Former Lakers Aubry and Graham join Gotkin's coaching staff

Courtesy of Mercyhurst Athletic Communications

ERIE, Pa. – With the resignation of John Rosso last month, who took a scouting job with the National Hockey League’s Tampa Bay Lightning, the Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team turned to a former player to replace him on the coaching staff for the upcoming season. Peter Aubry, who was a goaltender for the Lakers from 1998-2002, will join head coach Rick Gotkin and assistant coach Bobby Ferraris behind the bench for the 2011-12 season, as announced by Mercyhurst Director of Athletics Joe Kimball earlier today.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to hire a person who not only has a great hockey background and a great knowledge of the game, but who is a former player here at the college,” said Kimball. “He is all over the record books here at Mercyhurst and turned that into a fine career professionally. He’s an upbeat and positive young man. We feel that with his knowledge, and the fact that he is an alum, he will be a tremendous asset for our men’s hockey program both coaching and recruiting.”

Also joining the staff will be Neil Graham, who played for Mercyhurst from 2006-10. He will serve as the volunteer assistant and will handle a number of various coaching capacities for the team, including strength and conditioning.

“This is a very exciting day for us, to have two former alums join our staff,” said Gotkin, who will be beginning his 24^th season as the head coach of the Lakers, amassing 414 career wins. “Both Peter and Neil had very successful playing days for us here at the college and we think that will translate into success both with coaching and with recruiting. It’s just great that we were able to hire from within our Mercyhurst hockey family to bring back two of our former players. We know that they’ll do a tremendous job for us.”

Aubry won 55 games for the Lakers, second only to Mercyhurst Hall of Fame inductee, Gary Bowles, who won 56. His 2.45 career goals-against-average is the best in school history among goaltenders with a significant amount of games. But, he may be best known for leading the Lakers to the first round of the 2001 NCAA Division I tournament, after winning the MAAC Hockey League (now Atlantic Hockey Association) Championship over Quinnipiac and securing the first-ever automatic bid to postseason play for the conference. Aubry faced 51 shots, and stopped 47, in Mercyhurst’s epic battle with perennial power Michigan. The Lakers lost the game 4-3, but the game will go down as arguably the most memorable game in school history. Despite the loss and only appearing in one game at the regional, Aubry was named to the All-Tournament Team.

“That game put us on the hockey map,” said Gotkin. “We had built a reputation of being a good program at the Division III and Division II levels, but that game helped us to turn the corner. It was an amazing feeling being on the bench for that game – little-known Mercyhurst against a well-known power like Michigan. And, to think that we had a chance to win in the end was even more incredible. Peter was awesome in that game and his performance, I think, helped raise his stock for a great career after college.”

After his career at Mercyhurst, the Windsor, Ontario native signed with the Johnstown Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League and also played three games for the American Hockey League’s Saint John Flames. He had single season spells over the next two years in the United Hockey League for the Elmira Jackals and back in the ECHL with the Alaska Aces before moving to Great Britain in 2005, signing with the Cardiff Devils as their starting goalie. After other stints overseas in the UK and back in the states with the ECHL’s Texas Wildcatters, Aubry signed with Ducs d’Angers in France, where he played the past two seasons.

Graham played in 137 games in his four seasons with Mercyhurst, scoring a career-high 20 points during his senior campaign. He finished his career with 23 goals and 37 assists at Mercyhurst. After graduation, the native of Calgary, Alberta played primarily for the Augusta RiverHawks in the Southern Professional Hockey League, where he scored 54 points in 49 games last season. He also combined for 10 games in the East Coast Hockey League, with stints in South Carolina and in Greenville.