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Milwaukee Admirals

Noel to Return as Admirals Head Coach

August 16, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release


Milwaukee, WI- The Milwaukee Admirals announced today that Claude Noel will return for his fourth season as the team's head coach.

Noel has led the Admirals to three years of unprecedented success, including two trips to the Calder Cup Finals and a championship in 2004. In those three seasons he has accumulated an impressive 142-69-18-11 record, good for a .652 winning percentage. During his tenure the Admirals became just the third team in American Hockey League history to post 100 or more points in three straight seasons.

The Kirkland, ON native was selected as the AHL's coach of the year in 03-04 after he led the Ads to the league's best regular season record and the Calder Cup Title, the only championship in team history. In addition, the team's 49 wins in 2005-06 were the second most in Admirals' history, while the 21 regulation losses set a franchise mark for the fewest in one campaign.

Noel has spent eight of the last nine seasons in the Brew City, first as an assistant coach under Dave Allison from 1998-2002 and then as head coach beginning in the 03-04 season. Noel spent the 02-03 season as head coach for the Toledo Storm of the ECHL where he picked up the league's Coach of the Year honors.

Over the course of his coaching and playing career, Noel has been both foe and friend to the Admirals, starting when he led the Toledo Goaldiggers to the IHL Championship over the Ads in 1982-83. That season marked the last time Milwaukee qualified for a league championship series before he was named coach. In 1987-88 Noel finished his playing career with the Admirals, notching eight goals and 34 assists, before heading into the coaching ranks full time.

Noel's first coaching experience came in Austria where he was a player-head coach during the 1983-84 season. Following his return as a player in the late 1980's, he was named head coach of the Roanoke-Valley Rebels (ECHL) in 1990. The following year, he was named head coach and director of hockey operations for the league's Dayton Bombers and recorded two consecutive winning seasons (67-49-0-12).

He made the jump to the International Hockey League as an assistant coach with the Kalamazoo Wings in 1993 and replaced eventual Dallas Stars Stanley Cup Champion Head Coach Ken Hitchcock behind the Kalamazoo bench as the Wings bench boss in 1996. Noel continued in that capacity through the 1997-98 season before coming to Milwaukee.

The Admirals open the 2006-07 on Saturday, October 7th at 7:30 pm versus the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. Individual tickets will go on sale in mid-September. Season tickets for the 2006-07 season are on sale now starting at just $135. For more information or to order season tickets fans can call the Admirals office at (414) 227-0550.

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