Tag Archives: ECHL

More black coaches begin their climb up pro hockey’s ladder in the 2018-19 season

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

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The minority coaching tree in professional hockey is growing more branches.

Nearly half a dozen teams, from the minor leagues to the National Hockey League, have hired coaches of color ahead of the 2018-19 season.

“There’s always been a growth of people of color in hockey,”  former minor league player Jason Payne told me recently. “It was just a matter of time that guys who were playing elevated into coaching.”

Former minor league pro hockey player Jason Payne is a new assistant coach for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.

The Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL named Payne its newest assistant coach earlier this week. The job is a homecoming of sorts for Payne, who was a forward for the American Hockey League’s Cincinnati Mighty Ducks and the ECHL’s Dayton Bombers in the 1999-2000 season.

“I had the privilege of playing in Cincinnati, and I know how much this city and these fans don’t just love – but live sports,” said Payne, 43. “Along with (Head Coach) Matt Thomas, we look forward to being a hard-working, skilled team, and helping shape these young prospects into the best players and people they can be in pursuit of their NHL dreams.”

And Payne hopes to join those prospects in the NHL someday as a coach.

“I’d love to coach in the NHL, it would be a great achievement,” he said. “To get there, you’ve got to pay your dues, earn your way there, show that you can work and grind it out. And that’s my goal: Work as hard as I can, the same thing I did as a player.”

Payne brings a hefty resume to the Cyclones, the farm team for the Buffalo Sabres and AHL Rochester Americans.

Cincinnati Cyclones Assistant Coach Jason Payne during his playing days with the ECHL Reading Royals (Photo/Courtesy Jason Payne).

He played professionally for 14 years in six different leagues, including 71 games in the AHL with the Mighty Ducks, Carolina Monarchs, Worcester IceCats, and St. John Flames. He also appeared in 132 ECHL games and 140 contests in the old United Hockey League.

A Toronto native, Payne served as player development coach for the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League and general manager of the Georgetown Raiders of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

He coached the Toronto Patriots of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Mississauga Sens AAA program. Payne also owns the Precision Skating School in Toronto.

“Jason will make an immediate impact with the Cyclones,” Thomas said. “He comes recommended by the Buffalo Sabres organization, and his energy, knowledge, and passion for the game will benefit our organization as a whole.”

Kahlil Thomas, a boyhood friend of Payne’s, was hired as an assistant coach for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits earlier this month.

Kahlil Thomas is an assistant coach of the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbitts and father of Niagara IceDogs forward Akil Thomas, a 2018 Los Angeles King second-round draft pick.

Thomas was a right wing who played nearly 700 games in nine pro leagues in three  countries. His U.S. stops included the old Central Hockey League’s Memphis RiverKings and Oklahoma City Blazers, the United Hockey League’s Flint Generals, and the Southern Professional Hockey League’s  Jacksonville Barracudas.

The 42-year-old Toronto native got into player development after retiring in 2008. He transitioned into a coach and general manager when he and his wife, Akilah, became part owners of the Oshawa RiverKings of the Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League.

The couple’s son, Akil Thomas, is a forward who was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the second round with the 51st overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

“Kahlil is a proven guy who has played pro, he has a winning pedigree, he has played on organizations that have won championships, and we decided from day one when we were building our organization that we wanted character people within our organization,” Swamp Rabbits Head Coach Kevin Kerr said. “Kahlil bleeds character. He loves to win. He’s all about development. He can help balance me out and make me a better coach, and I wanted to surround myself with good people who could push me.”

Kerr begins his first season in Greenville, South Carolina, after he coached the SPHL’s Macon Mayhem in Georgia in 2017-18.

The Mayhem replaced Kerr in May by promoting Assistant Coach Leo Thomas – Kahlil’s younger brother and Akil’s uncle – to head coach.

Leo Thomas is new head coach of the Macon Mayhem of the SPHL.

Leo Thomas is currently the only black head coach in professional hockey in North America. He played 13 seasons of professional hockey – including four seasons in the SPHL between the Pensacola Ice Flyers and Mississippi RiverKings.

He played 777 games between in seven pro leagues, tallying 260 goals, 299 assists.

Leo Thomas, 36, had hoped that his brother would join him on the Mayhem coaching staff, but Kerr grabbed him for Greenville instead.

Kerr also convinced Shawn Thorns, a Charleston, South Carolina, native who is one of the few black head equipment managers in professional hockey,  to leave the Mayhem for the Swamp Rabbits.

New Macon Mayhem Head Coach Leo Thomas enjoyed a long and high-scoring minor league hockey career.

