Sports stats

ECHL ECHL

Former ECHL Coach/Player Gordon Named Outstanding Coach In AHL

April 10, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release




SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League has announced that former ECHL player and coach and current Providence Bruins coach Scott Gordon has been named the winner of the outstanding coach award for 2007-08.

Gordon becomes the third former ECHL coach in a row to capture the honor, joining Mike Haviland and Kevin Dineen, who won in 2006-07 and 2005-06, respectively. ECHL coaches have won the award seven times in the last eight years including four consecutive years from 2001-04 with Claude Noel (2004), Geoff Ward (2003), Bruce Cassidy (2002) and Don Granato (2001). The first former ECHL coach to win the award was former Wheeling and current Carolina Hurricanes head coach Peter Laviolette in 1999.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the AHL, marking the seventh consecutive season that it has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL. In the last six seasons the ECHL has had more call ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with more than 2,300 call ups involving more than 1,200 players. In each of the last three seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL in the same season. The AHL has 10 former ECHL coaches who are head coaches and 14 others who are assistant coaches while almost 500 players with ECHL experience have played in the league this season.

Gordon played for Johnstown in 1988-89 and on January 30, 1990 he became the first ECHL player to play in the National Hockey League when he made his debut with the Quebec Nordiques against the Buffalo Sabres. Gordon returned to the ECHL with Nashville in 1992-93 and Knoxville in 1993-94.

Gordon was named head coach of Roanoke in the ECHL in 1998-99. In his first season the Express finished first in the Northern Conference with a 38-22-10 record, advancing to the Kelly Cup Playoffs where they lost in the conference finals. In his second season Roanoke went 44-20-6 and set team records for wins (44) and points (94) while finishing atop the Northeast Division standings and again advancing to the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

In his fifth season as head coach, Gordon has led Providence to the regular season points championship with 113 points (54-16-7). It is the second regular season title for the Bruins, who have been in first place in their division every day since Oct. 28.

The 45 year old, who was a member of the United States team at the 1992 Olympics, joined Providence as an assistant coach in 2000 and became the head coach on Mar. 19, 2003 when Mike Sullivan was promoted to Boston. Gordon has a 220-153-33 record in 406 games with Providence.

Former ECHL players won the CCM/AHL Player of the Month award in November (Martin St. Pierre), December (Pascal Pelletier) and January (Grant Stevenson). Trevor Smith, who played in the ECHL with Utah this season, was the Rbk Edge/AHL Rookie of the Month for January while John Curry, who played this year for both Las Vegas and Wheeling, was the winner in December. The Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week award was won eight times by former ECHL players.

For the 18th year in a row in 2007 there was a former ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion as Hamilton had a record 12 players with ECHL experience on its roster.

ECHL Coaches Winning AHL Coach of the Year Award
2008 - Scott Gordon
2007 - Mike Haviland
2006 - Kevin Dineen
2004 - Claude Noel
2003 - Geoff Ward
2002 - Bruce Cassidy
2001 - Don Granato
1999 - Peter Laviolette

Check out the ECHL Statistics



ECHL Stories from April 10, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central