With most Midget AAA travel team tryouts over, or on their way to being over, the Marquette Electricians are just getting started.
Jim Jackson was appointed head coach late Sunday. A storied Midget franchise known for developing high quality players for many years, the Electricians have certainly fallen on harder times in recent years. Recruiting numbers have been down and the team has lost out on many top level players who have elected to play Tier III Junior Hockey.
Can Jackson right the ship? That remains to be seen, time certainly is not on his side this season.
The team said the following in a release:
Jim Jackson has been named the new head hockey coach for the Marquette Electricians, Chairman Brad Sullivan announced late Sunday.
Jackson, 33, is embarking on his first head coaching job. He brings years of professional playing experience to the Marquette Electricians, the team his career got started with. The Marquette native played for the Electricians from 1995-1997, including the 1996 team that captured the state championship. From there, Jackson spent his junior career playing for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (USHL). From 1999 to 2003, Jackson was a defenseman for the D-1 Northern Michigan University Wildcats (CCHA). After finishing his career with the Wildcats, Jackson went on to play professionally for nine seasons in various leagues around the world (ECHL, AHL, CHL, Germany, Denmark, Czech Republic, South Korea and Norway). Jackson attended the St. Louis Blues training camp in 2008.
“I would like to thank the Marquette Electricians search committee for this tremendous opportunity to lead the Electricians hockey program,” Jackson said. “This is an exciting challenge as we try to take Electrician hockey to the next level in a year full of change. I am committed to the individual success and development of our players. The integral part of restoring the programs winning tradition will be a result of the hard work and dedication by both the players and coaches. The new look of the Northern Lakes Hockey League (NLHL) and Midget AAA hockey landscape offers a unique opportunity for our student-athletes.”
Jackson is especially excited to be coaching in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“The U.P. is truly some place special that holds great character and has years of hockey tradition,” he said. “NMU, MTU, LSSU, and FU are universities that have helped staple together hockey culture throughout the U.P. Marquette has a great sense of a developing community in which programs like the Electricians have been proud to be part of.”
Electricians Midget AAA is a name that is recognized by programs around North America and is known for developing young hockey players while helping promote them onto Junior and College programs.
“We’re very excited that Jim Jackson will be joining the Electricians as our new head hockey coach,” said Sullivan. “Jim’s extensive experiences as a player coupled with his incredible enthusiasm for rolling up his sleeves and facing the team’s challenges head-on make him the right choice to lead the Electricians as we head into a new a new season.”
Sullivan said the 11-man search committee picked Jackson over 13 other candidates.
