The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Washington Capitals and AHL's Hershey Bears, announced today that Ryan Bourque has been hired as the team's Assistant Coach. This comes after Bourque was hired as the team's Interim Assistant Coach on March 7th, finishing the 2021-22 season behind the bench.
“I'm honored to be a part of such a storied and proven organization in the ECHL,” said Bourque. “I very excited to continue to learn and gain experience coaching with such great influences like Brenden [Kotyk] and Rob [Concannon]. I would like to thank Todd [Halloran] for believing in me.”
Bourque, 31, joins Kotyk at the helm after he was announced on Wednesday as the team's 11th Head Coach in franchise history. In the final 15 games of the season, the duo led the Stingrays to a 10-5 record which included a season-high five game win streak, season-high seven goals on April 2nd against Orlando, and a 90% penalty kill.
“We were very impressed with Ryan's hockey IQ and the way he sees the game,” said Stingrays President Concannon. “He did a great job working with Brenden on improving our roster and systems the last month of the season. Ryan has a lot of experience in professional hockey and was always someone the coaches leaned on. His energy and personality makes him a great addition to our hockey ops staff.”
Prior to joining the Stingrays, Bourque completed a nine-year professional hockey career ending after the 2019-20 season. The former forward appeared in one game for the NHL's New York Rangers and spent 585 games in the AHL with the Connecticut Whale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hershey Bears, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and Charlotte Checkers.
Since retiring from professional hockey, Bourque has been involved in player and skill development in the Boston area.
“Ryan is passionate, hardworking, and competitive,” said Kotyk. “He brings a lot of energy and passion to both the war room and the locker room, pushing and challenging us every single day to make everyone around him better. Our goal is to win, help the players be as successful as possible, and bring a fourth Kelly Cup to Charleston.”
During his time playing junior hockey, Bourque won two gold medals and two silver medals playing for Team USA in four World Junior Championships a the U18 and U20 age levels.
The native of Topsfield, MA is the son of five-time Norris Trophy winner, Stanley Cup Champion, and Hall of Famer Ray Bourque. His brother, Chris, played parts of 13 seasons in the AHL and NHL, predominantly with Hershey and Washington and most recently spent the year playing in Germany.
Season ticket plans are on sale now, For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248 or submit this form.
