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Cincinnati's Weber Receives John Brophy Award

April 8, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release

PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL announced on Tuesday that Chuck Weber of the Cincinnati Cyclones is the 2007-08 recipient of the John Brophy Award.

The John Brophy Award is the trophy presented annually to the ECHL coach adjudged 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.

In his second season as head coach, Weber led the Cyclones to the Brabham Cup with 115 points which is the second most in the 20-year history of the ECHL, one behind the record of 116 by Louisiana in 2001-02. The Brabham Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the ECHL team that finishes with the most points in the regular season. The recipient is guaranteed home-ice advantage throughout its participation in the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Malcolm Cameron of Texas finished second in the voting followed by Glen Gulutzan of Las Vegas, Matt Thomas of Fresno and Mark Morrison of Victoria. Weber and Cameron were the coaches for the American Conference in the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game while Gulutzan and Morrison were the coaches for the National Conference.

Cincinnati was 55-12-5 and tied the ECHL record with 26 road wins while finishing one shy of the record 56 wins by Louisiana in 2001-02. The Cyclones' 29 home wins ties the league record for fourth-most held by Pee Dee in 1998-99, Toledo in 2002-03 and Gwinnett in 2005-06 while their 12 regulation losses ties the record for third-fewest losses held by Alaska in 2005-06 and Las Vegas in 2006-07. Cincinnati had four home losses tying the record for third-fewest shared by nine teams including Gwinnett and Alaska in 2005-06.

The Cyclones set the ECHL record with 17 wins in a row from Jan. 16-29, breaking the record of 14 by Knoxville from Dec. 28, 1993-Jan. 29, 1994 and Louisiana from Nov. 23-Dec. 22, 2001. Cincinnati also had an ECHL season-high and team-record 14-game home winning streak from Jan. 5-Mar. 12.

Cincinnati, which also captures the American Conference regular season title, opens the Kelly Cup Playoffs on Friday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts either Dayton or Johnstown in the first game of a best-of-seven series.

The 35-year-old Weber finished second in voting for coach of the year in 2006-07 when the Cyclones returned to the ice for the first time since 2003-04 and finished 37-29-6 record. Cincinnati advanced to the Kelly Cup Playoffs where they lost to American Conference champion Dayton in seven games.

Before being named head coach of the Cyclones on May 25, 2006, Weber was assistant coach and director of hockey operations for Utah of the ECHL in 2005-06 after working as an assistant coach in Augusta from 2003-05 and in Trenton in 2001-02. He was a member of the coaching staff when Orlando won the International Hockey League championship in 2001 and was an assistant coach for Milwaukee in the American Hockey League in 2001-02.

John Brophy Award Winners (ECHL Coach of the Year)
2007-08 Chuck Weber, Cincinnati Cyclones
2006-07 Davis Payne, Alaska Aces
2005-06 Glen Gulutzan, Las Vegas Wranglers
2004-05 Nick Vitucci, Toledo Storm
2003-04 Pat Bingham, Wheeling Nailers
2002-03 Claude Noel, Toledo Storm
2001-02 Dave Farrish, Louisiana IceGators
2000-01 Troy Ward, Trenton Titans
1999-00 Bob Ferguson, Florida Everblades
1998-99 Bob Ferguson, Florida Everblades
1997-98 Chris Nilan, Chesapeake IceBreakers
1996-97 Brian McCutcheon, Columbus Chill
1995-96 Roy Sommer, Richmond Renegades
1994-95 Jim Playfair, Dayton Bombers
1993-94 Barry Smith, Knoxville Cherokees
1992-93 Kurt Kleinendorst, Raleigh IceCaps
1991-92 Doug Sauter, Winston-Salem Thunderbirds
1990-91 Don Jackson, Knoxville Cherokees
1989-90 Dave Allison, Virginia Lancers
1988-89 Ron Hansis, Erie Panthers

ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL in 2007-08, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

There have been 355 former ECHL players who have gone on to play in the NHL after playing in the ECHL, including 98 in the last three seasons. There have been 210 former ECHL players who have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 18 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players. In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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