“Kahlil and Kevin also played together back in the day and it just happened to work out,” Leo Thomas told me in an email. “I told Kahlil he should take the job for sure.  Haha actually equipment guy also left for Greenville, too.”

July saw two former NHL players join the pro coaching fraternity. The New Jersey Devils tapped retired right wing Mike Grier to be an assistant head coach.

A Detroit native, Grier played 1,060 NHL games as a right wing from 1996-97 to 2008-09 for the Edmonton Oilers, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, and San Jose Sharks.

Former NHL forward Mike Grier returns to the league as an assistant coach of the New Jersey Devils for the 2018-19 season (Photo/Courtesy Washington Capitals).

A 1993 St. Louis Blues ninth-round draft pick out of Boston University, Grier went on to score 162 goals, 221 assists and accumulate 510 penalty minutes in 1,060 NHL regular season games.

“He was a highly-respected teammate and had the ability to relate to all players with his personality, demeanor and experience,” Devils Head Coach John Hynes said in July. “These attributes will be valuable in communicating and developing our players, as we continue to build a strong culture.”

Grier joins a small group of coaches of color in the NHL that includes Scott Gomez of the New York Islanders, goalie coaches Sudarshan Maharaj of the Anaheim Ducks, and  Frantz Jean, of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Lightning video coach Nigel Kirwan.

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Former NHL tough guy forward Peter Worrell  hopes to make his way back to the NHL some day as a coach. He begins his trek this season as an assistant coach for the SPHL’s Fayetteville Marksmen.

Worrell accumulated more than 1,500 penalty minutes with the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche from 1997-98 to 2003-04.

“I contacted a lot of teams, in many leagues,” Worrell said. “When I first contacted the Marksmen and I talked to (Head Coach Jesse) Kallechy, it just felt right.”

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Coach John Brophy paid it forward, helped black hockey players in their careers

25 Wednesday May 2016

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When a lot of hockey people didn’t think Val James had the wherewithal to be a professional player, John Brophy did.

John Brophy (Photo/ Robert Shaver/Hockey Hall of Fame)

John Brophy (Photo/ Robert Shaver/Hockey Hall of Fame)

Brophy knew James had a hockey hunger because he saw it up close when Brophy was a fiery player for the Long Island Ducks and James was a youngster whose dad worked maintenance for the Long Island Arena, the barn where old Eastern Hockey League team played in the 1970s.

James’ dad had the keys to the arena, so young Val could skate whenever he liked. Brophy would watch James and his friends play in a local league at the arena and give them a little coaching.

“He thought I had the right stuff,” James told me recently. “I was just starting out so I wasn’t that much of a skater, or even a hockey player, for that matter. But he stuck with me and taught me a lot of things that did lead, eventually, to me going out and getting to where I got in hockey.”

John Duncan Brophy, a colorful career minor-league player who went on to become North America’s second winningest professional hockey coach, passed away earlier this week at the age of 83 following a lengthy illness.

Brophy is hockey history.  His 1,027 wins is second only to Hockey Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman’s 1,224 victories. He accumulated a record 3,822 penalty minutes in an EHL playing career that spanned from 1955 to 1973.

He’s the only ECHL coach to lead a team, the Hampton Road Admirals, to three championships.

The two-fisted Brophy was dubbed as the “Godfather of  Goonery” and was thought to be Paul Newman’s inspiration for the goon-it-up player/coach Reggie Dunlop in the seminal hockey movie “Slap Shot.”

But Brophy is also black hockey history. He helped steer the careers of James, a tough-guy forward who became the National Hockey League’s first U.S.-born black player, and Bill Riley, who was the NHL’s third black player behind Willie O’Ree and Mike Marson.

Forward Val James, who became the NHL's first U.S.-born black player when he joined the Buffalo Sabres in 1981-82, said John Brophy treated him like a son.

Forward Val James, who became the NHL’s first U.S.-born black player when he joined the Buffalo Sabres in 1981-82, said John Brophy treated him like a son.

“Broph, he didn’t see color,” James said. “As a matter of fact, he and my dad were friends. To see them talk to each other, you’d swear they were enemies, but they were actually really good friends. Broph was always swearing – he couldn’t talk without swearing. My dad would be swearing back. You’d look at them and you’d say, ‘man, these guys are about to go’ and then they’d be laughing it up.”

Val James and Brophy also struck up a friendship rooted in mutual respect. When he coached in the American Hockey League, Brophy didn’t hesitate in sending out his enforcer to battle James, who was regarded as one of hockey’s most-feared fighters.

He also thought highly enough of James to add him to his St. Catharines Saints AHL squad in 1985-86. James rewarded Brophy’s faith with 3 assists and 162 penalty minutes in 80 games.

