Damon Whitten

American ice hockey player and coach

Damon Whitten
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Lake Superior State
Conference	CCHA
Biographical details
Born	(1977-04-05) April 5, 1977 (age 47) Brighton, Michigan
Alma mater	Michigan State University
Playing career
1995–1996	Detroit Freeze (NAHL)
1996–1997	St. Michael's Buzzers (OPJHL)
1997–2001	Michigan State
2001–2002	Greenville Grrrowl (ECHL)
2002–2003	Arkansas RiverBlades (ECHL)
2003–2004	Lansing Ice Nuts (IIHL)

Position(s)	Left wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2004–2005	Michigan State (asst.)
2005–2006	Wayne State (asst.)
2006–2008	Alaska Anchorage (asst.)
2008–2010	Michigan State (Dir. of Hockey Ops.)
2010–2014	Michigan Tech (asst.)
2014–present	Lake Superior State

Head coaching record
Overall	143–196–31 (.428)
Tournaments	0–1 (.000)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2021 WCHA Tournament champion

Damon Whitten (born April 5, 1977) is an American ice hockey coach and former player. He is currently the men's hockey head coach of the Lake Superior State Lakers.

Playing career

Whitten played junior hockey for the Detroit Freeze of the North American Hockey League in 1995–96 before moving to the St. Michael's Buzzers in the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League the following season. Beginning in the 1997–98 season, Whitten played four years for the Michigan State Spartans, and was named alternate captain in his senior season. After college, he turned pro, playing two seasons in the ECHL: in 2001–02 for the Greenville Grrrowl (winning the league championship Kelly Cup) and 2002–03 for the Arkansas RiverBlades.^[1]

Coaching career

Whitten returned to Michigan State in 2004–05 to serve as an assistant coach under head coach Rick Comley. He then spent one season as an assistant at Wayne State before moving to Alaska Anchorage for two seasons. In 2006, he returned to his alma mater where he was named Director of Hockey Operations. Whitten returned to the bench in 2010, when he was an assistant coach at Michigan Tech. On April 26, 2014, Whitten was named head coach at Lake Superior State.^[2]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Lake Superior State Lakers (WCHA) (2014–2021)
2014–15	Lake Superior State	8–28–2	7–20–1	t-8th	WCHA first round
2015–16	Lake Superior State	14–22–5	10–13–5	7th	WCHA first round
2016–17	Lake Superior State	11–18–7	8–13–7	7th	WCHA quarterfinals
2017–18	Lake Superior State	10–22–4	8–17–3	9th
2018–19	Lake Superior State	23–13–2	16–10–2–0	4th	WCHA semifinals
2019–20	Lake Superior State	14–23–4	11–13–4–4	7th	WCHA quarterfinals
2020–21	Lake Superior State	19–7–3	9–5–0	T–2nd	NCAA regional semifinals
Lake Superior State:		99–133–27	69–91–22
Lake Superior State Lakers (CCHA) (2021–present)
2021–22	Lake Superior State	18–18–1	13–13–0	4th	CCHA quarterfinals
2022–23	Lake Superior State	9–25–2	8–17–1	8th	CCHA quarterfinals
2023–24	Lake Superior State	17–20–1	11–12–1	7th	CCHA Semifinals
Lake Superior State:		44–63–4	32–42–2
Total:		143–196–31
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

References

^ "Damon Whitten". Elite Prospects. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
^ Wellens, Matt. "New Lake Superior State coach Whitten savors connections to program's storied leaders". USCHO.com. Retrieved January 17, 2015.

External links

Damon Whitten career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey

Playing venues

Pullar Stadium (1966–1976)
Taffy Abel Arena (1976–Present)

Head coaches

Ron Mason (1966–1973)
Rick Comley (1973–1976)
Rick Yeo (1976–1981)
Bill Selman (1981–1982)
Frank Anzalone (1983–1990, 2001–2005)
Jeff Jackson (1990–1996)
Scott Borek (1996–2001)
Jim Roque (2005–2014)
Damon Whitten (2014–Present)

Seasons

1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–00
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
2020–21
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24

Conference affiliations

Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) 1972–2013, 2021–present
Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) 2013–2021

All-time leaders

Jim Dowd (274 Points)
Randy McArthur (113 Goals)
Darrin Madeley (71 Wins)

National championships

Frozen Four appearances

NCAA Tournament appearances

Conference Tournament titles

Lake Superior State University
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

v t e Current men's head coaches of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State) Ty Eigner (Bowling Green) Bob Daniels (Ferris State) Damon Whitten (Lake Superior State) Joe Shawhan (Michigan Tech) Luke Strand (Minnesota State) Grant Potulny (Northern Michigan) Enrico Blasi (St. Thomas)