Joe Sacco (ice hockey player)

Joe Sacco
Date of birth	4th February 1969
place of birth	Medford , Massachusetts , USA
size	185 cm
Weight	88 kg
position	Right wing
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1987 , 4th round, 71st position Toronto Maple Leafs
Career stations
1987-1990	Boston University
1990-1993	Toronto Maple Leafs
1993-1997	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
1997-1999	New York Islanders
1999-2002	Washington Capitals
2002-2003	Philadelphia Flyers

Joseph William Sacco (born February 4, 1969 in Medford , Massachusetts ) is a retired American ice hockey player and current coach . Since July 2014 he has been the assistant coach of the Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League . During his active time as a player from 1987 to 2003 he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs , Mighty Ducks of Anaheim , New York Islanders , Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League. His younger brother David was also active in the NHL.

Career as a player

Joe Sacco was selected as a high school player in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft in the fourth round as a total of 71 players from the Toronto Maple Leafs . After three years with the Boston University team , the attacker made his National Hockey League debut for the Maple Leafs in the 1990/91 season . In his rookie year , he gave five templates in 20 games, but mainly played for the Canadian farm team at the time, the Newmarket Saints from the American Hockey League . After the left shooter had commuted again in the following two years between the NHL team of the Leafs and their new AHL farm team St. John's Maple Leafs , he was engaged in the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft by the newly formed Mighty Ducks of Anaheim , where he was in had a regular seat for the following five seasons.

On February 6, 1998 Sacco was transferred together with Jean-Jacques Daigneault and Mark Janssens in exchange for Travis Green , Doug Houda and Tony Tuzzolino to the New York Islanders , for which he scored nine points scorer in a total of 98 games in the following year and a half. He then received a contract as a free agent with their league rivals Washington Capitals , for which he was regularly on the ice until 2002. After his contract in the US capital ended, the winger initially remained without a club for six months before signing with the Philadelphia Phantoms from the AHL and shortly afterwards with their cooperation partner , the Philadelphia Flyers from the NHL. For the latter he scored a total of six points, including one goal, in a total of 38 games by the end of the season. Following this season, Sacco ended his active career after 16 years.

International

For Team USA , Sacco took part in the 1989 World Junior Championships and the 1992 , 1994 , 1996 and 2002 World Championships . He was also in the US squad for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville .

Career as a coach

Joe Sacco
Coaching stations
2007-2009	Lake Erie Monsters
2009-2013	Colorado Avalanche
2013	US national team

In the 2005/06 season , two years after his retirement from ice hockey, Sacco was hired as the assistant coach of the Lowell Lock Monsters , a farm team of the Colorado Avalanche . On May 7, 2007, after two years as an assistant, Sacco was named head coach. He took over the Lake Erie Monsters , the new AHL team for the Colorado Avalanche.

On June 4, 2009, the day after the Avalanche sacked head coach Tony Granato , Sacco was promoted and introduced as the new Colorado head coach for the 2009-10 season . His current assistants are ex-players Sylvain Lefebvre , Steve Konowalchuk and Adam Deadmarsh . In the first season as head coach of the Avalanche Joe Sacco managed to reach the playoffs with the Avalanche, after Colorado had occupied last place in the Western Conference in the previous season . For this achievement he was nominated for the Jack Adams Award , which is presented annually to the best coach in the NHL. Sacco was named the third best coach in the NHL, the trophy was won by the coach of the Phoenix Coyotes , Dave Tippett . In the following three seasons Sacco missed the play-offs with the Avalanche. After Colorado finished last in the Western Conference at the end of the 2012/13 NHL season , he was removed from head coach on April 28, 2013. A few days earlier he was appointed head coach of the US national team - after he had already worked as assistant coach of the selection in 2009 and 2010 - and won the bronze medal with them at the 2013 World Cup .

In July 2013 Sacco was hired by the Buffalo Sabers as an assistant trainer . After a season in Buffalo Sacco moved to the Boston Bruins in the same role .

