AHL Syracuse Crunch

Ross Yates and Trent Cull Return Behind Crunch Bench

Published on June 10, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Syracuse Crunch News Release


Syracuse, NY (June 10, 2008) - The Syracuse Crunch announced today that the Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed Crunch head coach Ross Yates and assistant coach Trent Cull. As per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yates, 48, will be returning for his third season as head coach and ninth overall with the club. He served as assistant coach for six (6) seasons under current Columbus Blue Jackets assistant coach Gary Agnew from 2000-01 to 2005-06. Under his guidance over the last two seasons, the Crunch have gone 80-60-6-14, including a 46-26-2-6 mark this past season, the second best finish in the 14-year history of the franchise.

Before joining the Crunch prior to the 2000-01 season, Yates spent more than a decade as a player and coach in Europe. Most recently he served as the head coach of Hamburg, a member of the German Bundesliga. Yates has held four other head coaching positions in Europe in the 1990s, including stints in the German, Italian and Swiss Elite Leagues.

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Yates appeared in 7 NHL games with the Hartford Whalers in 1983-84, collecting 2 points (1g, 1a) and 4 penalty minutes. Yates also appeared in 261 AHL games as a player, amassing 106 goals, 189 assists and 171 penalty minutes with Binghamton (Whalers) and Rochester. He was awarded the Les Cunningham Award in 1982-83 as the AHL's league MVP.

Yates and his wife Laurie, have three children Jennifer (20), Patrick (17) and Trevor (13).

Cull, 34, will be returning for his third season as assistant coach. Before joining the Crunch, he served as an assistant coach for Guelph (OHL) from 2004-06.

A native of Georgetown, Ontario, the former defenseman appeared in 614 professional games for various teams in the AHL and the now defunct International Hockey League (IHL), collecting 28 goals, 79 assists and 1,615 penalty minutes.

Originally signed as a free agent by Toronto on June 4, 1994, Cull's best professional season was in 2000-01 as a member of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, when he netted 11 goals, 15 assists and 166 penalty minutes. He was a member of the Houston Aeros team that won the Turner Cup (IHL) in 1999-00 and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that went to the Calder Cup Finals in 2000-01.

Cull played his last two seasons in a Crunch uniform in 2002-03 and 2003-04, appearing in 98 games and notching 2 goals, 15 assists and 261 penalty minutes.

Cull and his wife Marcia have two children, Gabriel (4) and Wyatt (1).

Season tickets for the 2008-09 season are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the Crunch office at (315) 473- 4444 or by stopping by the Crunch office in the War Memorial at Oncenter.

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