Falcons Name Matt Thomas Head Coach/General Manager

Published on June 2, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release


Fresno, Calif. – Fresno Falcons owner Charles Davenport has hired Matt Thomas as the fifth head coach in team history. Thomas, who signed a two-year contract with the club that will take him through the 2006-07 season, will also serve as the team's general manager, giving him responsibility for the organization's hockey operations and player personnel decisions.

"First of all I would like to thank Charles Davenport for this opportunity. Fresno has a winning hockey tradition, and I plan on building a team that will contend for a Kelly Cup year in and year out," said Thomas. "And to the fans...you can look forward to a team built around speed, skill and toughness. We'll have an exciting team that will compete and give themselves a chance to win every night."

"It may sound cliché, but I expect and our fans deserve a team that competes for the Kelly Cup Championship every season," added Davenport. "I'm confident that in Matt Thomas I've found the guy to lead the Falcons back to the playoffs for a chance to win a title. He comes highly recommended and will surround himself with a like-minded staff that will work hard and put a great product on the ice for our fans."

Thomas arrives in Fresno having most recently been the head coach/director of hockey operations for the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, whom he led to a record of 42-22-8 this past season. Atlantic City fell one point short of capturing the Northern Division regular season title and qualified for the post-season, where the Bullies lost to the newly crowned Kelly Cup Champion Trenton Titans. Despite being the league's youngest head coach (a distinction he still holds), the 29-year-old Thomas positioned the Bullies at the top of the National Conference standings around mid-season and was selected to lead the National Conference in the 2005 ECHL All-Star Game.

Prior to taking over the top job in Atlantic City last summer, Thomas served two seasons as an assistant coach for the Bullies, who won the Kelly Cup Championship in 2002-03. He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Maine, whom he helped guide to the NCAA Championship game in 2001-02. Thomas began his coaching career as an assistant coach for his alma mater, the Rochester Institute of Technology, which advanced to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four during his one year behind the bench in 1999-00.

Thomas' playing career began in his native Mississauga, Ontario. Following a junior career in the Metro (Toronto) Junior A Hockey League, he arrived at RIT, where he served as captain. He helped RIT achieve a #1 ranking and an NCAA Tournament bid during his senior season on his way to earning ECAC Division III West All-Star honors for himself.

Between the end of his playing days and the beginning of his coaching career, Thomas dabbled a bit in show business, appearing in a recurring role on a prime time soap opera on Canadian television called Power Play.

Making his first decision at the helm of the Falcons, Thomas named Mark French as his assistant general manager/assistant head coach. French joins Thomas from Atlantic City, prior to which he was the head coach at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, for two seasons. In addition to his assistant coaching duties with Atlantic City, he was Team Canada's ECHL scout last season and served as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the 2004 Under 18 World Championships. French was the assistant general manager/assistant coach for the North Bay Centennials in the Ontario Hockey League from 1999-2002 and has further coaching experience with the Ontario Under 17 Hockey Team, Brock (Ontario) University and the University of Guelph (Ontario). The native of Milton, Ontario, played hockey at both Mankato (MN) State and Brock University.

Falcons season tickets are currently available for the 2005-06 ECHL campaign. Both full season packages and 24-game packages include seats to the 2006 Bud Light ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition to be held at Save Mart Center on Jan. 24 and 25. For complete ticket information and an arena map of Save Mart Center, please visit the Falcons website at www.fresnofalcons.com/tickets.html. For more information or to order 2005-06 season tickets, fans should contact the Falcons front office at (559) 485-PUCK (7825) or office@fresnofalcons.com.

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