When Brophy coached the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2 1/2 seasons, he called James up from the minors for four games in 1986-87 to add toughness to the team. He responded with 14 penalty minutes in those games.

When James was working on his autobiography, “Black Ice: The Val James Story,” he sought out Brophy in 2013 for his recollections.

“He said to me ‘All the years you played with me, for me, against me, I had nothing but the best in mind for you and, you know what,  you performed better than I ever expected,'”  James told me. “‘I just wanted to let you know that you are one of my boys.’ I was very emotionally overtaken by that. He treated me like a son.”

Many players viewed Brophy as a tyrant –  a white-haired, red-face temperamental task-master with a fondness for bag skates and yelling until he was hoarse.

But James saw Brophy’s rough ways as tough love from one of hockey’s best teachers. Still, he was an acquired taste: Think Bobby Knight in basketball or Billy Martin in baseball.

“He made sure I did things right,” James said. “If I didn’t get things right, he’d explain it to me, maybe not the way a regular person would – he’d be screaming a lot – but that’s  ‘Broph.'”

Bill Riley, the NHL's third black player, had his pro career extended when John Brophy got him a contract to play for Nova Scotia in the AHL.

Bill Riley, the NHL’s third black player, had his pro career extended when John Brophy got him a contract to play for Nova Scotia in the AHL.

Riley, who was a forward for the Washington Capitals in the 1970s, skated for Brophy’s Voyageurs toward the end of his playing career in 1983-84. Brophy made Riley team captain and the player responded with 24 goals and 24 assists in 78 AHL games.

“Not only did he give me a contract, he paid me $5,000 more than what I was making in Moncton and he didn’t have to do that,” Riley said at a 2013 event in Amherst, Nova Scotia honoring his hockey accomplishments. “He really, really took care of me.”

Riley went into coaching and found himself going up against Brophy in a crucial minor league contest.

“We needed one point to clinch first place overall, and John didn’t give us anything. He played us hard, right to the wire,” Riley recalled. “I think the game ended up 3-3. When I got the point and the game was over, John looked over at me and saluted me.  I considered that one of the greatest honors in hockey.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hockey is for Everyone” is managing to build good people and good hockey players

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Listen to National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman or anyone else connected with the league’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative and they’ll tell you that its goal is to build good people over building good hockey players.

“As nice as it would be to have graduates of these programs actually play in college (or the pros), the fact that there are children in these programs who stay in school and go to college is more important than whether or not they’re actually still playing because to me this is about life’s lessons,” Bettman told me in 2011.

But it seems that “Hockey is for Everyone” is doing both. Designed to expose boys and girls from all backgrounds to hockey and use the sport as a tool to encourage them to thrive in school, the more than 30 programs under the “Hockey is for Everyone” umbrella are also doing a pretty decent job of producing players good enough to skate for college hockey teams at all levels – and beyond.

Detroit Hockey Association alum Cameron Burt earned a scholarship to RIT...

Detroit Hockey Association alum Cameron Burt earned a scholarship to RIT…

Over the years, several graduates of “Hockey is for Everyone” programs and its precursor NHL Diversity initiative have made it onto NCAA hockey rosters, college and university club hockey teams, minor league squads, and even to the NHL for a hot minute.

“Hockey’s been good to me,” Cameron Burt, a defenseman for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades told me recently. “It’s gotten me to places I would have never gone.”

Indeed, hockey has taken Burt a long way since the day his mother enrolled him in the Detroit Hockey Association. The instruction and nurturing the program provided helped land him a hockey scholarship at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which in turn helped him embark on a professional career that he hopes will lead to a spot in the NHL.

“It was good for me,” Burt said of his DHA experience. “I still look back at pictures of me playing in early years. It gave us an outlet to do something different. It was something that was ours right there in the city and no one could take it away from us. It was the best place for me to start.”

...which helped launch Burt's pro career. He's a defenseman for the ECHL's Florida Everblades (Photo/Al Larson).

…which helped launch Burt’s pro career. He’s a defenseman for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades (Photo/Al Larson).

Burt has two goals and 15 assists in 22 games for the Everblades this season. He tallied 43 goals and 95 assists in four seasons at Division I Rochester from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The 2009-10 season was especially sweet for Burt because RIT played in the NCAA Frozen Four tournament, held that year in hometown Detroit at Ford Field.

About 173 miles separate Estero, Fla., home of Burt’s Everblades, and Orlando, Fla., the new home of Tarasai Karega, yet the distance in the Sunshine State can’t melt the ties that bind the two hockey players.

