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I don’t know Coach Drake personally, having met him in passing a handful of times – gracious man, always has both a smile and time for a hockey question from anybody – but have been an admirer from afar since first being exposed to the University of Alberta Golden Bears hockey program in the 1974-75 season. His perennial powerhouse squad was

en route

to its third national championship of the six he won over his three decades at the helm – or should I say his fourth of seven, since he also won an unprecedented and unmatched Double coaching both hockey and

football

Golden Bears to national crowns in the 1967-68 academic year. The man was born to coach, and to teach. And to win.

I loved watching his Bears play in the arena that now bears his name. Even in the years that my Oilers were crushing the NHL and laying waste to the record books, I would find my way down to Varsity Arena two, three, four times a season, just for the pleasure of watching a well-prepared squad play a system to a T and win hockey games the old-fashioned way. Come the playoffs and the old bandbox would be packed, the atmosphere electric, the hockey terrific. Still is that way, as the legacy Coach Drake left behind in 1989 has carried on unabated under future generations of coaches he mentored, men like Billy Moores, Rob Daum, Howie Draper, Eric Thurston. Beyond them, his influence is felt across the hockey world – in the men’s game and the women’s, minor hockey, junior hockey, international hockey, professional hockey.