The Portland Pirates announced today that Gord Dineen, older brother of Pirates head coach Kevin Dineen, will join the team as an assistant coach in 2007-08.
Matt Laatsch has also been named an assistant coach for Portland.
Gord Dineen has coached for seven seasons following an 18-year professional playing career. He was an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes’ AHL affiliates in San Antonio (2005-07), Utah (2004-05) and Springfield (2003-04), and also served as an assistant in Louisville in 2000-01. A defenseman, Dineen played a total of 528 NHL games in his career, and also won three IHL Turner Cup championships with Denver (1995), Utah (1996) and the Chicago Wolves (2000).
Laatsch, 26, comes to Portland from his post at the University of Denver, where he served last season as a volunteer assistant coach. Laatsch played four years at Denver, captaining the Pioneers to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2004 and 2005.
