Tag Archives: Kevin Patrick

That Heat…

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Just a few minutes ago, I was going through some old notes when I noticed something which happened a year ago today.

What happened was Jason Herter leaving the Fargo Force for Minnesota-Duluth to become an assistant. Herter’s departure opened the door for John Marks, who led the Force to a second-round playoff appearance.

And of course a year to the day, the Indiana Ice hire a new head coach, Ron Gay.

Pretty interesting given what’s gone on in the last year with USHL coaches. Let’s use May 22, 2011 as a starting date. Since then, 12 of the league’s franchises have replaced their head coaches.

No joke. Here’s the proof of what every team has done with its coaching situation.

In the Eastern Conference:

-Green Bay Gamblers: The Gamblers replaced Eric Rud, who left for his alma mater, Colorado College with Denver assistant Derek Lalonde. Lalonde, in his debut season, leads the team to one of the USHL’s greatest ever seasons and a Clark Cup title.

-Indiana Ice: Technically, they’ve gone through three coaches and four coaching changes in the last year. Charlie Skjodt was the team’s head coach when the season ended before he returned to the front office. The Ice hired Yale assistant Kyle Wallack, who was fired shortly before the playoffs. Skjodt returned to the bench and then the team hired Gay.

-Dubuque Fighting Saints: Former Maine great Jim Montgomery remains the team’s head coach. But here’s where it’s really interesting. He just finished his second season and he’s already the third most-tenured coach in the league. Interpret that one however you want.

-Youngstown Phantoms: Curtis Carr left the team late in the summer to become an assistant at Merrimack. Days later the team promoted assistant Anthony Noreen, who led the Phantoms to fourth in Eastern Conference.

-Cedar Rapids RoughRiders: Here’s the second team which hasn’t made a coaching change. It may never look that way either as Carlson has been there for 12 seasons and has a partial stake in the team’s ownership. Carlson, a former Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick, has won everything imaginable from the Clark Cup to the Anderson Cup to the USHL’s Coach of the Year during his time in Cedar Rapids. He also led this year’s team to the playoffs, something he’s done every year he has been in the league.

-NTDP: USA Hockey lost Ron Rolston last season to the Rochester Americans (AHL), which is an affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. It resulted in the team hiring Don Granato. The NTDP also lost Kurt Kleinendorst and replaced him with Danton Cole. The program made the USHL Playoffs for a second straight season.

-Chicago Steel: The 2010-11 season wasn’t kind to the Steel, as the franchise suffered through a 9-43-8 season, easily one the worst in any realm of junior hockey in the last few years. It’s what led to the dismissal of Jon Waibel and the promotion of Scott McConnell. McConnell was made the team’s full-time head coach last summer. In his first full season, he led the Steel to a 25-31-4 mark and were just three points out of the playoffs.

-Muskegon Lumberjacks: Former Wisconsin assistant Kevin Patrick was among the 2011-12 season’s first coaching casualties. The team hired former NHL toughman Jim McKenzie, who had no previous junior experience. McKenzie and the Lumberjacks, despite improvement, still finished last in the Eastern Conference.

 

In the Western Conference:

-Lincoln Stars: Another weird case of the fluidity of this league. Stars coach Chad Johnson just finished his second year and he’s No. 4 in the league among tenured coaches.

-Omaha Lancers: Omaha got the trend going early in the 2011-12 season when it fired longtime USHL coach Bliss Littler. He was replaced by Mike Aikens, who led the team to a second-place finish during the regular season. Aikens signed an extension during the season.

-Waterloo Black Hawks: Behind Carlson, P.K. O’Handley is No. 2 when it comes to tenured coaches. He just finished this 10th season with the Black Hawks leading them to a Clark Cup Finals appearance. Like Carlson, O’Handley has won virtually every trophy a coach could win and when it comes to wins, ranks in the Top 10 all time.

-Fargo Force: Hiring Marks gave the Force their fourth coach in as many seasons. Marks, who is the sixth-most tenured coach in the league, already said he will stay this season and looks forward to a second year in Fargo.

-Sioux City Musketeers: Larson is technically the man who started the trend. He was hired May 22 by the Musketeers. He was at Minnesota-Duluth as an assistant. His departure resulted in the Bulldogs hiring Herter and the Force hiring Marks.

-Tri-City Storm: The team replaced Drew Schoneck with Josh Hauge during the middle of the year. Hauge led the Storm to a first-round appearance where they lost to eventual Western Conference champs, Waterloo. Even with an early exit, Tri-City returns all but six players and has what could be considered the strongest affiliates list in the USHL.

