Head Athletic Trainer Chris Stewart Deserving of All-Star Nod

If the Penguins could have, they would have voted head athletic trainer Chris Stewart team MVP last season for how he handled his own duties in addition to overseeing their compliance with the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.
And as Stewart continues to essentially do two jobs under pretty stressful circumstances, he's also now an All-Star. The Johnstown native is in Las Vegas to represent both Eastern Conference teams as an athletic trainer for the 2022 NHL All-Star weekend.

"No one is more deserving of going to the All-Star game than Stu, in my opinion, with everything that he's had to deal with," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "His staff and himself, with Stu being the point man, has had to deal with everything with respect to this pandemic - and he does it gracefully. So we're thrilled for him that he has an opportunity to participate in the All-Star game. It's a great reward for him."
This marks the first All-Star Game appearance for Stewart, who is in his 16th season with the Penguins. So he's grateful for the opportunity in that sense, and what makes the experience even better is that Stewart is joined by his son Christian, a senior at Penn State.
"Sixteen years in the league and I finally get to go to an All-Star Game. And having it be in Vegas, not a bad town to go to," Stewart said. "But I'm mostly excited about taking my son with me, since I don't get to see him much anymore with him away at college."
Stewart is also looking forward to a weekend of not having to worry about anything COVID-related, something that has literally kept him up at night over these past two-plus years.
"Sometimes you get 3 AM wakeup calls from the lab about positive tests," Stewart said. "Then maintaining COVID testing and scheduling, dealing with positive cases and false positives, on top of the daily activities we have to do to keep these guys going… it's been a long two and a half years here."
He credits not only his staff, but the entire support staff - especially team services, strength and conditioning and equipment - for keeping everything running smoothly through it all. That entire group could probably count on one hand the number of days off they've had during these last two seasons, so this little break is much needed.
"Hopefully just have some downtime where I don't have to worry about testing, don't have to worry about anything and just enjoy the time we're there," Stewart said.
What keeps Stewart going through some of these trying times is the team concept of working towards the ultimate goal, something he really grew to love while playing catcher for Indiana University of Pennsylvania's NCAA Division II baseball team.
After Stewart injured his shoulder, his own experience of going through the rehab process was what got him interested in his current profession. He ended up graduating from IUP with a degree in kinesiology, health and sport science in 1993 and a master's in sport science in 1996.
Stewart got his start in hockey when the clinic he was working at, Western Pa. Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation Clinic, began taking care of the Johnstown Chiefs. So he spent nearly nine years with the team in the East Coast Hockey League until the 2004-05 lockout.
That's when one of the assistant coaches with Johnstown, Scott Allen, went to Lowell of the American Hockey League. Stewart joined him there as the associate athletic trainer. At the time, the Lock Monsters were the affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, where Jim Rutherford served as general manager.
"I went up there for basically half a season, and Jim considered it a working interview," Stewart said. "The next season, he brought me down to Carolina, and I was an assistant down there."
And right away, Stewart got to experience what it was like to achieve that ultimate goal, as the Hurricanes captured the Stanley Cup in 2006. That summer, Mark Recchi left Carolina to return to Pittsburgh on a one-year contract, where Ray Shero had taken over as Penguins general manager that spring.
Recchi put in a good word, Stewart was named head athletic trainer, and he has been in Pittsburgh ever since. "I owe Rex a lot of thanks for that," Stewart said with a smile.
Stewart has now worked nearly 2,000 professional hockey games alongside the core leadership group of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and has become a four-time Stanley Cup Champion along the way. Stewart earned rings with Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016 and 2017 after that first one with Carolina in 2006.
"My whole career, just four Cups - you can never describe that feeling," he said. "It never goes away. You'll have that for the rest of your life. Those are the moments you work for. That's why you do it. Working with the best players in the world, and for them to be around this long and me to be around this long, it's fun. You can't ask for more."