ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones

Cyclones Renew Assistant Coach Dean Stork for 2007-08

Published on May 31, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Cincinnati Cyclones News Release


CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL announced this afternoon they have re-signed assistant coach Dean Stork for the 2007-08 season. Terms of the deal were not released.

Stork, 31, served as an assistant with the Cyclones, helping guide the club to a 37-29-4-2 record and a third-place finish in the North Division. The 37 wins, 80 standings points and .556 winning percentage were all the second-best in club history (1995-96 Louisville squad had 39 wins, 85 points and a .607 win percentage).

Dean's primary responsibility was with the Cyclones defensive unit, which limited opponents to a 2.75 goals against average, sixth-best in the league. The 198 goals allowed were the fewest in team history.

The Cyclones were the first ECHL team in two seasons to pull an upset in a Kelly Cup playoff round with their sweep of Toledo in the opening round of the postseason. Cincinnati came within a game of advancing to the American Conference finals in its first season back after two years of inactivity in the ECHL.

"I'm very glad we were able to bring Dean Stork back for this season," Cyclones Head Coach Chuck Weber said. "He's able to teach the game effectively having played for years and is picking up the other aspects of coaching quickly. Dean was an asset to helping us have the season we had last year."

Stork was named as assistant coach of the Cincinnati Cyclones in June 2006, ending his seven-year professional playing career to concentrate on working behind the bench. His playing career began in 1999-2000 with Hampton Roads (ECHL), where he played for John Brophy. Dean spent the next three seasons (2000-03) as a member of the Arkansas Riverblades, where also served as an assistant captain. With Arkansas, the coaching roots took hold, as he started the Dean Stork Mini-Camps during the summer-instructing kids in the proper way to play hockey (2003-05).

The Cyclones organization got its first glimpse of Stork in 2003-04, when he was the captain of the club. He then went to Texas (ECHL), where he was the assistant captain and was traded late in the season (2004-05) to Columbia-where he was a part of the East Division's championship team.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta-Dean grew up in Penticton, British Columbia. Stork played collegiately at the University of Massachusetts, where he played more than 100 games in three seasons (1996-99) with the Minutemen. Graduating with a degree in Sport Management, Dean held the record for goals in a season by a defenseman (nine). He was also a member of the Hockey East Honor Roll squad.

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