AHL Peoria Rivermen

Brent Thompson Named ECHL Coach of the Year

Published on April 5, 2011 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Peoria Rivermen News Release


The ECHL on Tuesday announced that Brent Thompson of the Alaska Aces is the 2010-11 recipient of the John Brophy Award as the league's Coach of the Year.

The John Brophy Award is the trophy presented annually to the ECHL coach selected to have contributed the most to his team's success as selected in a vote of league coaches. The trophy is named for John Brophy, who won a record three ECHL titles with Hampton Roads in 1991, 1992 and 1998 and was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2009.

Thompson led the Aces to a 47-22-3 record as Alaska won the Mountain Division and the team's second-ever Brabham Cup as ECHL regular-season champions. Alaska went 23-4-1 over the final 27 games of the season and has earned a bye in the first round of the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

In his second season behind the Aces' bench, Thompson is 83-50-11 in the regular season and 1-3 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The former defenseman was an assistant coach for Peoria of the American Hockey League from 2005-09 and was a player/assistant coach for Colorado of the Central Hockey League in 2003-04.

Thompson played 14 seasons in the NHL, AHL, IHL and CHL from 1991-2005. Selected in the second round (39th overall) by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, Thompson played six seasons in the NHL from 1991-97 and had 11 points (1g-10a) and 352 penalty minutes in 121 regular-season games with Los Angeles, Winnipeg and Phoenix. He was selected to play in the IHL All-Star Game as a rookie in 1991-92 and received the AHL's Yanick Dupre Memorial Award in 1998-99 for outstanding contribution to community and charity.

Former Rivermen head coach, and current head coach of the St. Louis Blues, Davis Payne won the award in 2007.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 5, 2011


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