Don Nachbaur
Encyclopedia
Donald Kenneth Nachbaur (born January 30, 1959 in Kitimat, British Columbia
Kitimat, British Columbia
Kitimat is a coastal city in northwestern British Columbia, in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine. The Kitimat Valley, which includes the adjacent community of Terrace, is the most populous urban district in Northwest British Columbia...

 and raised in Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...

) is a retired professional ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player. Nachbaur is currently the head coach of the Spokane Chiefs
Spokane Chiefs
The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Spokane consistently ranks in the top 10 in the...

 of the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

.

Playing career

Nachbaur played in the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 with the Hartford Whalers
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...

, Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

, and Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

,
Nachbaur played professional hockey for 14 years, including parts of eight seasons in the National Hockey League with the Hartford Whalers, Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers. In 223 career NHL games, he scored 23 goals, added 46 assists and recorded 465 penalty minutes. He was Hartford’s third-round selection (60th overall) in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft.

Nachbaur played 469 games in the American Hockey League where he scored 174 goals, added 187 assists for a total of 361 points. He accumulated 1,452 penalty minutes. He won the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in the 1987-88 season.

Nachbaur played for EC Graz
Graz 99ers
-Current roster: Roster Updated as of: December 30, 2010 -Former players:...

 in Austria from 1990 to 1994 where in 182 games he scored 106 goals and added 103 assists for 209 points.

Nachbaur played his junior career with the Billings Bighorns of the WHL. In two seasons, where he played 162 games (Regular Season and Playoffs), he scored 87 goals, added 89 assists for 176 points and accummulated 350 minutes in penalties. Nachbaur still shares the WHL record for most goals in a playoff game where he scored 5 goals on April 20, 1978, at Vancouver, against New Westminster Bruins. Bighorns won 7-4.

Coaching career

Nachbaur is currently the head coach of the Spokane Chiefs
Spokane Chiefs
The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Spokane consistently ranks in the top 10 in the...

 of the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

. Nachbaur left his post as coach of the Binghamton Senators
Binghamton Senators
The Binghamton Senators are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League . Nicknamed the B-Sens, they play in Binghamton, New York at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Along with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL, the B-Sens are minor league affiliates of the Ottawa Senators...

 over the summer of 2010, citing personal reasons. He was given an unprecedented 5-year contract offer to come to Spokane, which he accepted.

Nachbaur had been head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans
Tri-City Americans
The Tri-City Americans are a major junior ice hockey team of the Western Hockey League, based in Kennewick, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center...

 for the last six seasons, earning a .592 winning percentage with 235 wins, 155 losses, 25 overtime losses and 17 shootout defeats over the span of 432 regular-season games. His teams made the playoffs in each of his seasons behind the bench, advancing as far as the conference final in 2007-08.
The Americans won the WHL’s U.S. Division regular-season title in each of his last two seasons, the first time in franchise history they accomplished the feat.
Nachbaur became just the 10th Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

 coach to win 400 games on November 29, 2008 when the Americans beat the Vancouver Giants
Vancouver Giants
The Vancouver Giants are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Western Hockey League . Inaugurated in 2001–02, the Giants have won one President's Cup in 2006 and one Memorial Cup in 2007 in their ten-season history...

 5-3.

Nachbaur has twice been named WHL coach of the year, first in 1994-95 when he led the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 42-28-2 record and again with Tri-City in 2007-08, when the club recorded a franchise record 108 regular-season points with a 52-16-2-2 record.

Before his move to bench boss for the Americans, Nachbaur served as an assistant coach from 2000-01 to 2001-02 with the American Hockey League’s Philadelphia Phantoms. The 50-year-old Nachbaur began his coaching career in 1994-95, when he was named head coach of the Seattle Thunderbirds
Seattle Thunderbirds
The Seattle Thunderbirds are a junior ice hockey team based in Kent, a suburb of Seattle, Washington. They are part of the U.S. Division of the Western Hockey League, and play in the ShoWare Center...

. He won WHL coach of the year that season and remained in Seattle as their head coach for six more.

External links

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