Saturday, September 17, 2011

NHL Veteran Returns to Coach Musketeers

Press Release

Sioux City Musketeers Head Coach and General Manager Brett Larson announced the hiring of former Musketeer and long-time National Hockey League goaltender John Grahame as the team's new Goaltending Coach.

Grahame is recently retired as a player after playing his final professional season with the Lake Erie Monsters in 2010-11, American Hockey League affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche. The Denver, Colorado native played 20 games for the Musketeers under Head Coach Dave Lohrei during the 1993-94 season.

"We are thrilled to bring John on as our goaltending coach," said Larson. "Not only does he bring a wealth of experience with 14 years as a professional goaltender, but he has ties to the Musketeer organization as a player. It's a great fit and he will help our goaltenders tremendously."

While Larson and Grahame had no connections previously, the Musketeers had a need for the position after the departure of Assistant Coach and former goaltender Cam Ellsworth while Grahame was looking to begin his coaching career.

"It was just a situation where Brett was looking for a goalie coach," said Grahame, who won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04. "With my ties here when I played for Sioux City a long time ago, and with my personal situation where I was looking to retire and explore other opportunities to start the second phase of my career, it was just a perfect fit and perfect timing. It worked out great."

Grahame, who is accompanying Sioux City on its preseason road trip to Duluth, Minnesota to familiarize himself with the staff and the players, plans on "being here about once a month, likely eight, nine times throughout the season depending on how things go…and hopefully get as much work in as I can when I am here."

As for his past with the Musketeers, like so many others, Grahame said his year in Sioux City was critical for his development both on and off the ice. And it was a major reason why Larson's offer was so attractive.

"Honestly, I always tell people the year I was here in Sioux City in '93-'94 was one of the better years I had as a player even now so many years later," said Grahame, who finished his NHL career with 224 games played, 97 wins, and 12 shutouts. "It was just always good memories, good people…we had a pretty good team so that made it even better. I think everything I did for the remainder of my career, this was kind of the starting point of my development where everything started to get rolling for me so I always had good memories of my experience here. That's what made it so appealing to come back and start my coaching career here."

As a player, especially later in his career, Grahame saw the vast talent being produced by the USHL relative to the time he played when the league was still eight years away from becoming the country's only Tier 1 Junior League.

"It's great to see the growth of the League since when I played here. You see this big, new building here (Tyson Events Center) and it just shows how hockey has risen in this country. There are a lot of great players here in the U.S., a majority of them start here, and move on to great things so it's a good testament to the USHL."

"Being a player for 14 years, I'm going to try and put my knowledge and experience to good use, and try to pass that stuff on to younger kids and build a good coaching resume that will start right back here in the USHL."

In total, Grahame appeared in 443 NHL and AHL games over his career. He represented the United States internationally four times including one World Junior Championship, two World Championships, and one appearance at the Olympics in 2006.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

No comments: