 |
| (above) Former DU assistant coach Derek Lalonde broke a USHL coaching record last Friday night |
With a victory over the Youngstown Phantoms this past Friday, Green Bay Gamblers head coach Derek Lalonde recorded his 42nd victory surpassing Eric Rud (41) for most wins by a first year head coach in USHL history.
Lalonde became just the fifth coach in USHL history to lead a team to the Anderson Cup [best USHL regular season record] in the first season behind the bench in the League. The last coach to accomplish that feat was Jon Cooper with the Green Bay Gamblers during the 2008-09 season. Lalonde is also only the second coach in USHL history to reach the 40-win mark in his first season, following Eric Rud who won 41 games last season with the Gamblers.
“It is a great honor to have accomplished these feats in my first season with the amount of great coaches that have coached in the USHL,” said Derek Lalonde, “I certainly benefited from coming into a great organization where a lot of the good pieces were already in place.”
Prior to coming to the Gamblers, Lalonde spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Denver. While at Denver, Lalonde assisted in all aspects with the DU program, including recruiting, video breakdown, goaltending and skill development. Lalonde helped the Pioneers to two WCHA Championships (2008 & 2010), four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 122-63-19 record in five seasons as assistant coach.
While at DU, Lalonde helped recruit six nationally-ranked recruiting classes. He recruited 11 NHL draft picks, including first round picks Beau Bennett and Joe Colborne. Lalonde also recruited second round selections Jason Zucker, Patrick Wiercioch, Drew Shore and William Wrenn, and non-drafted recruits Tyler Bozak and Anthony Maiani.
Currently the Gamblers are three wins shy of their team record 45 victories which was set during their 2009-10 Anderson Cup-winning season. They are also nine points shy of the team record 95 points they earned in the standings in 2009-10.
DU recruits Dakota Mermis [5g, 18a] and Grant Arnold [5g, 8a] plays for LaLonde on the Green Bay squad.
DU recruits Dakota Mermis [5g, 18a] and Grant Arnold [5g, 8a] plays for LaLonde on the Green Bay squad.
4 comments:
Congrats Derek.
I really appreciated while he was at DU that he would make time and fill me in on some of the inner workings of the team and the WCHA.
Super guy and very accessible.
When Gwoz finally hangs 'em up, I would not be surprised to see Lalonde back behind the bench at Magness....
Where's mini me?
Great guy with a great haircut. I knew he was way too talented to be an assistant. I wouldn't be surprised to see him going Ontario or AHL bench boss one day. Remember Marc Cheverie? You can thank Derek for that. Oh; and for Britt too
Post a Comment