Cowan: Panthers assistant Jamie Kompon has Montreal roots, link to Scotty Bowman
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Here's a good hockey trivia question for you: Who are the only two coaches to win the Stanley Cup with three teams?
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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.
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The second one is a lot tougher, but he also has a Montreal connection.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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'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.'
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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.
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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.
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