-Des Moines Buccaneers: Turmoil more or less blanketed the Bucs this season. Off-ice issues coupled with losing is what led to Regg Simon being fired. He was replaced in the off-season by Gamblers assistant Jon Rogger.

-Sioux Falls Stampede: Maybe no team has undergone more changes in the off-season than the Stampede. They fired longtime head coach Kevin Hartzell and in the span of a week, hired former North Dakota assistant Cary Eades. Eades oversaw the team’s Entry Draft and heads into next season with at least 15 returning players from the 2011-12 team.

Shake It Up…

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By now we’re all aware the Indiana Ice fired coach Kyle Wallack on Monday, a week before the USHL playoffs start.

As it stands, it appears Indiana will walk into the postseason with the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye. Maybe that gives interim head coach Charlie Skjodt, who coached the team last year, some more time to work with the team.

Coaching turnover has always been considered normal given this is a league used to feed college or in the case of former NTDP coach Ron Rolston, a professional organization.

Eleven of the league’s 16 teams since April 9, 2011 have replaced their coaches due to coaches moving on to another position or because their teams have made firings. The five clubs with no changes are Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Lincoln, Sioux Falls and Waterloo.

Wallack’s dismissal marks the sixth time this season a USHL franchise has fired its coach. Some wonder what affect will this latest move will have on a team which could go far in the post-season.

No one knows but what we do know is how the other moves worked out. Here’s a look back at the team’s that made changes behind the bench and what’s happened so far:

-Omaha Lancers:

Fired: Bliss Littler

Replaced With: Mike Aikens

The Result: Omaha comes into this weekend a point out of first place in the West and are  guaranteed a first-round bye if they win this weekend. It it is a major turnaround compared to how the season started. Omaha had trouble scoring goals relying on a young defense and a rookie goaltender to win games. Thanks to some moves and trades – actually made by Littler – this team appears geared to go the distance in the playoffs.

 

-Tri-City Storm:

Fired: Drew Schoneck

Replaced With: Josh Hauge

The Result: Hauge helped Tri-City make up some ground as they’ve clinched a playoff spot where they will either play Waterloo or Fargo in the first round. Hauge’s wide-open style of hockey has seen the Storm get wins over squads like the Force to name a few. A stronger offensive style accompanied by goaltender Adam Wilcox (Tampa Bay/Minnesota) makes this team a likable option to pull off either a first-round upset or at least a first-round heartattack.

 

-Muskegon Lumberjacks

Fired: Kevin Patrick

Replaced With: Jim McKenzie

The Result: Muskegon still suffered through a tough year but did show some signs of a turnaround. It seems like every time they play the Green Bays of the world, they do not look bad by any means. McKenzie’s real test will come this off-season when he tries to build a team through the drafts.

 

-Des Moines Buccaneers

Fired: Regg Simon

Replaced With: Graham Johnson (interim)

The Result: Simon’s firing came not that long ago so its really hard to say long-term what the impact will be. But for now, a 12-game losing streak isn’t exactly a good thing and considering Omaha and Indiana, which play Des Moines this weekend, have something to prove it could be a while before this streak is snapped.

 

-Indiana Ice

Fired: Kyle Wallack

Replaced With: Charlie Skjodt

The Result: At least with Skjodt, you get someone who is familiar with the inner workings of the franchise, the Eastern Conference and the playoffs. What happens in the playoffs remains to be seen.

Fall…

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Forward and NHL Draft hopeful Jordan Masters (New Hampshire) was dismissed from the Muskegon Lumberjacks late last week, according to the Muskegon Chronicle (Mich.)

Masters was in his second season with the team and was dismissed for a violation of team rules, the team told the Chronicle. Masters had 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists) in 31 games this season. He was tied for sixth on the team in points.

His departure just adds to what has been season filled with turbulence for the Lumberjacks.

Muskegon, which is in its second season, came into the year with playoff expectations considering its roster was filled with players such as Masters plus defensemen Kevin Schulze (Wisconsin) and Nick Seeler (Nebraska-Omaha/Minnesota). Throw in forwards Ryan Lomberg (Maine) and NHL Draft hopeful Matt DeBlouw (Michigan State) into the mix yet Muskegon stumbled out of the gate losing five of its first six games by a margin of 34-16 and had a hard time trying to rebound.

Then the team tried to change the roster only to be left with potentially the most transactions of any team in the league.

Including Masters, the team has traded or released 10 players with at least 12 games this season. Some of those players include Seeler, who was traded a few days before the USHL Trade Deadline to Des Moines for affiliates list player and Blaine (MN-HS) defenseman Michael Brodzinski (Minnesota).

Brodzinski, a junior, was asked recently by Slightly Chilled about his plans for next season and he said they were unknown.

