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Veterans, Rookies Behind ECHL Benches

October 18, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


There will be plenty of experience behind the benches when the 17th ECHL season opens on Friday.

The most experienced bench boss is Greenville's John Marks, entering his seventh season with Greenville and his 12th as an ECHL head coach. Marks ranks first in ECHL seasons coached (12) and second in career games (774) and wins (382). The records for games (878) and wins (480) are held by legendary coach John Brophy, for whom the ECHL Coach of the Year Award is named. Marks and Brophy are the only two coaches to have won both the Jack C. Riley Cup, awarded to the ECHL postseason Champion from 1988-96, and the Patrick J. Kelly Cup. Marks coached Charlotte to the Riley Cup Championship in 1996 and led Greenville to the Kelly Cup in 2000.

John Olver returns to defend the Kelly Cup Championship with Idaho while his Finals opponent Gerry Fleming returns for a fourth season in Florida, after leading the team to three straight appearances in the postseason. The Steelheads become only the second team ever to win the championship in their first year in the league.

Pat Bingham is looking to repeat the success he had in 2003-04 in Wheeling, where under his guidance the team finished with 106 points and Bingham was named ECHL Coach of the Year. Mike Haviland returns to Trenton, where he served as an assistant coach from 1999-2001, after three years as head coach in Atlantic City, where he won the 2003 Kelly Cup Championship.

Two veteran coaches in the South Division have traded places with Dave Farrish being named head coach in Pensacola and Todd Gordon becoming head coach in Louisiana. Farrish led Louisiana to the postseason each of the previous four seasons while Gordon led Pensacola to three consecutive postseason appearances. The South Division also has Bob Woods, who has led Mississippi to three playoff berths and two conference finals in the past three years, and Gwinnett's Jeff Pyle, who will look to improve on last season's trip to the Conference Finals.

Three coaches make their ECHL debuts this season. In Atlantic City, 28-year-old Matt Thomas takes over after working as an assistant under Haviland the past two years. Thomas is the youngest active head coach in the ECHL. Martin St. Amour takes the helm in San Diego after four seasons as an assistant coach, and. Brian Maxwell will lead Victoria, the first ECHL team outside the United States. Maxwell coached 11 seasons in the Western Hockey League, winning two Memorial Cups.

Davis Payne returns to Alaska, which swept Brabham Cup Champion San Diego in the Pacific Division Semifinals. Malcolm Cameron takes over in Long Beach after splitting last season between Columbus of the United Hockey League and Corpus Christi of the Central Hockey League. Marty Raymond is in his first full season in Bakersfield, after taking over for the final 17 games of 2003-04.

The ECHL's Most Valuable Player and leading scorer in 1990-91 with Knoxville, Stan Drulia returns to Augusta for his second season. Jason Fitzsimmons, who has had a hand in winning the Kelly Cup with South Carolina as a player in 1997 and as an assistant coach in 2001, is back for his third season as head coach of the Stingrays. Columbia's Scott White also returns for a fourth season, having led the Inferno to the postseason each of the previous three years and the Kelly Cup Finals in 2003. Perry Florio hopes to return Pee Dee to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in his second season. Derek Wilkinson will try to do the same in his first full season as head coach of Charlotte.

In Dayton, Don MacAdam will pilot the Bombers this year, after purchasing the club during the offseason with business partner Costa Papista. Toledo's Nick Vitucci, who has won a record five ECHL championships (four as a player and one as an assistant coach), will be his first full season behind the bench for the Storm. Derek Clancey returns for a second season in Reading after advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals in the first-ever postseason appearance for the Royals.

Jason Christie looks to take Peoria to the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the ninth straight season and the fifth during his tenure. In Johnstown, third-year head coach Toby O'Brien looks to help the Chiefs continue the upward trend that included their first playoff appearance under his leadership.

Also entering his first full season is Fresno's Greg Spenrath, who took over behind the Falcons bench during 2003-04. Glen Gulutzan returns to Las Vegas, having led the expansion Wranglers to the Kelly Cup Playoffs in his first season as a head coach after four years in Fresno as a player assistant. Robert Dirk, who won the Coach of the Year award in the United Hockey League in 1997-98, returns for his second season in Texas.

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