> From: "Bob Woodbury" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> An update on former Maine National Champion, Olympian and Captain
> , Chris Imes.  Chris is a rookie coach of an expansion franchise in the
> Junior A North American Hockey League, the Pittsburgh Forge. He
> led the Forge to a second-place finish in his division, defeated the #1
> seed in the other division, then lost in the championship round to the
team
> that led the league all season.

Chris did a hell of a job here this season.  The Forge were picked by the
league to finish last in their division this year, but they had an excellent
season, battling for first place with Compuware most of the season.   About
half of the team were born and trained in Pittsburgh, which makes it an even
greater accomplishment.

He should have been the coach of the year.

He'll be sending at least 5 kids to college next year.  Brian Hartman and
Doug Conley to Niagara, Carson Strang to Air Force, Pat Levendusky to Miami
(OH), and Kenny Trombetta to Yale.

> This weekend, both teams will be in
> Bozeman, Montana representing the league in the National Junior A
> Championships. Not bad for a rookie coach and team. As his Dad
> said to me in an e-mail recently, it will be interesting to see how far he
goes as a coach.

The Forge games will be broadcast over the web this weekend at
http://www.pittsburghforge.com and http://www.redzonemedia.com if anyone is
interested.  The Forge play at 10PM EST on Friday against Bozeman.

Erik Johnson