1983-84 was the third of six season
that the Atlantic Coast Hockey League existed. The teams each played
a 72 game regular season schedule. The Erie Golden Blades defeated
the Carolina Thunderbirds to win the championship. The players in the
six team league were forgettable but four of the teams were coached
by quite recognizable names.
Rick Dudley – Carolina Thunderbirds
Rick
Dudley coached the Carolina Thunderbirds for four years from
1982-83. The 1983-84 Thunderbirds finished first overall and had the
most goals for and least goals against. In the playoffs, Carolina
beat the Mohawk Valley Stars in the first round before their defeat
at the hands of the Golden Blades in the finals.
Dudley played pro from 1969-70 to
1981-82. He played 309 regular season games in the National Hockey
League with the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets. He played in the
World Hockey Association from 1975-76 to 1978-79, appearing in 270
games with the Cincinnati Stingers.
Rick was head coach of the Buffalo
Sabres from 1989-90 to midway through the 1991-92 season. He was also
interim head coach of the Florida Panthers for 40 games in 2003-04.
In 1987-88, he was awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy in the IHL as
coach of the year, leading the Flint Spirits to the finals.
Rick Ley – Mohawk Valley Stars
Rick
Ley coached the Mohawk Valley Stars to a fourth overall finish
in his only year of coaching in the ACHL. As mentioned earlier, the
Stars fell to the Carolina Thunderbirds in the opening round of the
playoffs.
Ley was a third round pick of the
Toronto Maple Leafs in 1966 and played pro hockey from 1968-69 to
1980-81. In the NHL, Rick played in 310 regular season games with the
Maple Leafs and Hartford Whalers. He was a member of the New England
Whalers in the WHA for the duration of the league, 1972-73 to
1978-79, playing in 478 regular season games.
Rick coached pro hockey from 1981-82 to
2005-06. In the NHL, he was head coach of the Whalers for the 1989-90
and 1990-91 seasons and head coach of the Vancouver Canucks for
1994-95 and most of 1995-96.
Ley’s greatest coaching success came
in the IHL with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He took the team to the
finals for three straight years from 1984-85 to 1986-87, winning in
1985-86. In 1984-85, he was awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy as
coach of the year.
Don Luce – Pineridge Bucks
Don
Luce coached part of the 1983-84 season with the Pineridge
Bucks. The Bucks were a unique team that played out of Spruce Pine,
North Carolina, a town of just 2,500 but with an arena that sat
4,000.
Luce was a third round pick of the New
York Rangers in 1966. He played pro from 1968-69 to 1981-82 with the
Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo
Sabres, Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs, appearing in
894 regular season games. Luce would only stand behind the bench in
one other season, 1986-87 as the assistant coach for the Buffalo
Sabres.
Dave Hanson – Birmingham Bulls
Dave
Hanson, better known as Jack Hanson from the movie Slap Shot,
has the distinction of winning 67% of all the pro games he coached.
Unfortunately, this result comes from winning two of three as head
coach of the Birmingham Bulls in 1983-84 before the team folded.
Hanson played pro hockey from 1974-75
to 1983-84. He appeared in 103 games in the WHA with the Minnesota
Fighting Saints, New England Whalers and Birmingham Bulls. He dressed
for 33 games in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota
North Stars.
Hanson is probably most famous for the
two years he spent in the North
American Hockey League with the Johnstown Jets. The Jets and the
NAHL were the inspiration for the movie Slapshot starring Paul
Newman.