Les Lawton will hit an impressive milestone this weekend when he will be on the bench for his 999th and 1000th games as the head coach of the Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team.
When Lawton and his Stingers host the Ottawa Gee-Gees tonight at 7:30 p.m. it will be his 999th game.
As he started coaching the Stingers 30 years ago, did he ever think he would call the shots on 999 women’s hockey games?
“It’s not the 999 games,” he said with a laugh. “It’s the 5,000 practices. Seriously, I don’t think anybody ever thinks of numbers like that, especially when you play a 35-game schedule every year.”
Lawton’s record heading into tonight is 601 wins, 323 losses and 74 ties in 998 games. His winning percentage is .639.
With the Stingers, he won the inaugural CIAU women's ice hockey championship in 1998 and defended the title in 1999. He has also won 15 Quebec championships.
Game 1000 will be played against the Martlets at McGill on Sunday at 2 p.m.
