
Cowan: Panthers assistant Jamie Kompon has Montreal roots, link to Scotty Bowman
Montreal Canadiens
By
Here's a good hockey trivia question for you: Who are the only two coaches to win the Stanley Cup with three teams?
This first one is pretty easy: the legendary Scotty Bowman won a record nine Stanley Cups as a head coach — five with the Canadiens, one with the Pittsburgh Penguins and three with the Detroit Red Wings.
The second one is a lot tougher, but he also has a Montreal connection.
Jamie Kompon has won the Stanley Cup three times as an assistant coach — in 2012 with the Los Angeles Kings, in 2013 with the Chicago Blackhawks and last year with the Florida Panthers. Kompon is looking for a fourth Stanley Cup with the Panthers, who were leading the Hurricanes 3-1 in the Eastern Conference final heading into Game 5 Wednesday in Carolina (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
Kompon was born in Nipigon, Ont., but he spent four seasons playing hockey at McGill University. A defenceman, he was named McGill's rookie of the year as a freshman in 1985 and was team captain during his senior season.
During his final year at McGill, Kompon spent a three-month stage as a student teacher at Selwyn House School in Westmount, where Steve Mitchell — the father of former Canadiens player Torrey Mitchell — was the director of athletics.
After graduating from McGill, Kompon spent two seasons playing in the ECHL with the Hampton Roads Admirals, Cincinnati Cyclones and Winston-Salem Thunderbirds before hanging up his skates and returning to Montreal, where he landed a job at Loyola High School. From 1991-96, Kompon taught phys-ed and math at Loyola and coached the juvenile boys' hockey team, including games against Mitchell's Selwyn House teams.
Kompon also returned to his alma mater during that time as an assistant coach and later co-coach at McGill with Martin Raymond. During the 1995-96 season, the Loyola juvenile team won the Ed Meagher Sports Tournament for the first time with Kompon as head coach.
'He's turned out to be a very successful coach, but he's a really humble guy,' Mitchell said Wednesday when I asked him about Kompon. 'A real caring individual and he has always stayed in touch with me.'
Kompon made the jump to the NHL with the St. Louis Blues, where from 1997-98 to 2005-06 he held a variety of jobs, including video coach, strength and conditioning coach, assistant coach and scouting coordinator. He then spent five seasons as an assistant coach with the Kings, followed by two seasons as an assistant coach with the Blackhawks.
After that, Kompon spent the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons as general manager and head coach of the junior Portland Winterhawks in the WHL before returning to the NHL as an assistant coach under Paul Maurice for six seasons with the Winnipeg Jets.
When Maurice was hired by the Panthers before the 2022-23 season, he brought Kompon with him and they advanced to the Stanley Cup final during their first season together in Florida before winning the championship last year.
The retired Mitchell had a chance to catch up with Kompon while in Florida last November. Kompon took Mitchell on a tour of the Panthers' spectacular new practice facility in Fort Lauderdale and he also had a chance to meet Maurice and Florida GM Bill Zito.
When Maurice asked Mitchell what his connection was with Kompon, he said: 'We knew each other from high-school coaching when he was at Loyola, but they never beat us.'
Maurice responded: 'Oh, boy, here we go!'
Mitchell then had to admit: 'No, we never beat them.'
Kompon told Mitchell that the Panthers are an extremely talented team, adding that the players are also 'very, very coachable and now they have experience.'
Mitchell wishes he had been able to hire Kompon at Selwyn House back in the day.
'At Selwyn House, we were really impressed with his teaching, his dedication and I knew that he was extremely good with kids and we wanted to hire him, but we had no spots,' Mitchell said. 'We lost him to Loyola. I knew they were going to get a good one.'
There was a feature story on Kompon in the summer/fall edition of Loyola Today magazine last year after he won his third Stanley Cup and he spoke about the demands of being an assistant coach today in the NHL.
'You're home by 11 p.m. after a game, rewatch it, and then your work starts again at 5 a.m. at the rink,' he said. 'When you're passionate about what you do, it never feels like work.'
Last summer, Kompon had a chance to bring the Stanley Cup back to Thunder Bay, Ont., where he grew up. He was asked by the Thunder Bay News about matching Bowman's record of winning the Stanley Cup with three teams.
'Scotty is a legend, a founding father if you would,' Kompon said. 'He should be on a Mount Rushmore-type of thing. I'm just a piece. It is surreal. It's unbelievable when you say it like that. Sometimes it doesn't sink in and I never take it for granted.'
