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ECHL All-Star Game Coaches Announced

January 2, 2010 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - The ECHL on Saturday announced that the coaches for the 2010 ECHL All-Star Game presented by Reebok Hockey and brought to you by Toyota and the City of Ontario will be Derek Laxdal of the Idaho Steelheads and Marty Raymond of the Bakersfield Condors for the host National Conference and Cail MacLean of the South Carolina Stingrays and Derek Wilkinson of the Charlotte Checkers for the American Conference.

The 2010 ECHL All-Star Game presented by Reebok Hockey and brought to you by Toyota and the City of Ontario will be hosted by the Ontario Reign at Citizens Business Bank Arena and played on Jan. 20 while the 2010 ECHL All-Star Skills Competition will be held on Jan. 19.

Laxdal and MacLean were chosen by having the best winning percentage in their conferences while Raymond and Wilkinson were selected using a combination of votes from coaches in their own conference and winning percentage.

Seven coaches from the ECHL All-Star Game have gone on to coach in the National Hockey League while 58 players from the contest have gone on to play in the NHL, including 33 since 2002 when the lineups began having players who coaches felt were prospects to move up to a higher level.

South Carolina is 24-8-4 and leads the ECHL with 52 points and 24 wins while Idaho is 23-8-2 and leads the league with a winning percentage of.727. Bakersfield is 19-9-2 and ranks second in the National Conference and third in the league with 40 points and a winning percentage of.667 while Charlotte is 16-10-4 and ranks sixth in the league with a winning percentage of.600.

It is the first All-Star coaching appearance for all four. The record for All-Star appearances is three by Chris Cichocki, Glen Gulutzan, Davis Payne and Jeff Pyle. MacLean was a starter for the Northern Conference in the 2001 All-Star Game at Trenton, N.J. and he also played in 1999 scoring the game-winning goal and registering an assist in the Southern Conference's 7-4 win at Biloxi, Miss.

The past seven ECHL All-Star Games have generated more than $1 million each for the local economy as guests, players, coaches and fans occupy hundreds of hotel rooms and spend three days in the host city.

The third class will be inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame on Jan. 20, 2010 during a luncheon ceremony at the Hilton Ontario Airport, the official host hotel of the 2010 ECHL All-Star Game presented by Reebok Hockey and brought to you by Toyota and the City of Ontario. The featured speaker at the ECHL Hall of Fame luncheon will be Hockey Hall of Fame member and Los Angeles Kings President of Business Operations Luc Robitaille.

Tickets for the luncheon are $40 each or a table with seven tickets can be purchased for $250. The Ontario Reign is offering a special ticket package that includes a tickets to the ECHL Hall of Fame luncheon, the All-Star Skills Competition, the Fan Fest at Dave & Busters and the ECHL All-Star Game for only $75. To purchase tickets visit OntarioReign.com/team/allstar/ or telephone the Ontario Reign at (909) 941-7825.

The game has been available live on the NHL Network the last seven years as well as being broadcast on multiple regional networks. The audio broadcast has been carried on XM Satellite Radio as well as being available in all ECHL markets.

The Stanley Cup and the Patrick J. Kelly Cup will both be on display throughout the event, marking the 10th time in the last 11 years that the NHL championship trophy and the ECHL championship trophy have been displayed together at the All-Star Game.

American Conference

Cail MacLean, South Carolina Stingrays

Cail MacLean is in his first season as head coach and director of hockey operations for South Carolina after working as an assistant coach for the Stingrays Kelly Cup champion team in 2008-09. MacLean replaced Jared Bednar, who is now an assistant coach with Abbotsford in the American Hockey League, on July 1, 2009. The 33 year old concluded his 11-year playing career with South Carolina in 2007-08 when he led the team with 14 power-play goals while scoring 46 points (21g-25a) in 63 games. He played three seasons for the Stingrays and ranks in the Top 20 on the team career lists with 63 goals, 74 assists and 137 points while his 17 power-play goals in 2006-07 are the second-most in team history. MacLean played nine seasons in the ECHL with Jacksonville, Reading, Trenton and South Carolina and he ranks in the Top 20 with 224 career regular season goals. He had 439 points (224g-215a) in 474 regular season games and 50 points (29g-21a) in 67 Kelly Cup Playoff games. He also played in the American Hockey League and had 60 points (27g-33a) in 207 regular season games with Bridgeport, Cincinnati, Hartford, Hershey, Lowell, Philadelphia and Providence, and one goal in 18 playoff games with Bridgeport and Hershey. MacLean also played in the original International Hockey League and had 25 points (15g-10a) in 66 regular season games with Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis and Kalamazoo and four points (2g-2a) in seven playoff games for Indianapolis.

