There's A New Coach In Town...
August 19, 2008
During a Des Moines Iowa Chops (American Hockey League) press conference held this afternoon at Hy-Vee Hall, Bob Murray, General Manager-Iowa Chops; Sr. VP of Hockey Operations for the Anaheim Ducks introduced Gord Dineen (L) as the new Head Coach for the Iowa Chops. That's right...GORD!
Coach Dineen took the microphone and within minutes had the crowd of Des Moines Hockey Faithful excited by his promise to, "..play hockey so tough that other teams that come here to play, won't want to come back." He added, "We want people to know we're a tough, in your face team. We'll compete with hard fore-checking and we'll finish off the checks."
He also praised the facilities and thanked, several times, the Anaheim Ducks for allowing him to come from Portland, MA (the former home of this AHL franchise) to Iowa. "We had a good year in Portland and I'm grateful that the Ducks were willing to let me continue in this new role." Dineen was the assistant coach in Portland. (L-R: New Iowa Chops Assistant Coach Matt Laatsch, Coach Gord Dineen & Bob Murray)
Dineen was originally drafted by the New York Islanders in the 1981 draft and played for the Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators, where he was a team captain during the 1993 - 1994 season. He was with the Penguins when they won a Stanley Cup in 1991.
OK.....so? Here is the frosting!
He is the son of none other than Bill Dineen who won two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings back in 1954 and 1955! Yeah baby! This young coach knows a thing or two about playing tough. Now maybe you can figure out why his name is Gord....
Go Chops!
(Bill Dineen Image from www.gfg.com a great place for memorable sports products.)