Just Who Is Ian Herbers

Ian Herbers is a name who is probably familiar with many Edmonton Oilers fans, He played 22 games for the Oilers in the early nineties, but he’s probably best known for his role as head coach of the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Something that stands out to me about Herbers joining Todd McLellan’s staff is the fact that he’s the only new comer not also coming over from the San Jose Sharks. Ian sewed his own seed in his route to the NHL, it’s early into his NHL gig but I’d be willing to be he’ll be a head coach in the NHL someday.

A native of Jasper, Alberta, Herbers toiled in the NHL for a few seasons, playing irregularly before bouncing around minor league teams here in North America. He eventually found himself playing in the British National league for two seasons before another brief stint in the United hockey league before he retired.

Herbers coaching career is a bit unorthodox when it comes to your typical NHL coach. After retiring as a player he eventually joined the San Antonio Rampage as an assistant for one season. From there he moved into the Ontario Hockey league with the Saginaw Spirit as an associate coach.

After two seasons in the O he took a head coaching position with the Johnstown Chiefs of the East coast hockey league. His outstanding record in the ECHL earned him a promotion to the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals, where he’d spend three years as an assistant coach before taking over the reigns as head coach for one season. That is when he left the AHL to return the his Alma Matter Univeristy of Alberta Golden Bears.

Herbers is one of the most successful Canadian University coaches of all-time, posting a record of 119-19-0. WOW, impressive right. There are plenty of coaches who have coached more games in the CIS but that record is outstanding. Not to mention his teams won the National Championship the last two seasons.

Include that 119-19-0 record to his Johnstown 73-60-0-11, and Milwaukee record of 30-23-0-6 and you’ve got a head coaching record of 222-102-0-17. That is not a record to shake your head at. While he may be reasonably well known here in Edmonton, like I mentioned above I think this is just the beginning of a long and successful coaching career in the NHL.

Here’s a video of Herbers beating up on Matt Barnaby, because face it, who doesn’t like watching Barnaby get punched in the face.

Thanks for Reading.