Those who saw Dean Stewart in action with the Portage Terriers between 2014 and 2016 may not have understood at the time how far his hockey career would take him. After two seasons with the Dogs, Stewart was drafted in the seventh round by the Arizona Coyotes and would play four years in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top division with the University of Nebraska-Omaha, including filling the captain's role in his fourth year.
Following his collegiate career, Stewart played a season in the ECHL with the Wichita Thunder, where he was named to the ECHL's All-Rookie Team, and was second in Rookie of the Year voting. The following year was split between the ECHL and the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Winnipeg Jets' affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
Following a single split-season, Stewart became a full-time AHLer, getting into 96 games with the Moose across the following two years. After dealing with an injury in the second season, Stewart outlines how conversations with his agent and the Moose went.
"It was actually when I was out. So, I was injured. I had a broken toe I think, at the time the team was on a road trip, a long one for like two and a half weeks and I was still in Winnipeg. So, I was just kind of working out every day and. Spoke to my agent. It was getting close to the end of the year. And so, it was kind of a time when he would talk to Singer (Moose General Manager Craig Heisinger) about, like, re-sign, or kind of what I wanted to do, and I wasn't even sure exactly. I was ready for a change of scenery, so I didn't know if I was going to go to a different team in the American League or kind of explore my options over here. And so, he just said, ‘OK, I'll make a few calls and get back to you.'"
Stewart adds that it didn't take long to hear back from his agent on an offer.
"The next day, he actually introduced me to a partner agent that works here in Russia and introduced me to him. The guy was asking if I'd be willing to come to Russia. I said, 'Yeah, depending on the deal and the place, I would consider it.' And so anyway, it wasn't very long, I would say a week or two went by and the Russian agent called me and said, 'Yeah, there's been some interest, and we have a deal for you here in Vityaz.' And so, then he kind of told me a little bit about Vityaz. And then I looked into it myself a bit too and heard some good things about it and I heard some nice things about the city of Moscow and so. Yeah, I went for it and had the deal done, maybe a week after that."
He notes that with the significant location change, he has tried to pick up the language, with much difficulty.
He laughs and says, "It's not great. I spent a couple weeks on Duolingo, trying to learn some, just pick up some phrases and what not but the different alphabet, I find, just makes it so hard. And so Duolingo didn't go great, but I picked up some phrases and things like that, just like from the guys, but definitely nowhere near fluent in Russian yet."
He adds there are a few major differences between the North American game and the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)
"When I was in North America, I didn't watch too much KHL hockey, so I didn't really know what to expect, but the way that they play is quite different. It's definitely easier on the body, I would say, which, that part of it's nice. Not nearly as much hitting. It's just not nearly as much physicality in general. I think we're 35 or so games in like we haven't had a single fight this year," Stewart continues. "The style of play in North America in general is just, you're going north-south. Lots of chipping pucks in and kind of rimming in and getting on the forecheck and things like that, where you're not really going East-West a whole lot, you're not bringing too many pucks back, whereas here, there's not nearly as much like chipping it in and going and getting it stuff. If you're coming through the neutral zone and. You don't really have anything rather than chipping in, you'll kind of turn back and everybody will regroup, and you'll try again to get in the offensive zone with the puck rather than chipping it."
Stewart comments that spending time with the Portage Terriers in the MJHL really gave him a boost through being on the ice consistently. Through his time in the NCAA, he says that he learned how to take care of himself and about becoming a pro through workouts, diet and recovery.