John Anderson (ice hockey)
John Murray Anderson ( born March 28, 1957 in Toronto, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and is currently the head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League.
- 4.1 As a player
- 4.2 As a coach
Career as a player
John Anderson began his career in 1973 with the Toronto Marlboros in the Canadian Junior Football League OMJHL, where he worked in his first season, although only 38 games played, but with 22 goals and 22 assists his scorer skills already been able to prove. 1974/75 played Anderson then a full season and was one of the important pillars of Marlboros with 113 points in 70 games, but was only fourth best scorer of the team that had with Bruce Boudreau, John Tonelli and Mark Napier three strikers in their ranks, the dominated the league with. Due to the strong offensive presence, the team could only win the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions and shortly afterwards the Memorial Cup as the best Canadian junior team.
Anderson then finished his career with the juniors in the hope that it receives a contract offer from the Toronto Toros of the WHA professional league. When this did not occur, he returned to the Marlboros and played there for two more years. In the 1976/77 season he led the team as captain on the ice and had 57 goals and 62 templates best offensive power of Marlboros. For his achievements he was elected to the First All -Star Team of OMJHL and received the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the top scoring right winger in the league.
He finally managed to convince the professional teams through his good performances in the junior and was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL Amateur Draft 1977 in the first round at position eleven and by the Quebec Nordiques in the WHA Amateur Draft in the second round at position 14.
Anderson opted for the Maple Leafs to play in the NHL, but mainly came in his first season for the CHL farm team, the Dallas Black Hawks are used. Especially in the playoffs, he stood out and led the team as the best scorer and goal scorer to win the Adams Cup.
1978/79, Anderson was finally able to prevail in the root cadres of the Maple Leafs. After a solid first year he improved significantly in his second season and was with 53 points and 25 goals third best scorer and second- leading scorer of the team. His best year Anderson had in the 1982/83 season when he was the top scoring player of the Maple Leafs with 31 goals and 49 assists. In the following two years, he continued to show very good scorer services, even provided with 37 hits a new personal record, but could not celebrate successes with the team and in the playoffs two seasons.
In the summer of 1985, Anderson was transferred to the Quebec Nordiques, which is now playing in the NHL and was still sent in the same season in a swap deal to the Hartford Whalers. But his points haul did not dampen this and he finished the season with 74 points scorer, until then the second best of his career. He also reached the Whalers the second round of the playoffs, where he came in a game against the Quebec Nordiques to six points and thus set a new franchise record.
Anderson sat down with 75 scorer points his good performance in the following season continues, in the two years after, he was, however, repeatedly hampered by injuries and stood at the beginning of the 1988/89 season only in the squad of the Binghamton Whalers, the farm team of Hartford from the second-rate AHL, after which he opted for a change. Anderson went to Europe and played for the Italian club HC Milano Saima, but returned in the summer of 1989 back to North America.
The season 1990/91 he played in the IHL division club at the Fort Wayne Komets, where he returned to his teammate from junior times, Bruce Boudreau, met. Together with Lonnie Loach led the two veterans on the team that moved to the finals to the Turner Cup. However, Anderson missed most of the playoffs due to injury.
In summer 1991 he moved to the New Haven Nighthawks in the AHL, where he was also one of the leading players. With 95 points, he was the fifth best scorer of the league and was awarded the Les Cunningham Award as the most valuable player of the season. In addition, he received the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for his fair play. However, the team disbanded after the season and Anderson returned to the IHL, where he. For the San Diego Gulls as a player and was active at the same time as an assistant coach, before 1994, after two good seasons ended his playing career
Career as a coach
After the end of his active career John Anderson remained another year as assistant coach with the San Diego Gulls. In 1995, he took over for the first time even the position as head coach at the Winston -Salem Mammoths from the SHL and led them directly to the finals of the playoffs. After just one season, the SHL was terminated, however, and Anderson became coach of the Quad City Mallards in the Cohl and here his work was equally successful, as he won the Colonial Cup in his first season with the Mallards.
After a successful season, Anderson took a further career move and he was appointed coach of the Chicago Wolves of the IHL. The team finished the regular season in 1997/98 from the second best team in the playoffs and went from one to the final, where they met with the Detroit Vipers. The Wolves went into the final series, although a 2-1 lead, but lost the next two games. You get the remaining two games, two wins and so they won the Turner Cup yet.
After the Chicago Wolves failed in the following season in the third round, they won in the season 1999/2000 the championship again the IHL and moved in 2001 for the third time in four years under Anderson to the finals, where they were but this time inferior. It was also the last season of IHL, which broke up then. The Wolves then alternated in the AHL, where Anderson also led the team to the top of the league. The team reached the same in its premiere season, the finals of the playoffs and won the Calder Cup directly.
After two seasons, both of which ended in the second round of the playoffs, were the Wolves 2004/ 05 again in the final, where they lost to the Philadelphia Phantoms. It was followed by the hitherto weakest season of the team led by Anderson with 36 victories against 32 defeats and for the first time she missed qualifying for the playoffs.
However, the team returned strengthened and reached the third round of the playoffs again in the 2006/07 season. In addition, the team set with Darren Haydar the most valuable player of the season. Also in the 2007/ 08 season arrived with Jason Krog of MVP from Chicago and this time the team could also benefit from the Calder Cup win was the second time.
With this success, the commitment of Anderson ended with the Wolves, who served at the time as a farm team of the Atlanta Thrashers. In June 2008, he was introduced as the new coach of the Thrashers and thus met for the first time the post of NHL coach to. After his 2008/ 09 and 2009/10 with the team a place in the play-offs failed in the season, he was relieved of his duties in April 2010. From 2011 to 2013 Anderson was an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes behind the gang. For the 2013/14 season, he was named head coach of the Chicago Wolves.