FORT McMURRAY, AB – The Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) are pleased to announce that Mike Brodeur (Calgary, AB) has joined the organization as Video and Goalie Coach.
Brodeur, 31, joins the Oil Barons after a nine-year professional career that included time in the National Hockey League with the Ottawa Senators in both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
“We’re excited to have Mike join us, with his wealth of experience,” said Oil Barons head coach and general manager Curtis Hunt. “He’s a guy I know from coaching him, and he’s a guy that is going to bring some youth and enthusiasm into our locker room, as well as an understanding of what it takes to play at the next level.”
“We believe his experiences and connections will be great assets for not only our goaltenders, but all of our players to draw on.”
“I’m extremely excited about this opportunity to join the Oil Barons team,” said Brodeur. “It’s been a dream of mine to become a coach, and to get my foot in the door and become a part of such a great organization – it’s the perfect chance for me to take this new step.”
A veteran of the AJHL, Brodeur played goal for the Camrose Kodiaks for two seasons from 2001 to 2003, winning a league championship, a Doyle Cup, and reaching the Royal Bank Cup final in 2003.
Later that year, Brodeur was selected in the seventh round of the NHL Entry Draft, 211th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks.
The following season, Brodeur started 41 games for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League under then-head coach Curtis Hunt, where he posted the best save percentage in the WHL at .929 in 41 games.
He began his professional career with stops in Norfolk and Rockford in the American Hockey League.
In 2008-09, while playing for the Rochester Americans, Brodeur was named to the AHL all-star team during a season in which he posted an 18-13-5 record with a .921 save percentage and 2.45 goals against average.
He was also part of the Binghamton Senators for two seasons, including their Calder Cup-winning year in 2010-11.
With the Oil Barons, Brodeur will hold a combined role, primarily coaching the goaltenders on both the technical and mental sides of the game, as well as coding and preparing game video for use by the coaching staff.
Brodeur will travel with the team and be part of all practices, evaluations, and meetings.
“The combined role allows us, first of all, to get information and video back to our players in a very timely and efficient fashion,” said Hunt. “And then for our goaltenders, to have a guy that’s going to be in the journey with them from the moment they join our organization, through the season, is fantastic.”
“We are now back to a three-coach system,” he added, “and now that we’ve got three coaches at all games, we feel that’s an asset for our team, as well as our evaluation and development.”
“Being a backup for part of my career, watching the game was what I did,” said Brodeur. “I did a lot of watching and analyzing, and I think I can use that to help these players analyze their game and fix the small things.”
“At this point, they know all of the basic skills, but there’s always room to improve,” he added.
The Oil Barons begin their main training camp on Friday, August 15th at the Casman Centre, and will hold a public intrasquad match, the annual Blue-Gold Game, on Sunday, August 17th at 2:00pm. Tickets are available at the door.
For more information, call the Oil Barons office at (780) 743-5509.