Like Burt, Karega got her hockey start with the Detroit Hockey Association, where the the two developed a friendship. Like Burt, hockey provided a collegiate path for Karega.

She attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, where she was a standout for the NCAA Division III Lord Jeffs. She was named first team New England Small College Athletic Conference in 2006-07 as a sophomore and notched 61 goals and 51 assists in 110 games during her collegiate career while maintaining a 3.34 grade-point average.

Detroit Hockey Association grad Tarasai Karega, right, earned an NCAA title with Amherst College.

Detroit Hockey Association grad Tarasai Karega, right, earned an NCAA title with Amherst College.

In the 2008-09 season Karega became one of the first black women to win an NCAA hockey title when the Lord Jeffs won the Division III crown.

After college, Karega moved to Philadelphia where she served as hockey operations coordinator for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation, a “Hockey is for Everyone” affiliate created by the founder of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Today, she’s a  premium guest services representative for the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic. She still keeps up with hockey, attending ECHL Orlando Solar Bears games.

Gerald Coleman’s NHL career was fleeting – 43 minutes over two games in goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2005-06 – but significant nonetheless. He was the first NHL Diversity alum to play in the league.

Gerald Coleman played less than an hour over 2 NHL games but his time in goal was historic.

Gerald Coleman played less than an hour over 2 NHL games but his time in goal was historic.

Coleman played in the program in Evanston, Ill., as a teenager while also playing for a AA travel team. Playing AA hockey was more challenging, Coleman said, but the NHL Diversity program provided him with a comfort zone from those who questioned why a 6-foot- five-inch black kid would want to play a predominantly white sport like hockey.

“I felt at home when I was with that group,” Coleman told me recently. “When I was playing with my travel team, I had racial slurs hurled against me from parents, from the kids. They always looked down upon me because I was different from everyone else.”

Coleman’s skill caught the attention of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. After three seasons in net for the major junior hockey team, the Lightning took Coleman in the seventh round with the 224th pick in the 2003 NHL Draft.

Coleman’s NHL stat line is scant – two games, 43 minutes, two goals against, 2.77 goals-against average, .882 save percentage – but he enjoyed a lengthy minor league hockey career. He spent nine seasons stopping pucks for 10 ECHL and American Hockey League teams.

“Even though I didn’t make it in the NHL, at least I made it a lot farther than I could have done in my life,” Coleman said.

Chronic hip problems forced Coleman to retire in August at the age of 29, but his career ended on a high note. He helped guide the Alaska Aces to ECHL’s Kelly Cup. Coleman’s hip pain helped inspire his post-playing career path – to become a physical therapist.

NHL Diversity alum Gerald Coleman finished his hockey career on top - winning the ECHL Kelly Cup in 2013-14.

NHL Diversity alum Gerald Coleman finished his hockey career on top – winning the ECHL Kelly Cup in 2013-14.

“I’m going to start going to school in January and I’m working at a rehab facility in Chicago. Over the last three years with my injuries, I was in  rehab for six months every  summer. I know the ins and outs of it. I know it could lead me back to hockey, if not coaching.”

Coleman, Karega, and Burt say they keep tabs on their old hockey programs and are proud to see “Hockey is for Everyone” alums continuing their progress educationally while keeping their passion for playing the game.

Elmira College hockey player and Fort Dupont alum Donnie Shaw III, left, helps out at his old rink.

Elmira College hockey player and Fort Dupont alum Donnie Shaw III, left, helps out at his old rink.

Four of Karega’s former charges from Snider Hockey are playing for college teams this season: Elizabeth and Kimberly Feeney on the University of Pennsylvania’s American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III club team; Alivia Bates at NCAA Division III Plymouth State University in New Hampshire; and Saidie Lopez on New Jersey’s Rowan University women’s hockey club.

Sixteen other Snider Hockey alums tried out for college club hockey teams at local Temple University, Drexel University and West Chester University.

Malik Garvin,  a forward who got his hockey start with New York’s Ice Hockey in Harlem, is enjoying his first season playing for Division III Western New England University in Massachusetts.

Devan Abercrombie, a former member of Washington’s Fort Dupont Hockey Club, is a freshman forward for St. Joseph University’s club hockey team in Philadelphia.

He’s attending St. Joe’s on a full four-year ride as a 2014 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient. The scholarship is awarded annually to academically-eligible “Hockey is for Everyone” participants.

Donnie Shaw III, another Fort Dupont alum and a 2013 NHL/Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholarship recipient, is a sophomore at Elmira College in New York and plays for the Soaring Eagles NCAA Division III junior varsity team.