Idaho Steelheads head coach Derek Laxdal was named the ECHL's Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
The ECHL named Steelheads head coach Derek Laxdal the Coach of the Year on Tuesday. Laxdal, who led Idaho to a 48-17-7 record this season, has been behind the bench for the Steelheads for the last five years. He’s been a successful coach in the ECHL for years, but this is the first time he’s been honored with the John Brophy Award as the top coach in the league.
Laxdal and the Steelheads are currently awaiting a winner from the first round playoff matchup of Las Vegas and Utah. Their first playoff game will be April 16th.
The league release about the award is below:
PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL on Tuesday announced that Derek Laxdal of the Idaho Steelheads is the 2009-10 recipient of the John Brophy Award as the league’s Coach of the Year.
The John Brophy Award is the trophy presented annually to the ECHL coach selected to have contributed the most to his team’s success as selected in a vote of league coaches. The trophy is named for John Brophy, who won a record three ECHL titles with Hampton Roads in 1991, 1992 and 1998 and was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame in 2009.
Cail MacLean of the South Carolina Stingrays was the runner-up.
The winner of the Defenseman of the Year award will be announced on Wednesday.
Laxdal led the Steelheads to a 48-17-7 record, setting team records for most wins and most points in a season, while also capturing the team’s first Brabham Cup as ECHL regular-season champion.
In his fifth season behind the Steelheads bench, Laxdal is 217-108-35 in the regular season and 19-14 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. He guided the team to its second Kelly Cup Championship in 2007, defeating Dayton in five games. The 44 year old coached Wichita in the Central Hockey League for two-and-a-half seasons from 2003-05 after spending two-and-a-half years as an assistant coach with Odessa of the CHL from 2001-03. In his first full season in 2003-04, Wichita was 35-24-5 and reached the playoffs for the first time in four years, upsetting the top seed in the first round and reaching the conference finals.
Laxdal began his coaching career in the ECHL as a player-assistant coach for Roanoke in 1994-95 where he had 56 points (32g-24a) in 66 regular-season games and six points (2g-4a) in eight playoff games. Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the eighth round, 151st overall, in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, Laxdal played 17 professional seasons, including parts of five seasons in the National Hockey League with Toronto and the New York Islanders, tallying 19 points (12g-7a) in 67 regular-season games and two points (0g-2a) in one Stanley Cup Playoff game.
John Brophy Award Winners (ECHL Coach of the Year)
2009-10 Derek Laxdal, Idaho Steelheads
2008-09 Rick Kowalsky, Trenton Devils
2007-08 Chuck Weber, Cincinnati Cyclones
2006-07 Davis Payne, Alaska Aces
2005-06 Glen Gulutzan, Las Vegas Wranglers
2004-05 Nick Vitucci, Toledo Storm
2003-04 Pat Bingham, Wheeling Nailers
2002-03 Claude Noel, Toledo Storm
2001-02 Dave Farrish, Louisiana Ice Gators
2000-01 Troy Ward, Trenton Titans
1999-00 Bob Ferguson, Florida Everblades
1998-99 Bob Ferguson, Florida Everblades
1997-98 Chris Nilan, Chesapeake IceBreakers
1996-97 Brian McCutcheon, Columbus Chill
1995-96 Roy Sommer, Richmond Renegades
1994-95 Jim Playfair, Dayton Bombers
1993-94 Barry Smith, Knoxville Cherokees
1992-93 Kurt Kleinendorst, Raleigh IceCaps
1991-92 Doug Sauter, Winston-Salem Thunderbirds
1990-91 Don Jackson, Knoxville Cherokees
1989-90 Dave Allison, Virginia Lancers
1988-89 Ron Hansis, Erie Panthers