Kompon has also never forgotten his Montreal roots.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Winnipeg Free Press
28 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Knicks denied permission to interview Kidd, Udoka and Finch in coaching search, AP sources say
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Knicks were denied permission to speak with coaches Jason Kidd of Dallas, Ime Udoka of Houston and Chris Finch of Minnesota in a slow start to find Tom Thibodeau's replacement. All three coaches are under contract and their organizations declined to make them available for interviews with the Knicks, two people with knowledge of the details said Thursday. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the interview process was to remain private. The Knicks fired Thibodeau on June 3, despite reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. They reached the playoffs four times in Thibodeau's five seasons and had won at least 50 games in each of the final two. They appear to be trying to find out if any coaches they like who currently have jobs might be added to their list along with the ones who are currently available. The Mavericks confirmed Thursday that a request was submitted and denied. ESPN first reported on all three decisions. Knicks president Leon Rose interviewed Kidd and Udoka in 2020 before hiring Thibodeau. Both also played for the Knicks, with Kidd ending his Hall of Fame career on the team that reached the 2013 playoffs — which was the Knicks' last appearance before Thibodeau's arrival. Kidd led the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals, Finch has guided the Timberwolves to back-to-back trips to the West finals and Udoka took a young Rockets team to the No. 2 seed in the West this season, so none of the organizations is interested in searching for a new coach. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Thibodeau thanked the organization, players, coaches and fans in a New York Times ad on Wednesday, saying the experience with the Knicks was 'something I will never forget.' ___ AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Indianapolis contributed to this report. ___ AP NBA:


Winnipeg Free Press
28 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Healthier Panthers are nearing full strength in the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The bumps and bruises and worse started to pile up midway through the Florida Panthers' third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Matthew Tkachuk only returned for the playoff opener after sitting out the final two months of the regular season with the injury he suffered at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and seems to still be gutting through it. Sam Reinhart and Niko Mikkola each missed time during the Eastern Conference final, and A.J. Greer's injury he tried playing through eventually sidelined him. 'It's very hard to win a Cup with unhealthy bodies,' Greer said. The Panthers found that out the hard way two years ago when they were the skating wounded. Tkachuk had a broken sternum, Aaron Ekblad had a broken foot, two shoulder dislocations and a torn oblique muscle, Radko Gudas had a high ankle sprain and they lost to Vegas in five games in the final. While the Edmonton Oilers looked to be in better shape going into this series with the notable exception of injured forward Zach Hyman, Florida has gotten healthier. Coach Paul Maurice said Reinhart is 'back to full health,' Tkachuk, Mikkola and Greer are making a difference and the defending champions are two wins away from hoisting the Cup for a second year in a row. 'It's always good to have a full team that's healthy,' fourth-liner Tomas Nosek said after practice Wednesday. 'It's been good so far, and hopefully it stays that way.' The Panthers will have their ideal lineup for Game 4 on Thursday night in Sunrise after that same group waxed Edmonton 6-1 earlier this week to take a 2-1 lead in the final. Other than do-it-all defenseman Seth Jones, no one played more than 23 minutes in Game 3. That balance, after so much overtime hockey early in what looked to be an evenly matched series, combined with an extra day between games, makes them rested and ready. 'We've been, I think, great the whole playoffs,' center Anton Lundell said. 'It doesn't really matter when we play. It's always fun to play, so we don't really care. But obviously now we have had a couple days off, so it's fun to get the energy back and prepare.' Reinhart scoring Monday night was his first goal since being out for two games in the Eastern Conference final, ending a drought that dated to the second round against Toronto. He had six shots in Game 2 and has been steadily progressing. 'I'm not worried about him,' Maurice said. 'I think his game is getting stronger — quite a bit stronger.' So is Tkachuk's, even if it's clear the tough winger is not moving as well as he does when 100%. But he had an assist and was noticeably better in Game 3, which Maurice called Tkachuk's best of the playoffs. 'It took him a while to build out,' Maurice said. 'The speed of the Carolina series was probably a really, really good thing. Some of these injuries I'm sure they're dealing with it, you can't condition them and rehab them at the same time. They need some time. And he was out for such a very long time that I would say the last month, but certainly the last three weeks, he's back to form now.' That spells trouble for the Oilers, playing without Hyman and with top-line forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins dealing with an undisclosed injury that has him relegated him to game-time-decision uncertainty. Their longest-tenured player not being 100% is a major blow after Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Hyman were such an effective trio getting to this point. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Coach Kris Knoblauch foreshadowed a lineup change that may or may not be injury related. Either way, his team's depth is being tested. The same has been the case for the Panthers, who have used 22 skaters in the playoffs following 30 during the season. They've grown accustomed to shuffling players in and out and chugging along like some of the NHL's best teams have to do. 'With our depth this year, even when guys are injured or guys are out of the lineup, there's just so much depth on our team that guys can fill in seamlessly and it doesn't change our lineup that much,' Bennett said. 'That's definitely a huge factor for us.' ___ AP NHL playoffs: and


