Wildfong, Vogel back on board to defend President’s Cup

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — Fans of the Central Hockey League champion Texas Brahmas were thrilled to learn that Head Coach Dan Wildfong had signed a multi-year deal and will continue to lead the team in the quest to defend the President’s Cup. Assistant coach Ron Vogel has also re-signed for the 2009-10 season.
 

Wildfong is entering his third year as Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations. The former Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs captain played for eight seasons in the CHL before retiring to join the Brahmas organization in 2007. In his rookie year as coach, Wildfong led his team to the Northern Conference Finals where the Brahmas lost in a forced Game Seven showdown with the Colorado Eagles.
 
Vogel, a former goaltender, also played for eight seasons, including one season (2007-08) with the Corpus Christi IceRays. He is responsible for the defense and goaltending. 
 
Last season, the duo led the Brahmas to a franchise best 42-16-6 regular season record finishing at the top of the Southern Conference. In the playoffs, the Brahmas went on to win the Southeast division, the Southern Conference and ultimately the Ray Miron President’s Cup, defeating the Colorado Eagles four games to one. The championship is the first for the Brahmas organization.
 
Wildfong is the longest-tenured head coach of the Brahmas, having coached 128 regular season games. His all-time regular season record is 82-38-8 and 21-8 in the postseason. Last season, he became the all-time winningest coach in the Brahmas’ 11 year history, surpassing Terry Menard’s 62 wins on January 16 with a 5-0 victory over the Arizona Sundogs at the NYTEX Sports Centre.
 
“They are such a great team to coach. They worked hard and they gave me everything they had, almost every night and it was fun, a lot of fun,” Wildfong said.
 
“Having Dan and Ron solidifies our on ice product,” said Brahmas General Manager Mike Barack. “We look forward to having championship coaches return to defend their title.”
 
In just 38 days, Wildfong and Vogel will be taking that on ice product back to the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado to take on the Eagles once again to open the 2009-10 season. They say the only thing harder than winning the cup is defending it. The last CHL team to win back-to-back championships was the Memphis RiverKings in 2002 and 2003. You can bet that Wildfong and Vogel plan to do whatever it takes to try for the repeat.
 
Contact the author at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com