The Pee Dee IceCats have hired Brasher Falls native Chris Bernard as head coach for the 2026-27 SPHL season.
The IceCats are a former member of the Federal Prospects Hockey League but announced their departure from the league in May to join the SPHL, formerly known as the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Bernard, a former Clarkson University goaltender and coach, guided the SUNY Potsdam hockey program for 17 seasons before his departure prior to the 2025-26 season.
“During our extensive coaching search, he emerged as the most highly referred candidate, with references including NHL general managers,” said IceCats CEO Mike Ronan in the team’s announcement Saturday. “We are confident that Coach Bernard is the perfect leader to build a program that our community and ownership can be proud of, while building on the tremendous success we had last year and driving this team all the way to a championship. We all believe he is not only the best coaching candidate for Inaugural SPHL season, but he is also the best human being for the job.”
The IceCats reached the FPHL finals in May before losing to Binghamton. IceCats head coach Gary Graham retired after the season, leaving Bernard to guide the team in their first season in the SPHL.
“I am so excited to join the IceCats,” Bernard said in the club’s announcement. “The commitment to creating a first-class environment is so evident. Treating people as family echoes throughout.”
Prior to his tenure at SUNY Potsdam, in which he compiled a 100-184-26 mark, Bernard coached as an assistant at Canisius University and as the head coach at Western New England College. Bernard has sent more than 25 of his players on to pro careers.
Bernard was part of two ECAC regular season championships during his time with Clarkson and four straight NCAA Tournament berths. After college, he played from 1998-2004 with the United Hockey League’s Mohawk Valley Prowlers and Missouri River Otters and the Central Hockey League’s Fayetteville Force.
Bernard was a standout player in high school for the St. Lawrence Central Larries.
The SPHL features 13 teams throughout the southeast and midwest. The Athens (Ga.) Rock Lobsters joined Pee Dee in moving from the FPHL to the SPHL.
The IceCats, based in Florence, S.C., were formerly the HC Venom of the FPHL and based in Poughkeepsie. They were originally formed as the Elmira River Sharks of the FPHL in 2023.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Tuesday that former Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, a Brasher Falls native, won’t be returning as an assistant coach.
Daniel Aldredsson, the longtime Ottawa Senators star who finished his playing career with the Red Wings in 2013-14, was hired by the Leafs as an associate coach under Jim Hiller.
Lalonde, 53, spent one season as an assistant in Toronto under Craig Berube, who was fired on May 13.
The Red Wings fired Lalonde on Dec. 26, 2024, replacing him with Todd McLellan, following a 13-17-4 start. The team went 89-86-23 in two-plus seasons under Lalonde. It was his first NHL head coaching job after successful stints as a head coach in the USHL, ECHL and AHL and four years as an assistant under Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay.
Alfredsson, 53, joins Toronto after spending the past three seasons as an assistant coach in Ottawa. He initially returned to the Senators organization in player development.
The Leafs also named John Gruden and Brad Werenka as assistant coaches.
Times wire services contributed to this report.