Roy SommerThe winningest coach in American Hockey League history has announced his retirement.
Sommer’s 25-year run will come to a close this evening when his San Diego Gulls visit the Colorado Eagles in the 2022-23 season finale. It will be Sommer’s 1,814th game with an AHL bench.
Sommer, 66, spent 24 seasons as the head coach of AHL affiliates the San Jose Sharks in Kentucky (1998-2001), Cleveland (2001-2006), Worcester (2006-15) and San Jose (2015-22). He joined the Anaheim Ducks as head coach of San Diego on July 12, 2022.
Sommer has won 828 AHL games, surpassing the Hockey Hall of Famer Fred “Boone” Cook With his 637th win on February 10, 2016. He beat out another Hall of Famer, Frank Mathersin games on March 26, 2014, when he coached his 1,257th career game.
A native of Oakland, Sommer was awarded the Louis AR Pieri Memorial Trophy as the AHL’s Outstanding Coach in 2016-17. His teams have won four division titles, and he has coached in three AHL All-Star Classics (2000, 2015, 2019).
Prior to being named head coach of the Sharks’ AHL, Sommer spent the 1997-98 season as an NHL assistant coach under Daryl Souter in San Jose. He also spent part of the 2019-20 season as an associate coach for the Sharks.
Sommer played 10 seasons of professional hockey after being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1977, scored a goal in his NHL debut with Edmonton in 1981 and won the Calder Cup with the Maine Mariners in 1984.