Ken Hitchcock

Ken Hitchcock ( born December 17, 1951 in Edmonton, Alberta ) is a Canadian ice hockey coach who has been training since November 2011, the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League.

Career

Ken Hitchcock began his coaching career in 1984 in the Canadian Junior Football League WHL with Kamloops Blazers and led the team in the very first season with 52 wins to the best result in the history of the franchise and to the finals of the playoffs. 1985/86 he won with the Blazers the Presidents' Cup and in the following years the team was led by Hitchcock to the best teams in the league, so that they could win the championship of the 1990 WHL again. In addition, Hitchcock was in his time with the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award in Kamloops twice with the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the best coach of the WHL and once as the best coach of the CHL.

After six years as coach of young players committed him 1990, the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL as an assistant coach. In three years he worked there only under the direction of head coach Paul Holmgren, and later under Bill Dineen. In 1993, Hitchcock in the unterklassige IHL to the farm team of the Dallas Stars, the, to take over as head coach Kalamazoo Wings. The Wings he brought in his first season to 48 wins in 81 games and in 1994/95 they reached the third round of the playoffs.

Hitchcock coached the team, which had been renamed the Michigan K- Wings, yet in 40 games the following season before he was promoted to head coach of the Dallas Stars. However, he was the stumbling team no longer bring in the current season on playoff course, but in the 1996/97 season he led the Stars to second place in the Western Conference and improved the result of the season compared to last year by 22 wins and 38 points. The team was able to improve in the next two years again in 1998 reached the final of the Western Conference in 1999 and eventually won the Stanley Cup by winning the final series against the Buffalo Sabres. Due to the team's success was Hitchcock 1997-1999 three times in a row for the Jack Adams Award nomination as best coach in the league.

Although decreased during the 1999/2000 season, the yield points of the stars, but in the playoffs they strove forward to a successful title defense, before they had to admit defeat the New Jersey Devils in the final. While the successes of the stars continued in the regular season and in the following season, they came into the playoffs not go beyond the second round. When the team was started a little difficult in the 2001/ 02 season and had reached only average 23 wins compared to previous years, after 50 games, Hitchcock was fired.

Already in the summer of 2002, Hitchcock was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers as the head coach, who had only recently been separated from Bill Barber because of their early exit from the playoffs. Hitchcock led the team to 45 wins and third place in the Eastern Conference. In addition, the Flyers had conceded the fewest goals during the season. A first playoff success they were able to record in the 2003/04 season, when they entered into the finals of the Eastern Conference and had to give up just barely beaten the later Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

After failure of the NHL season 2004/ 05 because of the lockout played the Flyers in 2005/ 06 a good regular season, but already failed in the first round to the Buffalo Sabres. As Hitchcock could then pick up at the beginning of the 2006/07 season just one win from eight games, put in charge of the team was withdrawn and he took over the organization of the post as Pro Scout.

Three weeks later, on 21 November 2006, Hitchcock was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets as the new coach. However, he could no longer perform in the playoffs, the Blue Jackets during the season.

On 11 November 2009 Hitchcock completed his 1000th game as an NHL coach. His Columbus Blue Jackets skidded with a 1:9 against the Detroit Red Wings in their highest-ever home defeat of the club history. In November 2011, he was installed after the dismissal of head coach Davis Payne as his successor with the St. Louis Blues.

This season, Hitchcock leads the Blues with 16 points from ten games to their best start under a new coach. He finally reached the end of the season with 109 points, the second best result in the team's history and led the Blues in order for the first Division title in the Central Division since 2000. Due to these achievements, he was the fourth time in his career for the Jack Adams Award as the best coach of the nominated season and eventually won the award for the first time. He was thus the fourth coach in the history of the Blues, who received the trophy.

Achievements

• Stanley Cup 1999
• Jack Adams Award 2012
• Presidents' Cup in 1986 and 1990
• Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy in 1987 and 1990 ( Best coach of the WHL)
• CHL Coach of the Year Award 1990 ( Best coach of the CHL)