Another player the Lumberjacks lost was Schulze who was traded to Omaha and has helped the team emerge into the Western Conference leader and one of the league’s strongest powers this season.

Moving wasn’t restricted to just players with the team also firing former Wisconsin assistant coach Kevin Patrick. Patrick was fired by the team on Jan. 13 and was replaced by former NHL toughman Jim McKenzie, who prior to this season had no previous junior coaching experience.

The team announced on the same day it had also hired legendary Michigan State coach Ron Mason as a senior advisor.

Muskegon, despite keeping games closer, is 3-9 since it hired McKenzie and travels today to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the NTDP’s U-17 team.

Whatever the future may hold for Masters it will not involve the USHL this season. The deadline to add players passed earlier in the month meaning Masters would have to spend the rest of the season at home and could return to the league next season unless he opts to enter New Hampshire.

The 5-11, 160-pound Masters came to Muskegon also with a lot of promise considering he represented USA Hockey at the Five Nations Tournament in 2010, his first season with the team. He helped Team USA win a gold medal at the tournament before scoring 11 points in 47 games last season.

Masters’ last game, according to Pointstreak, was Feb. 11 against Indiana. On Feb. 10 against Youngstown, he scored a goal giving him five points in his last nine games.

Tourniquet…

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If the Muskegon Lumberjacks have a plan to rebound from a poor first-half of the season and make the playoffs, it doesn’t involve coach Kevin Patrick.

He was fired by the team Friday morning following a meeting with team owner and CEO Josh Mervis.

The former Wisconsin assistant, in just his second year with the team, was let go after the Lumberjacks stumbled out the gate to a 9-14-2 record, the second worst in the Eastern Conference and the entire USHL.

“It was a difficult decision to make as Kevin helped build our organization when the Lumberjacks first became a part of the USHL,” Mervis said in a statement. “The team was not having the results we needed and it was time to move in a new direction.”

Patrick was replaced by former NHL tough man Jim McKenzie. McKenzie, 42, spent 13 season in the NHL playing 880 regular season games collecting more than 1,700 penalty minutes. He won the Stanley Cup in 2003 with the New Jersey Devils.

McKenzie will coach the team while Mervis will assume the franchise’s general manager responsibilities.

The Lumberjacks have also added former Michigan State head coach Ron Mason as a senior advisor to the team. Mason is the all-time winningest coach in college hockey having amassed 924 victories while coaching at Lake Superior State, Bowling Green and Michigan State where he coached for 23 seasons. He made 21 NCAA Tournament appearances with the Spartans and won a national title in 1986.

Rumors started circulating early Thursday morning about Patrick’s firing.

Patrick, 41, becomes the third USHL coach to be fired this season. Omaha became the first team to make a change behind the bench when it fired Bliss Littler. Since Littler was fired, the Lancers have propelled to the top of the Western Conference standings and have stayed there.

Tri-City followed suit not long after letting go of coach Drew Schoneck. The team replaced him with assistant Josh Hauge, who helped the Storm win four out of five after he was promoted.

Hauge has the Storm two points out of the last playoff spot despite being in the Western Conference cellar.

As for Patrick, this wasn’t the start many had expected for the Lumberjacks.

Muskegon, which made the playoffs in its first season as an expansion franchise, returned seven players from last season’s team and also had solid incoming talent which was headlined by second-year forward Matt DeBlouw (Michigan State), who was ranked as the No. 37 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting in its mid-term rankings.

Even with DeBlouw, who only has 10 points in 23 games this season, the Lumberjacks have struggled offensively this season. They’ve scored 66 goals this year, the second worst in the entire league. Only Sioux Falls (60 goals) has scored fewer times than Muskegon.

Muskegon’s leading scorer John Padulo only has 18 points this season making him the 44th leading scorer in the USHL.

A slumping offense, the fifth-worst defense combined with a league-high in penalty minutes has certainly put the Lumberjacks in a hard position when it comes to getting away from the bottom of the league in the hopes of landing a playoff spot.

They’ve only played 25 games in the league’s 60-game schedule and heading into the weekend, they were five points out of the last playoff spot currently held by USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program.

Muskegon gets a chance to narrow that margin with four consecutive home games but three of those games all come against teams (Green Bay and two games against the NTDP) with records over .500.

Patrick, prior to taking over Muskegon, was an assistant at Wisconsin where he coached for five seasons. In his first year with the program, he was part of a national title winning team which won 30 games.

He was also an assistant at Bowling Green and Union College prior to his stint in Madison.

Patrick played college hockey at Notre Dame for four seasons where he was a defenseman. He captained the Irish for two seasons.

He spent one season in the minor leagues before breaking into coaching. His first job was at Deerfield Academy.