Marcel Comeau (born March 1, 1952) is a Canadian ice hockey scout, and former player, coach, and National Hockey League team executive. He played eleven seasons in the International Hockey League (IHL), where he was the league's top scorer and won the IHL Most Valuable Player Award in 1981. He later coached in the Western Hockey League (WHL), winning two WHL Coach of the Year Awards, and a Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year Award. He also led Team Canada to a gold medal at the 1996 World Juniors, and later served as a team executive for the Atlanta Thrashers, and the Winnipeg Jets.
Comeau never played in the National Hockey League, and spent eleven seasons playing with the Saginaw Gears in the International Hockey League (IHL). He was named an IHL second-team all-star in the 1973–74 IHL season, and the 1977–78 IHL season. Comeau led the league with 82 assists in the 1980–81 IHL season, led the league with 126 points and won the Leo P. Lamoureux Memorial Trophy as the top scorer, was named a first-team all-star, and won the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the IHL's most valuable player. In the 1976–77 IHL season, Comeau and the Saginaw Gears finished first place overall in the league winning the Fred A. Huber Trophy, and won the playoffs to capture a Turner Cup title. The team was inducted into the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Comeau finished his playing career with the Maine Mariners in the American Hockey League (AHL), with seven games during the 1982–83 AHL season playoffs.
Comeau switched to the Saskatoon Blades for the 1984–85 WHL season, and stayed with the team for five seasons. He led Saskatoon to improved records in three successive seasons, reaching the third round of the playoffs in the 1986–87 WHL season. Comeau led Saskatoon to 47 wins and the east division title in the 1987–88 WHL season, and was awarded the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the WHL Coach of the Year. The Blades moved out of Saskatoon Arena during his fifth season, into the new SaskTel Centre, and were scheduled to host the 1989 Memorial Cup. Comeau led Saskatoon to second place in the east division with 42 wins, and into the third round of the 1988–89 WHL season playoffs. At the 1989 Memorial Cup, Comeau's Blades won 5–3 over the Laval Titan, lost 3–2 to the Peterborough Petes, and won 5–4 over the Swift Current Broncos to reach a berth in the finals.
Comeau was named director of hockey operations and head coach of the New Haven Nighthawks on August 11, 1989. In his first season coaching in the AHL, Comeau led the New Haven to seventh-place finish, and missed the playoffs. The following season, his team struggled again and Comeau became the first AHL coach to be fired mid-season in nearly six years, on November 29, 1990. Comeau took over as head coach of a struggling Winston-Salem Thunderbirds team in the ECHL on January 12, 1991, but was unable to get his new team into the 1990-91 ECHL season playoffs.
Comeau was hired as the first head coach for the expansion Tacoma Rockets in the WHL, on April 17, 1991. In his 1992–93 WHL season with Tacoma, he led the team to 45 wins, and won his second Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as WHL Coach of Year. He also received the Coach of the Year Award for the Canadian Hockey League in the same season. Comeau served five seasons total with the Rockets, four of those in Tacoma, and a fifth season being the team's first year as the Kelowna Rockets in the 1995–96 WHL season.
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Lost, IHL finals |
Out of playoffs |
Lost, round 1 |
Lost, round 1 |
Lost, round 2 |
Lost, round 3 |
Lost, round 3 |
Lost, round 3 1989 Memorial Cup finalists |
Out of playoffs |
Fired November 30, 1990 |
Out of playoffs |
Lost, round 1 |
Lost, round 1 |
Lost, round 2 |
Lost, round 1 |
Lost, round 1 |
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