an assistant coach at Maine from 1988 to 2008 where, working alongside coach Shawn Walsh, he acquired talent that won NCAA championships in 1993 and '99.
Kariya was the most prominent. He set national records with 100 points (25 goals, 75 assist) on the way to becoming the first freshman to win the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top player.
Kariya, from Vancouver, British Columbia, said Standbrook was the reason he opted to move cross continent and play for Maine.
"Grant has been connected to every part of my life," Kariya told the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, noting that it was Standbrook who taught him how to drive.
Kariya went on to become a seven-time NHL all-star, topping 100 points in a season twice, before his career was cut short by a series of concussions.
Standbrook's impact on the game and its participants is widespread.
"He's a mentor," Granato said.
