THE SIDEONE PROFILE By Phyl Newbeck
Les Lawton:
A resident of Jericho, Vermont, Phyl Newbeck is a freelance writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines. She is the author of Virginia Hasn’t Always Been for Lovers: Interracial Marriage Bans and the Case of Richard and Mildred Loving.
The winningest coach in women’s college hockey During the many years that Les Lawton has been
sport in 1998. When I started coaching, only tomboys
involved in women’s hockey, he has enjoyed bearing
played, but now you have a wide variety of athletes.”
witness to the growth of the sport. Lawton began
Lawton is pleased to see leagues forming all over
his career at Concordia University in 1982 as an
the country including those designed for very young
assistant coach and was promoted to head coach
players. “We never had that years ago,” he said.
the following year. He led the Stingers to 626 wins, making him the winningest coach in the history of women’s collegiate hockey. In 2000, he was named Canada’s top women’s university hockey coach following two straight championships. Hobbled by a stroke, he stepped down from the bench in 2015 but continues to serve as a mentor to the Stingers players and coaches. He credits the increased interest and participation in women’s hockey to its emergence on the national stage. “The big turning point was having a women’s world championship in 1990,” he said, “and then it became an Olympic
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SIDEONE FEBRUARY 2021
THEIR PASSION FOR THE GAME Lawton actually started his career coaching boys at Loyola High School. “After our practice, the girls’ team would take the ice,” he said. “I fell in love with how passionate they were and how attentive they were to coaching.” Lawton never considered leaving women’s hockey to return to coaching men. “Guys always had stars in their eyes,” he said, “but not the women.” He noted that women play for the love of the game, not for the promise of a lucrative professional career. “How many women make a living
