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ECHL Toledo Walleye

Head Coach Claude Noel Named Coach of the Year

April 3, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


(Toledo, Ohio) The Toledo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League today announced that Head Coach, Claude Noel, has been selected as the ECHL's Coach of The Year. Noel, who is in his first season as Toledo's head coach and director of player of personnel, was instrumental in leading the Storm, which finished in last place in the ECHL's Northern Conference last year, to this year's regular season league championship.

Mike Miller, the Vice-President and General Manager of the Storm, stated, "when we began our search for a head coach last spring, we were intent on hiring someone who could bring the energy, passion, composure, intelligence, and experience necessary to build a championship-quality club. We are now, more than ever, convinced that we hired the right person. Claude Noel has been an absolute pleasure to work with, and he deserves this recognition for helping re-store hockey to a position of prominence in our city of Toledo, which is clearly one of the great minor professional hockey markets in North America.

Noel (47), who is in his fifteenth season of coaching, led the Storm to a thirty-eight point increase in comparison to 2001-02, which is the fourth greatest single season improvement in standings-points in ECHL history. Toledo is the only team league history to experience that significant of an increase in team standings-point production and to end up with over 100 total points in the final standings.

The 2002-03 Storm established franchise records in team goals against average (2.72), total team goals allowed (196), most home wins (29), fewest home losses (3), and home win-percentage (.861). Toledo also tied a franchise record with 104 standings-points in winning the franchise's first Henry Brabham Cup since the Storm's inaugural season, 1991-92. This year's team captured the first Northern Conference regular season championship in franchise history and the organization's fifth Northern Division championship.

After taking the helm of the team in June of 2002, Noel and Storm Assistant Coach, Mark Bernard, undertook a complete rebuild of last year's team. Toledo's current roster includes just three players who played any games at all for the Storm last year: Tim Verbeek, Jeff Mitchell, and Grady Moore; and, when combined, those three players played just 55 total games with the 2001-02 Storm. The Toledo coaching staff navigated through a regular season that had no fewer than 175 total transactions and an ever-changing roster that included thirty-seven different skaters and seven different goaltenders. On January 31, the team lost the then-leading scorer, Alexandre Jacques, to a season ending injury. The current roster is comprised of no fewer than eight first year players, including five rookie defensemen. Nineteen different players logged games in Toledo and games for one of six different AHL teams.

In response to his selection as the league's Coach of the Year, Noel stated, "it is a tremendous honor to be recognized by your peers in this manner; but, as anyone who has ever held this type of position knows, you don't do it alone. In that regard, I want our thank our managing partner, Tim Gladieux, and our ownership group, who have provided us with their generous support; Mike Miller, who has been instrumental in our efforts this season; Assistant Coach Bernard, who has been a tireless partner in everything that has gone on this year; the entire Storm staff and the players, who are the ones who really deserve the accolades. And, of course, I don't want to forget the Toledo fans-they have their own special and unique way of motivating you to get better every day! And I thank them for that and their support.

CLAUDE NOEL

HEAD COACH AND DIRECTOR OF PLAYER PERSONNEL

This year marks the first season for Claude Noel as the Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel for the Storm. Claude comes to the Storm with twenty-seven years of professional hockey experience--fourteen as a coach and thirteen as a player-and three championship rings, including one that was earned as a member of the 1982-83 Toledo Goaldiggers, when he was also selected as the International Hockey League's Most Valuable Player.

This stint in Toledo will mark the fourth time in Claude's career that he has held the position of head coach. His first assignment in that role was with the Roanoke Valley Rebels of the ECHL in 1990-91. After one season in Roanoke, Noel took over as the Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations for two seasons with the ECHL's Dayton Bombers, where he took his team to consecutive trips to the playoffs, advancing to the second round in 1992-93. At the conclusion of the Bombers' ECHL season in 1993, Noel joined the Fort Wayne Komets, then of the International Hockey League, where he assisted Head Coach Al Sims in the Komets' run to the Turner Cup championship. Noel was then rewarded with his first full-time coaching slot in the IHL as an assistant to Ken Hitchcock with the Kalamazoo Wings. Midway into 1994-95, after back-to-back 100(+) point seasons with the Wings, Noel was chosen to take over in Kalamazoo for Hitchcock, who was called up to Dallas to lead the parent Stars. Noel served as the Michigan K-Wings' head coach for three seasons until he rejoined Sims, this time with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL in 1998. Noel served as Sims' assistant for two seasons and retained that position when the Admirals replaced Sims with Dave Allison in 2000. Over the course of this past year, Allison and Noel continued in their respective positions as Milwaukee joined the American Hockey League and went 30-35-10-5, finishing in fifth place in the West Division.

As a player, Noel, a left-hand shooting forward, played thirteen pro seasons in six separate leagues in North America and Europe, including the National Hockey League, where he played seven games for the Washington Capitals in 1979-80. Noel's pro career began in 1975 with the Buffalo Norsemen of the North American Hockey League. The following season Noel jumped to the AHL with the Hershey Bears, where he would spend five seasons. In his second year with the Bears, 1977-78, Noel was chosen as the team's MVP, and, two seasons later, he led Hershey to the 1980 Calder Cup championship. During that playoff run, Noel racked up 19 points (9g-10a=19pts) in 16 games. He was rewarded for that performance by being selected as the Bears' team captain the following year. In 1981-82, Noel played his first stint overseas with Bern in the Swiss Elite League. The next year, Noel returned to North America and had a career season with the Goaldiggers. He not only put up huge regular season numbers (42g-82a=124pts) and was named the league's MVP; but he also racked up eighteen points (3a-15a=18pts) in the eleven playoff games it took for Toledo to bring home the hardware. The following year, Noel returned to Europe--this time to Salzburg in the Austrian Elite League, where he would get his first taste as a coach, serving as a player/assistant--a role that Noel would have throughout the remainder of his playing career. In 1984, Noel came back to North America--and, specifically, Toledo--where would pick up 72 points in 74 games. The following season, Noel started the year in Toledo, playing twelve games for the Goaldiggers before being traded to the Kalamazoo Wings, where he played two seasons before concluding his career with the Milwaukee Admirals in 1987-88.

Noel, who is married, Lynda, and has two sons, Chris and Sheldon.

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