Roy Sommer's ECHL Past Brings Success in Sharks Development

While the ECHL is mainly recognized as a development tool for hockey players, the San Jose Sharks organization has used the 30-year-old league to mold key members of its staff.
"The integration has been perfect because everybody who comes from that league, they're very hungry to advance," San Jose Sharks Assistant General Manager and San Jose Barracuda General Manager, Joe Will said. "They have to work hard and there's really no hiding there. We know we're going to get honest, hardworking people."
One of the most honest and hardworking of all comes in the form of 60-year-old, Oakland, California native, Roy Sommer, whose first job as bench boss was with the ECHL's Richmond Renegades.
Sommer called Virginia home from 1991-96, during a decorated career with the Renegades that spanned five years.
"That's where he really learned coaching," Will said. "The head coach has to do a lot. They have to go and find players, they have to sign players and then they have to develop them, coach them, they have to do everything."

After being stationed in the state capital for three seasons, Sommer scouted, developed and coached Richmond to a league championship in the Riley Cup. That same year, he was named the head coach of the ECHL's East All-Star Team.
A year removed, the Oakland, California native and the Renegades were once again atop the standings with a league-best 46-11-13 record and 105 points during the 1995-96 season. Sommer found himself also atop the coaching standings earning the nod for Coach of the Year and serving as head coach for the North All-Star Team.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's worthy of being in the ECHL Hall of Fame," Will said. "He accomplished a lot in a short time. He won a lot of regular season games and took his teams to championships."
Yet his connection with the ECHL is much deeper than adding points to his resume and hardware to his trophy case. A minor league journeyman himself as a player, Sommer wore a sweater in five different professional leagues and lived in 10 different cities across the United States and Canada.
"Roy appreciates that league so much," Will said. "When guys come in, he knows where they've come from. He can always go back and say, 'I played in that league, I coached in that league, I understand it.'"
"He certainly has a reputation of somebody who can relate well to young players and in a lot of cases, players who don't really understand the importance of playing [in the ECHL]," ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna added. "Roy understands how to of develop certain aspects of their game, which allows them to be more well-rounded and hopefully progress to the next level."

Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell, who got his start during separate stints across the Southwest with the Utah Grizzlies and Allen Americans during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, is one of those ECHL veterans who advanced to the AHL with Sommer at the helm.
"He was a very high profile college goaltender and things didn't quite work out right away for him," Will said. "He went to the Central Hockey League, then the ECHL, then he came to the Worcester Sharks on a tryout, which turned into a contract, then he did the same thing in the NHL."
Former Team Teal forward and Stanley Cup champion, Andrew Desjardins, is also familiar with a grassroots career, playing a handful of games with the Phoenix Roadrunners in 2008-09. He was quickly recalled by Worcester that same year where he spent more than 200 games under Sommer with the Sharks AHL affiliate before graduating to the NHL for parts of seven seasons.
"We really take pride in the player who maybe isn't a high prospect at 18 or a player who never gets drafted," McKenna said." It's that sort of player who comes to our league, gets experience, finds somebody like a Roy Sommer who understands, communicates, believes in the player and then as a result with their determination and hard work, develop into pretty good hockey players."
"It's inspiring," Will added.
And it's not just Sommer. Numerous Barracuda hockey operations personnel have climbed the ladder too, including Barracuda Assistant Coach Ryan Mougenel, who played and coached in the ECHL.
"In terms of the strength of the relationship and their value on developing talent, I think the Sharks certainly have displayed a real understanding of the ECHL," McKenna said.
While Sommer reaches the midway point of his 20th season within the Sharks organization, he will continue to use his skillset he learned more than two decades ago during his tenure in the ECHL.
As for San Jose's double-A affiliate, the Allen Americans, they will continue to play an integral part of the organization's development system. Having won two Kelly Cups over the last three years and four Conference Championships in the last five, the Sharks hope breeding a winning culture in the ECHL has a trickle up effect where they have just the right staff to keep players' careers on the upward trend.