Scott Allen (ice hockey)

Scott Allen (born April 6, 1966 in New Bedford, Massachusetts) is a retired professional ice hockey center and a former assistant coach of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. He is currently serving as the head coach to the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Playing career

Allen started his career with the Troy Sabres of the All-American Hockey League in 1986. He would he traded to the Carolina Thunderbirds during the 1986–87 AAHL season. Allen would stay with the team for four seasons as they made their move from the AAHL to the ECHL and changed their name from the Carolina Thunderbirds to the Winston-Salem Thunderbirds. During the 1988–89 ECHL season, Allen played slightly under fourteen minutes as a goaltender for the Carolina Thunderbirds, giving up 3 goals on 10 shots. GAA of 13.26 with a save perscentage of .700.^[1]

Allen would be traded to the Erie Panthers at the beginning of the 1989–90 season and would finish the season as a member of the Greensboro Monarchs. Allen would win back to back Riley Cups as a member of the Thunderbirds in 1989 and as a member of the Monarchs in 1990.^[2] Allen would play six games for the Cincinnati Cyclones during the 1990–91 season before leaving for the Colonial Hockey League in 1991–92. Allen would retire from hockey in 1996.

Coaching career

Allen joined the Johnstown Chiefs as an assistant to head coach Nick Fotiu prior to the 1996–97 ECHL season. The team would go 24–39–0–7 in Allen's first year as an assistant coach. Fotiu and Allen returned to the Chiefs bench for the 1997–98 ECHL season. The Chiefs started their season 4–20–6 (.233), and Fotiu was fired from the team after 30 games. Allen assumed the duties as head coach for the remainder of the season, where the team showed improvement by going 17–21–2 (.450) over the last 40 games. The Chiefs would go 27–34–0–9 in 1998–99 matching the previous season's win percentage of .450. The 1999–00 season would be the start of a three-year run where the Chiefs advanced deep into the playoffs. The Chiefs would advance to the conference semi-finals in both 2000 and 2002, and would make the ECHL conference quarterfinals in 2001. Allen would then leave the ECHL to take an assistant coach's position with the AHL's San Antonio Rampage. Allen then accepted assistant coach position in Omaha, Lowell and Quad City after leaving the Rampage.

On July 20, 2009, Allen was named as an assistant coach to then-head coach Scott Gordon at the New York Islanders.^[2] Gordon, like Allen, had played in the ECHL as a member of the Johnstown Chiefs. On April 16, 2012, Allen was let go from his assistant coaching position by the New York Islanders.

In the 2013–14 season, he was an assistant coach for the AHL Chicago Wolves. He returned as an assistant coach to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage for the 2014–15 season. Following the Florida Panthers affiliate switch to the Portland Pirates, Allen began the season in an assistant role for 2015–16. On January 1, 2016, Allen was announced as the Pirates Head Coach mid-season, as Tom Rowe accepted a promotion within the Panthers organization.^[3]

Awards

• 1988–89, Riley Cup winner (Carolina Thunderbirds)
• 1989–90, Riley Cup winner (Greensboro Monarchs)

References

External links

• Scott Allen's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Scott Allen's career statistics at EliteProspects.com