Don Parsons (ice hockey)

For other people with similar names, see Donald Parsons.

Don Parsons
Born (1969-01-17) January 17, 1969 (age 55)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Wing
Shot Right
Played for AHL
Worcester IceCats
St. John's Maple Leafs
CHL
Memphis Riverkings
ECHL
Nashville Knights
Tallahassee Tiger Sharks
Johnstown Chiefs
Baton Rouge Kingfish
Louisiana IceGators
IHL
Manitoba Moose
Cleveland Lumberjacks
NewIHL
Bloomington PrairieThunder
UHL
Quad City Mallards
NHL draft Undrafted
Playing career 1991–2009

Don Parsons (born January 17, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player. Parsons is noted for being a prolific goal scorer who briefly held the modern minor league goal-scoring record from 2008 to 2010.

Career

Early career and college

Parson started playing hockey as a defenseman for Archbishop Williams High School in Braintree, Massachusetts because of a lack of defensemen on the teams that he played on.[1] Although he wanted to play forward, he continued to play defense as a member of the UMass Lowell hockey team from 1988 to 1992, where he scored 18 goals in 107 games.

Professional

In Parsons's rookie ECHL season, newly hired rookie Nashville head coach Nick Fotiu asked Parsons if he wanted to make the move from playing defense to playing forward. Parsons agreed, and scored 27 goals as a member of the Knights' third line.[1] Parson signed with the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks for the 1994-95 season and scored 41 goals. The following season, he signed with the Johnstown Chiefs, reuniting him with former coach Fotiu and he had his first fifty-goal season, accomplishing the feat with a four-goal night on the final game of the season.[2] Parsons would leave the Chiefs that season and sign with the Baton Rouge Kingfish. He was later traded to the Louisiana Ice Gators, where he would have his second fifty-goal season while in the ECHL.

Parsons signed with the Flint Generals of the United Hockey League. After one season with the Generals, Parsons signed with the Memphis Riverkings, where he stayed for six seasons.

On December 26, 2008 Parsons broke the modern minor hockey record for goals scored by registering his 678th goal against the Flint Generals.[3] Parsons finished his career scoring 682 goals. His record was eclipsed by Robin Bouchard who scored his 683 career goal on March 20, 2010, against the Quad City Mallards of the IHL.[4]

Parson was waived by the Bloomington PrairieThunder on January 6, 2009.[5] Both management and Parsons announced that it was done for salary cap reasons.

Retirement

Parsons's #13 was retired by the Memphis Riverkings in a pregame ceremony on March 14, 2010.[6] He is the second such honoree in the team's history, joining the late Scott Brower.

Coaching career

In mid-2011 Parsons was appointed head coach of the Lebanon Valley College team.[7] The team finished the season 11-20 and reached the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs for the first time.[8]

Personal

Parsons currently lives outside of Lancaster, PA[6] and is married to his wife Kristen, and has three children: Abby, Maggy, and Maddox.[1] They met while Parsons was a member of the Johnstown Chiefs.[1]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1988–89 University of Massachusetts Lowell NCAA 18 2 1 3 14 — — — — —
1989–90 University of Massachusetts Lowell NCAA 26 2 8 10 22 — — — — —
1990–91 University of Massachusetts Lowell NCAA 31 7 16 23 35 — — — — —
1991–92 University of Massachusetts Lowell NCAA 32 7 15 22 34 — — — — —
1991–92 Nashville Knights ECHL 3 0 3 3 0 — — — — —
1992–93 Nashville Knights ECHL 60 27 34 61 62 9 3 2 5 12
1994–95 Tallahassee Tiger Sharks ECHL 66 41 36 77 82 13 5 10 15 12
1995–96 Johnstown Chiefs ECHL 66 50 39 89 104 — — — — —
1996–97 Baton Rouge Kingfish ECHL 19 13 14 27 8 — — — — —
1996–97 Worcester IceCats AHL 2 1 1 2 4 — — — — —
1996–97 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 49 28 21 49 94 17 7 9 16 54
1997–98 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 70 55 45 100 112 8 1 10 11 8
1998–99 Louisiana IceGators ECHL 44 34 29 63 44 4 0 1 1 4
1998–99 Manitoba Moose IHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
1999–00 Flint Generals UHL 60 46 57 103 104 15 10 6 16 18
1999–00 Cleveland Lumberjacks IHL 1 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2000–01 Memphis RiverKings CHL 69 56 57 113 131 7 5 6 11 6
2001–02 Memphis RiverKings CHL 59 54 41 95 49 16 14 13 27 24
2002–03 Memphis RiverKings CHL 64 57 49 106 71 14 14 9 23 12
2003–04 Memphis RiverKings CHL 63 39 41 80 55 — — — — —
2003–04 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 2 0 0 0 4 — — — — —
2004–05 Memphis RiverKings CHL 60 55 38 93 46 — — — — —
2005–06 Memphis RiverKings CHL 52 29 36 65 56 — — — — —
2006–07 Quad City Mallards UHL 70 38 31 69 60 5 1 2 3 8
2007–08 Bloomington PrairieThunder IHL 75 38 43 81 90 — — — — —
2008–09 Bloomington PrairieThunder IHL 31 21 12 33 76 — — — — —
ECHL totals 377 248 221 469 506 51 16 32 48 90
CHL totals 367 290 262 552 408 37 33 28 61 42

Awards

CHL

  • 2000-01 Joe Burton Award (Scoring Champion)
  • 2001-02 Most Valuable Player
  • 2001-02 Most Valuable Player, Playoffs
  • 2002-03 Most Valuable Player
  • 2002-03 Joe Burton Award
  • 2003-04 Man Of The Year
  • 2004-05 All-CHL Team[9]

Records

ECHL

  • Most consecutive 40+ goal seasons (4) - 1994-99 (Nashville, Tallahassee, Johnstown, Baton Rouge, Louisiana)[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kingston Native Don Parsons Closing In On Minor League Goal-scoring Record Archived March 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Tribune-Democrat.com: From Goalies To Grinders, The Chiefs Have Seen It All, April 2nd, 2010
  3. ^ Shaun Bill (December 27, 2008). "Don Parsons - 678". Pro Hockey News.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  4. ^ "BOUCHARD NETS HISTORIC GOAL". IHL Hockey.com.com. Retrieved June 2, 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Douglas Hamm (January 7, 2009). "Thunder cut ties with record-holder Don Parsons". Pantagraph.com. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Commercialappeal.com: Kings Retire Parsons's Jersey (March 15, 2010)
  7. ^ "Lebanon Valley picks Parsons". www.ncaa.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  8. ^ "Coaching Staff". www.godutchmen.com. Retrieved January 4, 2013.[permanent dead link‍]
  9. ^ CHL.com: Award Winners Archived 2010-09-18 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ ECHL.com: Regular Season Individual Records (.pdf) Archived 2007-10-05 at the Wayback Machine