Sullivan Named Assistant Coach
August 17, 2010
Brian Sullivan has been named the assistant coach for the Westfield State men’s ice hockey team. The younger brother of former Boston Bruin head coach Mike Sullivan, Brian Sullivan brings to Westfield a substantial playing and coaching background.
Sullivan graduated from Thayer Academy in Braintree, Mass., where he was a football, baseball and hockey standout. During his senior season in 1999, he was an All-League performer in football and hockey.
Sullivan was an eighth round selection by the Dallas Stars in the 1999 National Hockey League entry draft but accepted a hockey scholarship to Northeastern University. As a senior at Northeastern, Sullivan was the “Don McKenney Coaches Award” recipient.
After graduating from Northeastern with an economics degree, Sullivan earned a master’s degree in business at UMass Boston. He was able to play the 2003-2004 season for the Beacons as he was granted a redshirt year from an injury sustained at Northeastern. Sullivan was an ECAC Division III All-Star at UMass Boston and led the team and all ECAC East defensemen in scoring.
After his stint at UMass Boston, Sullivan spent two seasons in the Carolina Hurricanes
organization playing for the American Hockey League’s Springfield Falcons and Lowell Lock Monsters, and the East Coast Hockey League’s Florida Everblades and Trenton Titans.
As a coach Sullivan has served in a program consultant role to Curry College (ECAC-Northeast). He has been an instructor for several hockey schools in New England and Minnesota, including Mike Sullivan's Hockey School and USA Hockey's Massachusetts Development Program. He ran the Bay State Breaker's (Eastern Hockey Federation) youth hockey summer development program from 2003-2005, along with serving as the curriculum director for the Breakers. He spent last season as the head coach of the 1999 birth year Springfield Pics.
Sullivan is a native of Marshfield, Mass. He and his wife, Yolanda, reside in Longmeadow with their one-year-old son Liam.
His brother Mike also was an associate head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and served as Westfield State alumnus Peter Laviolette’s assistant coach during the 2006 Olympic Games. Prior to his coaching career, Mike spent 11 seasons as a National Hockey League player and is currently the associate head coach of the New York Rangers (NHL).
Sullivan graduated from Thayer Academy in Braintree, Mass., where he was a football, baseball and hockey standout. During his senior season in 1999, he was an All-League performer in football and hockey.
Sullivan was an eighth round selection by the Dallas Stars in the 1999 National Hockey League entry draft but accepted a hockey scholarship to Northeastern University. As a senior at Northeastern, Sullivan was the “Don McKenney Coaches Award” recipient.
After graduating from Northeastern with an economics degree, Sullivan earned a master’s degree in business at UMass Boston. He was able to play the 2003-2004 season for the Beacons as he was granted a redshirt year from an injury sustained at Northeastern. Sullivan was an ECAC Division III All-Star at UMass Boston and led the team and all ECAC East defensemen in scoring.
After his stint at UMass Boston, Sullivan spent two seasons in the Carolina Hurricanes
organization playing for the American Hockey League’s Springfield Falcons and Lowell Lock Monsters, and the East Coast Hockey League’s Florida Everblades and Trenton Titans. As a coach Sullivan has served in a program consultant role to Curry College (ECAC-Northeast). He has been an instructor for several hockey schools in New England and Minnesota, including Mike Sullivan's Hockey School and USA Hockey's Massachusetts Development Program. He ran the Bay State Breaker's (Eastern Hockey Federation) youth hockey summer development program from 2003-2005, along with serving as the curriculum director for the Breakers. He spent last season as the head coach of the 1999 birth year Springfield Pics.
Sullivan is a native of Marshfield, Mass. He and his wife, Yolanda, reside in Longmeadow with their one-year-old son Liam.
His brother Mike also was an associate head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and served as Westfield State alumnus Peter Laviolette’s assistant coach during the 2006 Olympic Games. Prior to his coaching career, Mike spent 11 seasons as a National Hockey League player and is currently the associate head coach of the New York Rangers (NHL).