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Marks Ties Brophy For ECHL Career Wins Record

February 22, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - Pensacola beat Gwinnett 3-2 on Friday to give head coach John Marks his 480th career regular season win on Friday, tying John Brophy's ECHL record for most regular season wins.

Marks can become the all-time wins leader on Sunday when the Ice Pilots travel to Mississippi.

Marks, who coached Charlotte from 1993-98 and Greenville from 1998-2006, returned to the ECHL for a record 14th season after coaching Fayetteville to the Southern Professional Hockey League Championship in 2006-07.

His record in the ECHL is 480-401-90 and he is the league career leader with 971 games coached. He was the first coach to lead two different teams to the ECHL championship as Charlotte won the Riley Cup in 1996 and Greenville won the Kelly Cup in 2002. His teams have reached the postseason 10 times and he has a postseason record of 42-32.

Brophy is the record holder with 480 wins in 13 seasons with Hampton Road from 1989-2000 and Wheeling from 2001-03. The ECHL coach who is voted by his peers as coach of the year is presented with the John Brophy Award. The legendary Brophy led Hampton Roads to the postseason in each of his 11 seasons and won back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992 and a league record third title in 1998. He is also the ECHL record holder for most playoff appearances (11), most playoff games (94) and most playoff wins (55).

Marks' teams in Charlotte had a winning percentage over .600 and reached the postseason all five seasons, including 1995-96 when the Checkers were 13-3 in the postseason and won the Riley Cup. Charlotte hosted the ECHL All-Star Game in 1997 and Marks coached the Checkers to a 7-6 win over the ECHL All-Stars. His teams in Greenville reached the Kelly Cup Playoffs five times, including 2001-02 when they went 13-4 to win the Kelly Cup and 2003-04 when they improved by 50 points from the previous season, tying the ECHL record for largest single-season point increase.

Marks coached six seasons in the International Hockey League with Kalamazoo and Indianapolis from 1987-93, reaching the playoffs four times. He began his coaching career in 1982 as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of North Dakota who he helped guide to the NCAA Championship in 1987.

A two-time All-American as a defenseman at North Dakota, Marks was chosen in the first round (ninth overall) by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1968 National Hockey League Amateur Draft. He played 12 seasons in the Blackhawks organization including 10 years in the NHL where he had 275 points (112g-163a) and 330 penalty minutes in 657 regular season games and 14 points (5g-9a) and 60 penalty minutes in 57 playoff games and was selected to the Campbell Conference All-Star Team in 1976.

John Marks Milestone Wins
First ECHL Win - Charlotte won 4-3 against South Carolina on Oct. 20, 1993
100th ECHL Win - Charlotte won 4-3 against Richmond on Jan. 17, 1996
200th ECHL Win - Greenville won 4-3 at South Carolina on Nov. 25, 1998
300th ECHL Win - Greenville won 7-5 at Columbus, Oct. 26, 2002
400th ECHL Win - Greenville won 6-3 at Pee Dee, Jan. 15, 2005
450th ECHL Win - Greenville won 3-2 at Charlotte, Feb. 17, 2006
480th ECHL Win - Pensacola won 3-2 against Gwinnett, Feb. 22, 2008

Most Career Coaching Wins
1. 480 - John Marks, Pensacola, Charlotte (1993-98) and Greenville (1998-2006)
480 - John Brophy, Hampton Roads (1989-2000) and Wheeling (2001-03)
3. 341 - Jeff Pyle, Gwinnett (2003 to present) and Mobile (1998-2002)
4. 332 - Frank Anzalone, Nashville (1991-92), Roanoke (1993-98), Pee Dee (1999-2001) and Johnstown (2005-07)
5. 317 - Jeff Brubaker, Greensboro (1989-95), Jacksonville (1995-96), Tallahassee (1998-99) and Greensboro (1999-2001)
6. 311 - Gerry Fleming, Florida (2001 to present) and Tallahassee (2000-01)
7. 303 - Jason Christie, Utah (2005 to present) and Peoria (2000-05)

ECHL

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

Affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL.

350 former ECHL players have played in NHL.

21 former ECHL players have made their NHL debut this season: former Peoria Rivermen and Alaska Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu (St. Louis on Feb. 21), former Florida Everblades center David Brine (Florida on Feb. 2), former Idaho Steelheads right wing B.J. Crombeen (Dallas on Jan. 19), former Gwinnett Gladiators left wing Kevin Doell (Atlanta on Jan. 4), former Alaska defenseman Zack FitzGerald (Vancouver on Feb. 5), former Fresno goaltender Thomas Greiss (San Jose on Jan. 14), former Roanoke Express and Wheeling Nailers left wing Jason Jaffray (Vancouver on Dec. 12), former Wheeling Nailers left wing Joe Jensen (Carolina on Feb. 18), former Toledo Storm goaltender Drew MacIntyre (Vancouver on Dec. 13), former San Diego Gulls left wing Cody McLeod (Colorado on Dec. 19), former Alaska Aces and Pensacola Ice Pilots center Chris Minard (Pittsburgh on Jan. 21), former Columbia Inferno center Brandon Nolan (Carolina on Dec. 22), former Johnstown Chiefs and Fresno Falcons goaltender Dmitri Patzold (San Jose on Oct. 7), former Gwinnett Gladiators and Louisiana IceGators left wing Pascal Pelletier (Boston on Jan. 17), former Reading Royals goaltender Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles on Dec. 6), former Stockton Thunder left wing Liam Reddox (Edmonton on Dec. 7), former Gwinnett Gladiators left wing Colin Stuart (Atlanta on Dec. 29), former Columbus Chill, Richmond Renegades and Trenton Titans left wing Pete Vandermeer (Phoenix on Feb. 10), former San Diego goaltender Tyler Weiman (Colorado on Oct. 4), former Charlotte Checkers right wing Craig Weller (Phoenix on Oct. 4) and former Phoenix RoadRunners center Daniel Winnik (Phoenix Coyotes on Oct. 4).

205 former ECHL players have played their first game in the NHL in the past seven seasons .

Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2006-07, including two who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji played for Reading and Los Angeles while defenseman Bryan Young skated for Stockton and Edmonton. Dave McKee played for Augusta and dressed for five games as the backup goaltender for Stanley Cup champion Anaheim.

Record 51 former ECHL players played their first NHL game in 2005-06.

ECHL has been represented on last seven Stanley Cup champions.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League, marking the seventh consecutive season that it has had affiliations with 20 or more teams in the AHL.

ECHL has been represented on last 18 Calder Cup champions.

In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.
ECHL and its member teams contributed nearly $3 million for charity and relief funds in 2006-07.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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