News – Sharks Goaltending Coach Warren Strelow Passes Away At 73 – San Jose Sharks

News – Sharks Goaltending Coach Warren Strelow Passes Away At 73 – San Jose Sharks:

It is with great sadness that the San Jose Sharks organization must announce the passing of goaltending coach Warren Strelow, following a series of illnesses.

Strelow, 73, passed away peacefully early this morning in Worcester, Mass., surrounded by his family.

The Strelow family plans to hold a memorial to celebrate Warren’s life following the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Funeral arrangements are pending at this time.

Damn. My sympathies to his family and to the Sharks organization.

As far as I can tell, you won’t find a person to say anything bad about Strelow, on or off the record. I only met him once, and his openness and friendliness was amazing. He clearly loved what he did, and the players he worked with. If you ask Nabokov and Toskala, they’ll both tell you that their success is because of him.

Strelow was the first full-time goalie coach in the NHL, with the Washington capitals back in 1984. He was the goalie coach for the 1980 miracle on ice. He’s been with the Sharks since 1997, and despite health problems, has stayed as active with the goalies as he could, even when he couldn’t travel (Wayne Thomas, asst. GM and former goalie, has pitched in, also). This year, he was finally able to travel again, and was in Worcester working with teh minor leaguers when the stroke hit.

I have to admit, after the second update that he wasn’t healthy enough to be sent back to Minnesota, I was worried. And today, my worry was proven right. I guess you could say it was with the people he wanted to be with doing what he loved doing — and that’s not so bad.

The hockey world has lost a big part of its success today.

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  • Mike

    Very sad. My sympathy to his family and loved ones.
    There were some darn good hockey games played on the day of his death, if that is any comfort. I had the honor seeing Roberto Luongo make 72 saves as the Canucks won in the 4th OT period.
    My two teams both won 5-4, both in multiple OTs. Both had 4-2 leads in the 3rd period only to give up 2 goals in the 3rd. What an odd coincidence!