Seamus Kotyk (born October 7, 1980) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

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 ...

coach and former professional

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 ...

. Kotyk played professionally for the Cleveland Barons,

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team based in Milwaukee. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Nashville Predators. They play their homes games at the UW–Milwaukee Panther ...

and Houston Aeros of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL). He also played in the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

for

HK Acroni Jesenice Hokejski klub Acroni Jesenice (), commonly referred to as HK Acroni Jesenice or simply Jesenice, was a Slovenian ice hockey team from Jesenice that last played in the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League and the Slovenian Ice Hockey League. They ...

and

HC TWK Innsbruck HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck is an Austrian professional ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). They play their home games at OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex in Innsbruck. History The club was founded in 1994 as HC Innsbruck and in ...

. Kotyk is currently the goaltending development coach for the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

of the NHL.

Playing career

Born in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

, Kotyk played junior hockey for the

Ottawa 67s The Ottawa 67's are a major junior ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that plays in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Established during Canada's Canadian Centennial, centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67's ...

of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; ) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League, alongside the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The league is for players ag ...

from 1997 until 2001. He was a member of the 1999

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

-winning squad and played for the 67s in the

2001 Memorial Cup The 2001 Memorial Cup occurred May 19–27 at the Agridome in Regina, Saskatchewan. It was the 83rd annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). It ...

. He was drafted by the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

in round 5, #147th overall, 1999 NHL Entry Draft. In 2001, Kotyk signed an entry-level contract with the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

and was assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Barons, where he played three seasons. Though he dressed for an NHL game during the 2003-04 NHL season as a backup, he did not get on the ice, and ultimately he never played an NHL game. Koytk split the 2004-05 season with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals and in the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

with the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

. With the Admirals, Kotyk scored an empty-net goal against the

San Antonio Rampage The San Antonio Rampage were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League based in San Antonio, Texas. The Rampage was primarily owned by Spurs Sports & Entertainment throughout the team's existence. In 2020, the franchise was so ...

on April 17, 2005, becoming the eighth goaltender in AHL history to score a goal. He then spent the 2005-06 season with the Houston Aeros and in 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 ...

with the

Augusta Lynx The Augusta Lynx were a minor-league professional ice hockey team based in Augusta, Georgia. The Lynx played their home games at the James Brown Arena. The Lynx, who played in the ECHL, had affiliations with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL a ...

before deciding to play in Europe. In 2006, Kotyk signed for the

Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg The Grizzlys Wolfsburg are a professional ice hockey club of the German professional ice hockey league Deutsche Eishockey Liga. They play their games at Eis Arena Wolfsburg. History Wolfsburg earned their first promotion to the DEL in 2004. Howe ...

of 2nd Bundesliga in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, but played just five games for the team before moving to

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n side HK Acroni Jesenice of the Austrian Hockey League. In 2007, he signed with HC TWK Innsbruck and remained with the team until his retirement in 2010.

Post-playing career

In 2010, Kotyk took on a role as goaltending coach of the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds which ended his playing career. A year later, he was promoted to assistant coach of the Greyhounds and remained in the role until 2014, when he moved to the Buffalo Sabres as a scout. In 2017, he became the goaltending development coach for the Sabres.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotyk, Seamus 1980 births Living people 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Augusta Lynx players Boston Bruins draft picks Buffalo Sabres coaches Buffalo Sabres scouts Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Cleveland Barons (2001–2006) players Grizzlys Wolfsburg players HC TWK Innsbruck players HK Acroni Jesenice players Houston Aeros (1994–2013) players Ice hockey people from London, Ontario Milwaukee Admirals players Ottawa 67's players Rockford IceHogs (UHL) players