Marcel Comeau
Born (1952-03-01) March 1, 1952 (age 72)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
OccupationIce hockey scout
EmployerWinnipeg Jets
Known forIce hockey coach & player
AwardsIHL Most Valuable Player (1981)
CHL Coach of the Year (1993)

Marcel Comeau (born March 1, 1952) is a Canadian ice hockey scout, and former player, coach, and National Hockey League team executive. He played eleven seasons in the International Hockey League (IHL), where he was the league's top scorer and won the IHL Most Valuable Player Award in 1981. He later coached in the Western Hockey League (WHL), winning two WHL Coach of the Year Awards, and a Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year Award. He also led Team Canada to a gold medal at the 1996 World Juniors, and later served as a team executive for the Atlanta Thrashers, and the Winnipeg Jets.

Early life

Marcel Comeau was born on March 1, 1952, in Edmonton, Alberta.[1][2] His parents, Emile and Anita Comeau, moved to Ponoka and operated the local Massey Ferguson retailer. He played minor ice hockey in town and attended Ponoka Composite High School. He played shortstop on the Ponoka Royals fast-pitch softball club as a youth, and played semi-professional softball in summers.[3]

Playing career

Comeau was a centreman during his playing career, listed at 6 feet (183 cm) and 165 pounds (75 kg) with a right-hand shot.[1][2] He began playing junior ice hockey with the Ponoka Stampeders, and was named the Alberta Junior Hockey League rookie of year in the 1970–71 season, and led the league with 42 goals scored.[3][4] He finished the 1970–71 season playing 11 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Canada Hockey League.[3] After one full season with Edmonton, he was drafted 148th overall by the Minnesota North Stars, in the tenth round of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft.[1][2]

Comeau never played in the National Hockey League, and spent eleven seasons playing with the Saginaw Gears in the International Hockey League (IHL).[1][4] He was named an IHL second-team all-star in the 1973–74 IHL season, and the 1977–78 IHL season.[4][5] Comeau led the league with 82 assists in the 1980–81 IHL season, led the league with 126 points and won the Leo P. Lamoureux Memorial Trophy as the top scorer, was named a first-team all-star, and won the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the IHL's most valuable player.[1][2][4][5] In the 1976–77 IHL season, Comeau and the Saginaw Gears finished first place overall in the league winning the Fred A. Huber Trophy, and won the playoffs to capture a Turner Cup title.[6][7] The team was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.[6][7]

Comeau finished his playing career with the Maine Mariners in the American Hockey League (AHL), with seven games during the 1982–83 AHL season playoffs.[1]

Coaching career

Comeau began his coaching career with the Saginaw Gears during the 1981–82 IHL season, and the 1982–83 IHL season, until the team folded, acting as the player-coach and general manager.[4][8] He became a full-time coach with the Calgary Wranglers for the 1983–84 WHL season.[4]

Comeau switched to the Saskatoon Blades for the 1984–85 WHL season, and stayed with the team for five seasons.[1] He led Saskatoon to improved records in three successive seasons, reaching the third round of the playoffs in the 1986–87 WHL season. Comeau led Saskatoon to 47 wins and the east division title in the 1987–88 WHL season, and was awarded the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the WHL Coach of the Year.[4][9] The Blades moved out of Saskatoon Arena during his fifth season, into the new Saskatchewan Place, and were scheduled to host the 1989 Memorial Cup.[9] Comeau led Saskatoon to second place in the east division with 42 wins, and into the third round of the 1988–89 WHL season playoffs.[9] At the 1989 Memorial Cup, Comeau's Blades won 5–3 over the Laval Titan, lost 3–2 to the Peterborough Petes, and won 5–4 over the Swift Current Broncos to reach a berth in the finals.[10] Saskatoon was leading in the third period of the Memorial Cup championship game, but were defeated 4–3 in overtime by Swift Current.[10] Comeau stepped down from his position with the Blades on August 10, 1989.[4]

Comeau was named director of hockey operations and head coach of the New Haven Nighthawks on August 11, 1989.[4] In his first season coaching in the AHL, Comeau led the New Haven to seventh-place finish, and missed the playoffs. The following season, his team struggled again and Comeau became the first AHL coach to be fired mid-season in nearly six years, on November 29, 1990.[4] Comeau took over as head coach of a struggling Winston-Salem Thunderbirds team in the East Coast Hockey League on January 12, 1991, but was unable to get his new team into the 1990-91 ECHL season playoffs.[4]

Comeau was hired as the first head coach for the expansion Tacoma Rockets in the WHL, on April 17, 1991.[4] In his 1992–93 WHL season with Tacoma, he led the team to 45 wins, and won his second Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL Coach of Year.[4] He also received the Coach of the Year Award for the Canadian Hockey League in the same season.[11] Comeau served five seasons total with the Rockets, four of those in Tacoma, and a fifth season being the team's first year as the Kelowna Rockets in the 1995–96 WHL season.[4]

International duties

Comeau was head coach of the Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team which captured the gold medal at the 1994 La Copa Mexico in Mexico City.[4][8][12] Two years later he was head coach of the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team at the 1996 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, which won a fourth consecutive gold medal at the World Juniors.[8][13] Canada finished the round-robin winning all four games, defeated Russia 4–3 in the semifinals, and defeated Sweden 4–1 in the finals.[13]

