Yet another former hockey Pirate is returning to Portland.

Kevin Kaminski, a member of the 1994 Calder Cup championship team, has accepted a job with the Portland Junior Pirates as head coach of an elite team, and as a youth skills and development instructor.

“We are privileged to have a quality coach such as Kevin Kaminski join our staff,” said a former teammate, Brad Church, now general manager of the Junior Pirates as well as chief operating officer of the American Hockey League Portland Pirates, in a prepared statement. “As a longtime professional player and coach, Kaminski is a great teacher of the game. He produces not only great hockey players but great young men.”

Kaminski, 45, spent the past three seasons in the Southern Professional Hockey League as head coach of the Louisiana IceGators, who relieved him of his duties earlier this month despite consecutive runner-up finishes and a three-year playoff run after taking over the team in December 2010.

Since retiring as a player in 2000, Kaminski has coached in a variety of minor leagues, including the AHL.

Nicknamed “Killer” for his pugnacious style of play despite an undersized body relative to his teammates and opponents, Kaminski enjoyed a 13-year professional career that included three stints with the Pirates, and 139 NHL games with Minnesota, Quebec and Washington.

His 797 career penalty minutes with the Pirates remains a franchise record.

In June, the Pirates announced the return of a former player, Trent Whitfield, as an assistant to Coach Ray Edwards.

Kent Hulst, who was another member of the Calder Cup squad, also coaches with the Junior Pirates.

 

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