| Gary Wright | ||
 |
Title | Head Ice Hockey Coach |
| gary.wright@aic.edu | ||
| Phone | (413) 205-3522 | |
Gary Wright is entering his 24th season at the helm of the Yellow Jacket ice hockey program in 2007-08. The all-time winningest coach in AIC history, Wright has compiled a record of 245-384-44. Only Boston University legend Jack Parker has a longer tenure at his current school at the Division I level.
Last season, the Yellow Jackets rebound nicely after a slow start, posting a win or a tie in seven of the final 16 games against Atlantic Hockey foes. AIC picked up its second Atlantic Hockey playoff win with a first-round win on the road over Canisius, and Jereme Tendler was named an Atlantic Hockey All-Star, garnering Third Team honors.
In 2005-06, with one of the youngest teams in college hockey, AIC posted its highest victory total in three years and posted its highest point total in the three-year history of Atlantic Hockey. Freshman Eric Griffin was also named to the six-member Atlantic Hockey Academic All-Star team following the season.
In 2004-05 AIC posted a pair of victories over teams leading Atlantic Hockey at the time, Canisius in mid-January and Sacred Heart at the end of February. The Yellow Jackets also had their second-straight Atlantic Hockey All-Conference First Team member as goaltender Frank Novello was selected to the squad.
In 2003-04 the Yellow Jackets claimed their first postseason victory since the 1989-90 season when they defeated host Army 4-3 in the first round of the inaugural Atlantic Hockey tournament. Guillaume Caron was named a First Team Atlantic Hockey All-Star while AIC also captured the Team Sportsmanship Award for compiling the fewest penalty minutes in AHA games.
Wright was instrumental in the Yellow Jackets becoming a charter member of the Division I Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Hockey League. Wright became the first coach to earn MAAC Hockey League Coach of the Year honors after leading AIC to a fifth-place finish with an 11-14-4 Conference record in their first season of Division I hockey.
Prior to elevating to the Division I level, Wright guided his teams to the ECAC playoffs in six of the last eleven seasons the Yellow Jackets competed at the Division II level, capturing the ECAC East Championship during the 1989-90 campaign.
Before becoming the eighth head hockey coach at American International College in 1984, Wright spent five years as an assistant at the University of Maine. His coaching career started at the high school level as he directed the Rice Memorial ice hockey program in Burlington, Vt. Wright spent three seasons at Rice and his 1977-78 squad was state runner-up.
A native of Vermont, Wright has authored a book for youth hockey coaches titled Pass the Biscuit. He also served as a member of the NCAA Division II-III Men’s Ice Hockey Committee for six years.
During the summer months, Wright works as an instructor at several noted hockey camps across New England and is the director of the Individual Skills Hockey Clinic. In the summers of 1992-95, he served on the USA Hockey, Select-16 Camp Staff held in Lake Placid, N.Y., and St. Cloud, Minn.
A 1976 graduate of the University of Vermont, Wright was a member of the Catamounts hockey team and recipient of the Coaches Award during his senior year. Before attending UVM, Wright played hockey at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H., and lettered in two other sports as well.
ASSISTANT COACHES