Brockport's Golden Eagles
alumni make their mark in coaching

Hockey fans from Western New York are familiar with names such as Ted Sator, E.J. McGuire, Rick Gotkin, Brian Cavanaugh and Jeff Merideth. But what do they and over a dozen other hockey coaches at the high school level and above have in common?

They all wore or had ties with the green and gold of the Brockport Golden Eagles while honing their hockey skills at the collegiate level. The same school whose hockey teams have lost almost twice as many games as they have won over their 37-season history has been one of the top producers of coaching talent throughout the area.

Ted Sator, former coach of the Buffalo Sabres and now head coach of the New Orleans Brass in the East Coast Hockey League attended Brockport in the 1970s as did now Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach and Buffalo native E.J. McGuire ('75). E.J.’s teammate on those teams was longtime Canisius College head coach Brian Cavanaugh ('76), who still holds the team record for most total points in a game with seven and is tied for fourth all-time in scoring. His brother Mark (73), who also played then, started the women’s hockey club team at Brockport this past season. The goaltender on those teams was Ron Glasow ('74) who is now the head coach of the club team at San Jose State in California.

Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin ('82) and Fredonia head coach Jeff Merideth ('82) were teammates in the early 1980s when McGuire was beginning his coaching career at Brockport.

The greatest concentration of those who bled green and gold can be found in Section Five high schools. No less than ten alumni hold head or assistant coaching positions among the 21 teams in the league. Grady Monks ('97) has been a part of six straight Class B sectional titles as an assistant and now head coach with the Aquinas Little Irish. Paul Pederson ('89) is tied with Brian Cavanaugh for fourth all-time in scoring with 124 points and led the Batavia Ice Devils to the sectional Class B final this past season. Jim McLean played with Brockport when they had a club team in the late 1960’s and is the long-time head coach of Gates Chili. Mike Germain ('99) took over the Greece Lightning when the school district split into two teams two seasons ago and brought assistant coach and former Golden Eagle defenseman Rob Howell ('97) with him.

Other assistant coaches around Section Five from Brockport include Sean O’Neill ('97), who still holds the record for most goals in a game with four, at Brighton. Mike Militello ('92) is an assistant coach with Brockport High School after several seasons in Churchville-Chili, Joe Jehlen ('01) is helping McLean on the bench with Gates Chili, former goaltender Garvin Weyl ('85) is an assistant with McQuaid, Frank Lattuca at Rush-Henrietta and Chuck Dossier ('98) with Bishop Kearney/Eastridge.

Others coaching at the college level are Gary Heenan ('99), who is the first head coach for Utica College’s new program in the ECAC West and Brian Fedele ('97), an assistant with the three-year old Monroe Community College program. Scott Kirsch ('95) is also an assistant coach with the Buffalo State Bengals and Stan Moore is an assistant coach with the Colgate Red Raiders after a previous stint with Union College.

Even off the ice, several former Brockport players are having an impact in the hockey world. Paul D’Auito ('83) is in the front office of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Eric Turner ('95) is Executive Director of Fan Development with the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL. Chris Palin ('90), who is second on the team’s all-time points list and holds the record for points in a season and power play goals, has been in the Rochester Americans front office for many years. Jamie Smock ('96) still is tied for first in career shorthanded goals and was named the new play-by-play voice for the Cleveland Barons in the AHL before this season.

The team has only been to the playoffs five times in their history, but obviously several people were paying attention during their playing days wearing the green and gold at Brockport.