ECHL Toledo Walleye

Head Coach Claude Noel Selected As All-Star Coach

Published on December 17, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


(Toledo, Ohio) The Toledo Storm of the East Coast Hockey League today announced that the team's Head Coach and Director of Player Personnel, Claude Noel, has been selected by the ECHL to serve as Co-Coach of the Northern Conference All-Stars in the Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition to be held at TECO Arena in Estero, Florida on January 20-21, 2003. Noel was selected in a vote amongst ECHL coaches. The Storm is currently in first place in the Northwest Division with a record of 17-6-2=36, giving Toledo the highest win percentage in the league (.720).

With respect to Noel's selection, Mike Miller, the Vice-President and General Manager of the Storm, stated, "we are extremely excited by and proud of the selection of Claude Noel as a coach in the league's all-star event. We certainly believe that he has earned this honor. Earlier this year, when we initially set out to hire a coach, we established certain criteria that we believed critical to establishing a championship-quality organization. Those criteria included an established history of leadership and the ability to teach and motivate young men in their quest for excellence. Claude's efforts in these areas really have exceeded our expectations. He is a credit to our organization and the Toledo community. We're happy for him that he has received this recognition for his performance.

For his part, Coach Noel expressed his gratitude for being selected to participate in the all-star game, stating, "it is a tremendous honor to be chosen as a part of the group that will have this opportunity to work with what I'm sure will be a fine group of young men at the all-star game. Of course, the way that this event is structured, the true credit for this honor should go to the Storm players who have performed with the desire and energy that it takes to be successful in our league. I also believe that a special mention should be made for our team's assistant coach, Mark Bernard, who has been a integral contributor to the development of our club and the success that we have enjoyed. For me, this turns out to be a good opportunity to thank the entire Storm organization-and our fans-for providing me with the opportunity to be surrounded by such a great group of people in a city so rich in hockey tradition.

The 2003 ECHL All-Star game will be hosted by the Florida Everblades and sponsored by Compuware. The Skills Competition will be held on Monday, January 20; and the game with be played on Tuesday, January 21. Both the Skills Competition and All-Star Game will be held at TECO Arena in Estero, Florida.

CLAUDE NOEL

TOLEDO STORM 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 marks 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 and his wife, Lynda, have two sons, Chris and Sheldon.

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