Achievements and Awards

• 1996 bronze medal at the world championship
• 2013 bronze medal at the World Championship ( as head coach )

Career statistics

As a player

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		GP	G	A.	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A.	Pts	PIM
1987-88	Boston University	HE		34	14th	22nd	36	38
1988-89	Boston University	HE		33	21st	19th	40	66
1989-90	Boston University	HE		44	28	24	52	70
1990-91	Newmarket Saints	AHL		49	18th	17th	35	24		-	-	-	-	-
1990-91	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		20th	0	5	5	2		-	-	-	-	-
1991-92	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		17th	7th	4th	11	4th		-	-	-	-	-
1991-92	St. John's Maple Leafs	AHL		-	-	-	-	-		1	1	1	2	0
1992-93	St. John's Maple Leafs	AHL		37	14th	16	30th	45		7th	6th	4th	10	2
1992-93	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		23	4th	4th	8th	8th		-	-	-	-	-
1993-94	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		84	19th	18th	37	61		-	-	-	-	-
1994-95	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		41	10	8th	18th	23		-	-	-	-	-
1995-96	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		76	13	14th	27	40		-	-	-	-	-
1996-97	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		77	12	17th	29	35		11	2	0	2	2
1997-98	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	NHL		55	8th	11	19th	24		-	-	-	-	-
	New York Islanders	NHL		25th	3	3	6th	10		-	-	-	-	-
1998-99	New York Islanders	NHL		73	3	0	3	45		-	-	-	-	-
1999-2000	Washington Capitals	NHL		79	7th	16	23	50		5	0	0	0	4th
2000-01	Washington Capitals	NHL		69	7th	7th	14th	48		6th	0	0	0	2
2001-02	Washington Capitals	NHL		65	0	7th	7th	51		-	-	-	-	-
2002-03	Philadelphia Phantoms	AHL		6th	4th	3	7th	4th		-	-	-	-	-
2002-03	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		34	1	5	6th	20th		4th	0	0	0	0
HE total				111	63	65	128	174
AHL total				92	36	36	72	73		8th	7th	5	12	2
NHL overall				738	94	119	213	421		26th	2	0	2	8th

As a trainer

				Regular season									Playoffs
season	team	league		GC	W.	L.	T	OTL	Pts	Win%	placement		GC	W.	L.	Win%	result
2007-08	Lake Erie Monsters	AHL		80	26th	41	-	13	65	0.406	6th, North Division		-	-	-	-	-
2008-09	Lake Erie Monsters	AHL		80	34	38	-	8th	76	0.475	6th, North Division		-	-	-	-	-
2009-10	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		82	43	30th	-	9	95	0.579	2nd, Northwest Division		6th	2	4th	0.333	Quarter finals
2010-11	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		82	30th	44	-	8th	68	0.415	4th, Northwest Division		-	-	-	-	-
2011-12	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		82	41	35	-	6th	88	0.537	3rd, Northwest Division		-	-	-	-	-
2012–13	Colorado Avalanche	NHL		48	16	25th	-	7th	39	0.406	5th, Northwest Division		-	-	-	-	-
AHL total				160	60	79	-	21st	141	0.441	2 seasons		-	-	-	-	-
NHL overall				294	130	134	-	30th	290	0.493	4 seasons		6th	2	4th	0.333	1 participation

Web links

• Joe Sacco at hockeydb.com (English)
• Joe Sacco at legendsofhockey.net (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ nhl.com, Coyotes' Tippett wins first Jack Adams Award
2. ^ Sacco out as Avalanche coach after four seasons. National Hockey League , April 28, 2013, accessed April 28, 2013 . 
3. ↑ mensworlds.usahockey.com, Joe Sacco to Coach 2013 Men's National Team , April 19, 2013
4. ↑ nhl.com: "Joe Sacco Hired As Bruins Assistant Coach" (English, July 24, 2014, accessed on September 7, 2014)