Later career

Comeau served as the executive director of the Sno-King Amateur Hockey Association in the Snohomish County and King County areas, from 1996 to 2000.[4] He also worked as a scout with the Independent RHO Hockey Service, and coached the Pacific under-17 team at the 1999 USA Hockey Festival.[4][3] He was hired as a part-time scout for the Atlanta Thrashers by Don Waddell, a former teammate on the Saginaw Gears.[4][3] He scouted part-time in Western Canada and the United States from October 1998, until becoming a full-time scout in the same regions in June 2000.[4] On July 9, 2003, he was named director of amateur scouting for the Thrashers.[4] He remained in the same position with the organization when it became the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets in 2011.[8][14] In 2015, Comeau stepped down from his position, but remained with the Jets as an amateur scout.[8][15]

Playing statistics

Season-by-season career playing statistics.[1][2][4]

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1970–71 Ponoka Stampeders AJHL 49 42 38 80 32 – – – – –
1970–71 Edmonton Oil Kings WCHL 11 6 12 18 0 – – – – –
1971–72 Edmonton Oil Kings WCHL 48 16 29 45 27 – – – – –
1972–73 Saginaw Gears IHL 68 20 36 56 18 – – – – –
1973–74 Saginaw Gears IHL 76 31 51 82 40 13 3 5 8 4
1974–75 Saginaw Gears IHL 71 19 40 59 16 19 5 11 16 8
1975–76 Saginaw Gears IHL 64 33 44 77 12 11 3 5 8 6
1976–77 Saginaw Gears IHL 58 27 32 59 17 19 9 14 23 11
1977–78 Saginaw Gears IHL 64 42 61 103 16 5 3 5 8 4
1978–79 Saginaw Gears IHL 80 45 65 110 23 3 0 0 0 4
1979–80 Saginaw Gears IHL 74 33 57 90 26 7 8 2 10 2
1980–81 Saginaw Gears IHL 81 44 82 126 20 13 1 10 11 4
1981–82 Saginaw Gears IHL 66 33 69 102 26 14 4 15 19 10
1982–83 Saginaw Gears IHL 30 12 22 34 28 – – – – –
1982–83 Maine Mariners AHL – – – – – 7 1 1 2 0
IHL Totals 732 339 559 898 242 104 36 67 103 53

Coaching record

Season-by-season career coaching record.[1][8]

Season Team League GP W L T PTS Pct Standing Playoffs
1981–82 Saginaw Gears IHL 82 36 38 8 80 0.488 5th, IHL Lost, IHL finals
1982–83 Saginaw Gears IHL 82 29 44 9 67 0.409 4th, east Out of playoffs
1983–84 Calgary Wranglers WHL 72 36 36 0 72 0.500 6th, east Lost, round 1
1984–85 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 29 41 2 60 0.417 6th, east Lost, round 1
1985–86 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 38 28 6 82 0.569 4th, east Lost, round 2
1986–87 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 44 26 2 90 0.625 2nd, east Lost, round 3
1987–88 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 47 22 3 97 0.674 1st, east Lost, round 3
1988–89 Saskatoon Blades WHL 72 42 28 2 86 0.597 2nd, east Lost, round 3
1989 Memorial Cup finalists
1989–90 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 80 32 41 7 71 0.444 7th, north Out of playoffs
1990–91 New Haven Nighthawks AHL Statistics incomplete 7th, north Fired November 30, 1990
1990–91 Winston-Salem Thunderbirds ECHL Statistics incomplete 6th, west Out of playoffs
1991–92 Tacoma Rockets WHL 72 24 43 5 53 0.368 6th, west Lost, round 1
1992–93 Tacoma Rockets WHL 72 45 27 0 90 0.625 2nd, west Lost, round 1
1993–94 Tacoma Rockets WHL 72 33 34 5 71 0.493 3rd, west Lost, round 2
1994–95 Tacoma Rockets WHL 72 43 27 2 88 0.611 2nd, west Lost, round 1
1995–96 Kelowna Rockets WHL 72 35 33 4 74 0.514 4th, west Lost, round 1
WHL totals 792 416 345 31 863 0.545 1 division 1 Memorial Cup
appearance
IHL totals 164 65 82 17 147 0.448 — 1 finalist

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Marcel Comeau hockey statistics and profile". hockeydb.com. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Marcel Comeau". Elite Prospects. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e Rainone, Mike (January 9, 2013). "Former Ponokan still enjoying exciting hockey career!". Ponoka News. Ponoka, Alberta: Black Press. p. 19. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "1972 NHL Amateur Draft – Marcel Comeau". Hockey Draft Central. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "International Hockey League (1980–89)". Hockey League History. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Butzin, Cory (October 30, 2014). "Skill carried 1976-77 Saginaw Gears to the Turner Cup and into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame". MLive.com. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Saginaw Gears Hockey Team (1976–77)". Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame. 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Marcel Comeau Team Staff Profile". Elite Prospects. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Eremondi, Tom (2003). "History". Saskatoon Blades. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  10. ^ a b Lapp, Richard M.; Macaulay, Alec (1997). The Memorial Cup: Canada's National Junior Hockey Championship. Madeira Park, British Columbia: Harbour Publishing. pp. 237–239. ISBN 1-55017-170-4.
  11. ^ "CHL Awards". chl.ca. Canadian Hockey League. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
  12. ^ "National Men's Under-18 Team". Hockey Canada. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  13. ^ a b Bell, Aaron (January 3, 2003). "Golden Memories – 1996". Ontario Hockey League. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  14. ^ Mirtle, James (July 14, 2011). "Jets take several Thrashers staffers with them". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  15. ^ Hobson, Russ (September 1, 2015). "Winnipeg Jets revamp scouting staff". Globalnews.ca. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
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