PORTLAND, Maine — Former Mariners player and assistant coach, Terrence Wallin, has been promoted to head coach of the Maine Mariners.
According to a news release issued by the Maine Mariners, the ECHL Affiliate of the Boston Bruins, on Wednesday, Wallin's promotion makes him the third head coach in team history following Ben Guite (2021-22) and Riley Armstrong (2018-21).
Before his promotion, Wallin was the assistant coach of the Mariners last season, where he served under Ben Guite, who accepted the head coaching role at Bowdoin College on July 11, according to the release.
Wallin has been involved with the Mariners organization for some time now, as he spent the final two seasons of his playing career with them from 2018 to 2020, the release says.
“It is incredibly exciting to promote Terrence Wallin to the head coach position,” Adam Goldberg, Mariners vice president of business operations, said in the release. “Terrence was one of the first Mariners and he has earned the right to lead the team on the ice. Not only does he have a high hockey IQ, but he is also someone that is willing, able, and excited to be a part of the community. He will lead the players by example and the fans should be excited about the head coach we have behind the bench.”
Originally from Yardley, Pennsylvania, Wallin also has roots in Kennebunk with a family home residing there. According to the release, his professional hockey career was five seasons long, where he rose all the way from the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) to the American Hockey League.
Wallin graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in 2015 and then began his pro hockey career with the SPHL’s Peoria Rivermen in the 2015 to 2016 season, the release says.
"The Adirondack Thunder gave him his first ECHL opportunity later that season, and after stops back to Peoria and out to Rapid City (ECHL), he settled back with the Thunder for 2017-18, where he enjoyed the best season of his pro career – 50 points in 59 games," the release states. "It was also during that season that Wallin reached the AHL for the first time, playing four games for the Binghamton Senators."
The following September, Wallin was traded to the Mariners, "marking the first trade in team history, where he became an alternate captain on the inaugural Mariners squad and would spend a significant portion of 2018 to 2019 with the Mariners AHL affiliate at the time, the Hartford Wolf Pack," according to the release.
After that, Wallin played one more campaign wearing a Maine uniform in the 2019 to 2020 season, marking the last of his career, the release says. Wallin finished in the top four in team scoring in during his two years with the Mariners. He scored 23 goals in the 2019 to 2020 season, which tied him for the best mark on the team alongside Dillan Fox. Overall, as a Mariner, Wallin achieved 73 points made up of 34 goals and 39 assists in 97 career games. Wallin played 230 career ECHL games as a whole, the release states.
“It's a huge honor to be named the third head coach of the Mariners,” Wallin said in the release. “Obviously, the previous two have had significant impacts on my development not only as a player but a coach. I can't thank Danny [Briere], Ben [Guite], and Riley [Armstrong] enough for all they've done for me to get to this position. This city means a lot to me and I'm so happy that I'm able to step in and lead the Mariners."
“Wally’s knowledge of the game, his ability to relate to players and his work ethic make him a great choice,” Ben Guite, former Mariners head coach, said in the release. “While we worked together last season, he had a hand in every facet of the Mariners program and gained invaluable experience that prepared him for this new challenge. I am very excited for him.”
Prior to Wallin's promotion as head coach, he already has experience coaching elsewhere. He founded “Evolution Hockey” in 2019, a series of Maine-based hockey camps created to teach skill development to players of all ages, according to the release. He also took over the Southern Maine Youth Hockey travel program, now known as the Maine Evolution, in the summer of 2020.
“It's crazy to think that four years ago I was asking for a trade here and now I've had the chance to play two years, go through a pandemic, get heavily involved in the community, be the assistant for a year and now have the honor to be the head coach,” Wallin said in the release. “Not many guys can say they played, were an assistant coach and then head coach for the same team and I'm proud to do it in a place that me and my family have grown to love.”
Now, with his new promotion ahead of him, he will begin the search for his assistant coach.
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