Brian Kilrea

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Brian Blair Kilrea (born October 21, 1934 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a legendary ice hockey head coach, general manager and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kilrea is a nephew of former Detroit Red Wings players Wally, Ken, and Hec Kilrea.

Contents 1 Playing Career 2 Coaching Career 3 Playing statistics 4 Coaching Statistics

[edit] Playing Career

Kilrea played his first major junior season with the Hamilton Tiger Cubs in 1954-55. He had a mediocre playing career that included only 26 NHL games, although he had great success in the minor leagues. Most of Kilrea's career was spent with the AHL's Springfield Indians, where he was an All-Star and the franchise's career leader in assists. Kilrea returned to the NHL with expansion in 1967. Kilrea has the distinction of scoring the first-ever goal for the NHL Los Angeles Kings.

[edit] Coaching Career

After ending his playing career, Kilrea began coaching the OHL major junior Ottawa 67's in 1974. He would continue coaching the 67's until 1984, when he became an assistant coach with the defending Stanley Cup champions, New York Islanders of the NHL. However, after two seasons, he would return to coaching the 67's.

Except for a brief retirement for the 1994-95 season, Kilrea has coached the 67's ever since, and is also the General Manager of the club. He has won the Memorial Cup, emblematic of Canada's major junior championship, twice with the 67's (1984 and 1999) and is the winningest coach in junior hockey history - a task completed on January 17, 1997 with his 742nd win. To date, he has over 1100 victories.

Kilrea has also won the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the Year in 1980-81, 1981-82, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 2002-03. Kilrea was also honoured with the Bill Long Award in 1994, for distinguished service to the OHL.

In 2003 Brian Kilrea was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category. The Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award, given annually to the top coach in the Canadian Hockey League, was renamed in his honour shortly after his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Kilrea won the award in 1996-97 when it was known as the CHL Coach of the Year Award.

In twenty-nine seasons with the 67's he has only had five losing seasons - an extraordinary task in junior hockey considering the constant turnover rate of players.

[edit] Playing statistics

				Regular Season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1954-55	Hamilton Tiger Cubs	OHA		49	27	25	52	0		-	-	-	-	-
1955-56	Troy Bruins	IHL		60	16	36	52	22		-	-	-	-	-
1956-57	Troy Bruins	IHL		60	9	35	44	46		-	-	-	-	-
1957-58	Edmonton Flyers	WHL		3	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1957-58	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		1	0	0	0	0		-	-	-	-	-
1958-59	Troy Bruins	IHL		54	33	60	93	44		-	-	-	-	-
1959-60	Springfield Indians	AHL		63	14	27	41	26		8	0	1	1	4
1960-61	Springfield Indians	AHL		70	20	67	87	47		8	1	5	6	2
1961-62	Springfield Indians	AHL		70	20	73	93	28		2	0	1	1	0
1962-63	Springfield Indians	AHL		72	25	50	75	34		-	-	-	-	-
1963-64	Springfield Indians	AHL		72	22	61	83	28		-	-	-	-	-
1964-65	Springfield Indians	AHL		72	23	54	77	18		-	-	-	-	-
1965-66	Springfield Indians	AHL		70	13	47	60	14		6	3	1	4	0
1966-67	Springfield Indians	AHL		63	25	38	63	29		-	-	-	-	-
1967-68	Springfield Kings	AHL		38	7	25	32	14		4	0	3	3	0
1967-68	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		25	3	5	8	12		-	-	-	-	-
1968-69	Vancouver Canucks	WHL		1	0	1	1	0		-	-	-	-	-
1968-69	Tulsa Oilers	CHL		24	11	25	36	12		4	0	1	1	0
1968-69	Rochester Americans	AHL		33	2	11	13	4		-	-	-	-	-
1969-70	Denver Spurs	WHL		32	5	14	19	8		-	-	-	-	-
NHL Totals				26	3	5	8	12		-	-	-	-	-

[edit] Coaching Statistics

Note: Ties (2004-05 & previous), SL = Shoot Out Loss (2005-06 & onward)

Season	Games	Won	Lost	Tied	SL	OTL	Points	Pct %	Standing
1974-75	70	33	30	7	-	-	73	0.521	4th OMJHL
1975-76	66	34	23	9	-	-	77	0.583	2nd Leyden
1976-77	66	38	23	5	-	-	81	0.614	1st Leyden
1977-78	68	43	18	7	-	-	93	0.684	1st Leyden
1978-79	68	30	38	0	-	-	60	0.441	4th Leyden
1979-80	68	45	20	3	-	-	93	0.684	2nd Leyden
1980-81	68	45	20	3	-	-	93	0.684	2nd Leyden
1981-82	68	47	19	2	-	-	96	0.706	1st Leyden
1982-83	70	46	21	3	-	-	95	0.679	1st Leyden
1983-84	70	50	18	2	-	-	102	0.729	1st Leyden
1984-85	New York Islanders assistant coach
1985-86	New York Islanders assistant coach
1986-87	66	33	28	5	-	-	71	0.538	3rd Leyden
1987-88	66	38	26	2	-	-	78	0.591	2nd Leyden
1988-89	66	30	32	4	-	-	64	0.485	5th Leyden
1989-90	66	38	26	2	-	-	78	0.591	4th Leyden
1990-91	66	39	25	2	-	-	80	0.606	4th Leyden
1991-92	66	32	30	4	-	-	68	0.515	6th Leyden
1992-93	66	16	42	8	-	-	40	0.303	8th Leyden
1993-94	66	33	22	11	-	-	77	0.583	2nd Leyden
1994-95	Temporary retirement
1995-96	66	39	22	5	-	-	83	0.629	1st East
1996-97	66	49	11	6	-	-	104	0.788	1st East
1997-98	66	40	17	9	-	-	89	0.674	1st East
1998-99	68	48	13	7	-	-	103	0.757	1st East
1999-00	68	43	20	4	-	1	91	0.662	1st East
2000-01	68	33	21	10	-	4	80	0.559	2nd East
2001-02	68	36	20	10	-	2	84	0.603	2nd East
2002-03	68	44	14	7	-	3	98	0.699	1st East
2003-04	68	29	26	9	-	4	71	0.493	1st East
2004-05	68	34	26	7	-	1	76	0.551	2nd East
2005-06	68	29	31	-	5	3	66	0.485	4th East
TOTALS	1952	1094	682	153	5	18	2364	0.606