Vancouver Sun
43 minutes ago
- Vancouver Sun
What you need to know about the Abbotsford Canucks' Calder Cup chase
Here's your Calder Cup cheat sheet. The Abbotsford Canucks and the Charlotte Checkers square off in the AHL's version of the Stanley Cup Finals starting Friday at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C. The best-of-seven set shifts to the Abbotsford Centre on Tuesday, starting with Game 3. Here's all you need to know about the match-up between the top farm teams of the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Game 1 goes Friday at Bojangles (affectionately known as The BOplex) with a 4 p.m. Pacific time start. Game 2 is there Sunday (1 p.m.), before the series moves to Abbotsford for Game 3 on Tuesday (7 p.m.), Game 4 on Thursday (7 p.m.), and then, if necessary, Game 5 on Saturday (6 p.m.). If required, Games 6 and 7 would be June 23 (4 p.m.) and June 25 (4 p.m.) back in North Carolina. The Checkers' announced attendance average in the regular season was 6,964. Abbotsford was 4,152. The Canucks had an announced crowd of 6,983 for the 4-2 win over the visiting Texas Stars on Sunday that advanced Abbotsford to the final. How we're stacking up against the Checkers in the Finals ⬇️ The trophy was first handed out at the end of the AHL's inaugural season in 1936-37, and went to the Syracuse Stars after they beat the Philadelphia Ramblers in four games in a best-of-five finals. The league was eight teams back then. It's 32 now. The trophy is named after Frank Calder. He's best known as the first president of the NHL — the league's Calder Memorial Trophy for top rookie is named in his honour — but he was also instrumental in the formation of the AHL. The Hershey Bears have won 13 Calder Cups, including claiming top spot the past two seasons prior to this one. They've been to 25 finals, with the first coming in 1941. The Bears are in the midst of their second stint as a Washington Capitals' affiliate. It began in 2005-06. For those scoring at home, the Stanley Cup was first presented in 1893. Florida and Charlotte advancing to their respective league championship series marks the first time since 2008 that a single organization played it out for both trophies. That year, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost in six games to the Detroit Red Wings for the Stanley Cup and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fell in six games to the Chicago Wolves in for the Calder Cup. Fun fact? Canucks skills coach Jason Krog led the way for those Wolves, and was voted the playoff's most valuable player. He had 12 goals and 38 points in just 24 postseason games. The Panthers and Checkers are trying to make Florida the first franchise to be double champions since 1995, when the New Jersey Devils and Albany River Rats were both successful. Another fun fact? Charlotte coach Geordie Kinnear was a defenceman on that Albany team. Calder Cup Finals Game 1 Friday 7 PM ET @CheckersHockey vs @abbycanucks Watch for FREE on Facebook, X and YouTube! DETAILS: @FlaPanthers | @Canucks #AHL #CalderCup #TimeToHunt #ProudlyAbbotsford #Canucks The Checkers feature one-time Edmonton Oilers top prospect Jesse Puljujärvi, former Canuck Will Lockwood and Vancouver Giants alum Justin Sourdif. Charlotte (44-22-3-3) finished second in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the league overall in the regular season. Abbotsford (44-24-2-2) was second in the Pacific Division and fifth in the league overall, two points behind Charlotte. Charlotte and Abbotsford never met in the regular season. Charlotte had a bye in the opening round and they have had back-to-back sweeps. With that, Charlotte has played 12 games (10-2) in these playoffs while Abbotsford is at 18 (12-6). CHECK OUT THIS SCHEDULE ⬇️ The Abbotsford Canucks will host the Charlotte Checkers at home on June 17, 19 and 21 if necessary in their battle for the Calder Cup! LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE | On Wednesday morning, Ticketmaster had a handful of seats available for Game 3. It had Game 4 as sold out, and the if-necessary Game 5 with just two single seats available. StubHub had a handful of tickets for Game 3 available, with $123 per ticket as the lowest price. If you can't get there live, games are streamed on FloHockey. FloHockey announced Wednesday morning that they are streaming Game 1 on Friday for free on YouTube, as well as Facebook and X. You'll need to subscribe to FloHockey to stream the reminder of the series . They list a monthly subscription for $39.99. Check out their website for more details, though. Sportsnet 650 has also been carrying the series on the radio. The Canadian Brewhouse in Abbotsford (3122 Mount Lehman ) hosted watch parties in the last round for the away games and plans to do the same again. There is bound to be other spots willing to put the game on the big screen. Check with your favourite establishment. The AHL Store online has a full selection of Western Conference and Calder Cup. There's also a team store at the Abbotsford Centre . @SteveEwen sewen@