American Conference

Derek Wilkinson, Charlotte Checkers

Derek Wilkinson is in his sixth full season as general manager and head coach of Charlotte and at 35 years old is one of the youngest active head coaches in the ECHL. He is 210-171-38 and has more wins than any other coach in team history. Wilkinson has led the Checkers to the Kelly Cup Playoffs each of his first five seasons tying the team record for consecutive postseason appearances. In his first full season in 2004-05, Charlotte finished 39-26-7 and returned to the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the first time in three years. The Checkers lost in the American Conference Finals which was the team's longest postseason run in nine years. Wilkinson was promoted from assistant general manager and assistant coach on Jan. 29, 2004 and the Checkers went 12-14-4 in the final 30 games. He joined the Charlotte staff in 2002-03 as director of hockey operations and assistant coach and in 2003-04 became assistant general manager and assistant coach. Wilkinson was the first-ever goaltender selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who selected him in the seventh round (145th overall) in the 1992 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Wilkinson played seven professional seasons including parts of four seasons in the NHL with the Lightning. He also played in the International Hockey League with Atlanta, Cleveland and Chicago as well as in the British Super League with Belfast.

National Conference

Derek Laxdal, Idaho Steelheads

Derek Laxdal is in his fifth season as head coach and director of hockey operations for Idaho having been named to the position on Aug. 4, 2005. Laxdal is 192-99-30 in the regular season and 19-18 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Steelheads have won 40 games, including a team record 44 wins in 2008-09, and reached the postseason each of his first four seasons. Idaho captured the Kelly Cup championship in his second season in 2006-07 after going 43-21-8 in 2005-06 to set team records for wins and points (94). The 43 year old coached Wichita in the Central Hockey League for two and a half seasons from 2003-05 after spending two and a half years as an assistant coach with Odessa of the CHL from 2001-03. In his first full season in 2003-04 Wichita was 35-24-5 and reached the playoffs for the first time in four years, upsetting the top seed in the first round and reaching the conference finals. Wichita was 40-17-3 and reached the postseason for the second year in a row in 2004-05, losing in the conference finals. Laxdal began his coaching career in the ECHL as a player-assistant coach for Roanoke in 1994-95 where he had 56 points (32g-24a) in 66 regular season games and six points (2g-4a) in eight playoff games. Selected in the eighth round (151st overall) by Toronto in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, Laxdal played 17 professional seasons registering 614 points (299g-315a) and 1,301 penalty minutes in 823 regular season games and 37 points (20g-17a) and 152 penalty minutes in 56 playoff games. He played parts of five seasons in the NHL with Toronto and the New York Islanders, accumulating 19 points (12g-7a) and 88 penalty minutes in 67 regular season NHL games and two points (0g-2a) and two penalty minutes in one Stanley Cup Playoff game. He was a member of Canada's National Junior team that won a silver medal at the world championships in 1985-86. He helped Portland of the Western Hockey League win the Memorial Cup championship in 1982-83 and in 1989-90 he helped Springfield of the American Hockey League capture the Calder Cup championship.

National Conference

Marty Raymond, Bakersfield Condors

Marty Raymond is in his sixth full season as head coach for Bakersfield having led the Condors to the Kelly Cup Playoffs the last five years. Bakersfield had a winning record for the fourth time in his five seasons behind the bench in 2008-09. The Condors set team records in 2006-07 for winning percentage (.653), points (94), road points (49) and road wins (20) while they advanced to the division finals in 2006 and 2005. Bakersfield has won 40 or more games three times and he is the career leader for games, wins, points, playoff games and playoff wins. He joined the organization on Feb. 20, 2002 when he was named associate head coach and the Condors are 257-202-64 with Raymond behind the bench, including a 186-144-47 record as head coach. He took over Phoenix of the West Coast Hockey League in 1999-2000 and helped the Mustangs go 22-5-1 in the final 28 games, including 10-2 in the playoffs en route to the league title. Raymond, who was also head coach of Tucson in the WCHL in 1997-98, played five seasons in Sweden, including three in the Swedish Elite League. He also played in France with Cergy-Pontoise, who he later coached to a second division championship and qualification for the first division. Raymond was awarded his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he also played college hockey.

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