Nick Vitucci (born June 16, 1967) is a former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

. He was the head coach of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

Toledo Walleye The Toledo Walleye are a professional ice hockey team based in Toledo, Ohio. The Walleye are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Walleye were founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm and play their home games ...

from 2009 to 2014. In 2008, Vitucci was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame.

Playing career

During his playing career, Vitucci spent most of his time in the ECHL, but had numerous call ups including stints in the IHL with the Peoria Rivermen and in the AHL with the Maine Mariners,

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Bears have played in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 1938–39 season, making it the longest continuously operating member club of the league still ...

, and

Binghamton Rangers The Binghamton Rangers were a former United States, American professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. History The market was previously serv ...

. Vitucci also spent several summers in the RHI, with the

Buffalo Stampede The Buffalo Stampede were a basketball team based in Buffalo, New York. The team competed in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) for two seasons in 2009 and 2010, and in the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League (ACPBL) for the 2010� ...

, Empire State Cobras,

Buffalo Wings A Buffalo wing in American cuisine is an unbreaded chicken wing section ( flat or drumette) that is generally deep-fried, then coated or dipped in a sauce consisting of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter prior to servi ...

, and the

New Jersey Rockin' Rollers The New Jersey Rockin' Rollers were a professional inline hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States that played in Roller Hockey International. Club formation Roller hockey in the Garden State almost never happened, as the N ...

. During his career in the ECHL, Vitucci won four Riley Cups in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and was named the Finals Most Valuable Player on two occasions (1989 and 1996), one of only two players in the league's history to do so, and Goaltender of the Year in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Vitucci spent at least some time in all of his 13 years of professional hockey in the ECHL and when he retired in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Vitucci left as the league's career record holder in games played, minutes played, wins, most 20 win seasons, most 30 win seasons, and most losses. Vitucci is the only goaltender in the history of professional hockey to be credited with a goal against a guarded net. In the 1996 season, while playing for the

Charlotte Checkers The Charlotte Checkers are a professional ice hockey team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the top minor league affiliate of the ...

, Vitucci shot the puck up the ice toward opposing goaltender Alain Morissette of the

Louisville RiverFrogs The Louisville RiverFrogs were a professional ice hockey team competing in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), which was a mid-level professional American hockey league with teams from all over the United States as well as one franchise from Can ...

. Morissette stopped the puck outside the goal, but spun and shot it into his own net while attempting a pass. As the most recent Checkers player to touch the puck, Vitucci was awarded a point scored against an opposing goalie—a unique feat in hockey history for any goaltender. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Vitucci was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame. Vitucci was joined by ECHL founder

Henry Brabham Henry Brabham IV (April 29, 1929 – March 30, 2020) was a founder of the ECHL, formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League. In 2008, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the ECHL Hall of Fame. The Brabham Cup, first awarded in 1989, is ...

, the league's first commissioner Patrick J. Kelly, and

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

Chris Valicevic as members of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class.

Career statistics

Coaching career

Vitucci began his career as a coach during the 1994–95 season when he took up assistant coaching duties while playing for the

Toledo Storm The Toledo Storm were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the ECHL from 1991 to 2007. The Storm played their home games at the venerable Toledo Sports Arena along the eastern banks of the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. The team colors w ...

. Vitucci would have a second stint as a player/assistant coach during his final year as a player with the

Greenville Grrrowl The Greenville Grrrowl was an ECHL hockey team located in Greenville, South Carolina. They played their home games at the BI-LO Center. In the 2001–02 season, they won the Kelly Cup. The Grrrowl's initial season was 1998–99, with former Ch ...

. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, Vitucci returned to Greenville to be their assistant coach and would leave to fill the assistant coach vacancy in Toledo after the season. Two months into the 2003–04 season, Toledo Storm head coach Steve Harrison was fired and Vitucci, who was his assistant at the time, was tabbed to be the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. At the end of the season, the Storm signed Vitucci to be their permanent replacement for Harrison and has remained the team's coach through the team suspending operations in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

in order to construct the new arena. In February 2008 it was announced he would be retained as the head coach for the Walleye, which will be his fifth season in Toledo. The Storm saw success under Vitucci's tenure as the team made the playoffs in all three years with Vitucci, including a division title in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and reaching the American Conference Finals in the same year. Vitucci would go on to coach the team through the middle of 2014, where he then stepped down to focus on his role as the Director of Hockey Operations. In February 2016, Vitucci left the Walleye organization and returned to the bench as an assistant coach for the Portland Pirates. Since the start of the 2016/2017 season, Vitucci has been a professional scout for the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

Coaching statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitucci, Nick 1967 births Living people Binghamton Rangers players Buffalo Stampede players Buffalo Wings (inline hockey) players Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Carolina Hurricanes scouts Carolina Thunderbirds players Charlotte Checkers (1993–2010) players ECHL coaches Empire State Cobras players Greensboro Monarchs players Greenville Grrrowl players Hampton Roads Admirals players Hershey Bears players Maine Mariners (AHL) players New Jersey Rockin' Rollers players Peoria Rivermen (IHL) players Ice hockey people from Welland Toledo Storm players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Toledo Walleye Toronto Marlboros players Winston-Salem Thunderbirds players New Jersey Devils scouts Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian inline hockey players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen