Kyle McDonough

Kyle McDonough
Born (1966-02-20) February 20, 1966 (age 58)
Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 172 lb (78 kg; 12 st 4 lb)
Position Center
Shot Right
Played for Vermont
Aalborg Pirates
Viking IK
Raleigh IceCaps
Murrayfield Racers
Stjernen Hockey
Huddinge IK
Frisk Asker Ishockey
Playing career 1985–2002

Kyle McDonough is an American ice hockey coach and former center who was an All-American for Vermont.[1]

Career

McDonough was star for Vermont for four seasons in the later half of the 1980's. Despite low totals, he led the Catamounts in scoring as a freshman, helping the team post its first winning season in six years. He continued to lead the offense for most of his career and helped Vermont make its first NCAA tournament appearance in 1988. His production increased in his senior season and he was named an All-American. Vermont reached its first ECAC championship game but lost to St. Lawrence.[2]

After graduating, McDonough headed to Europe to begin is professional career. He had nearly the same production in the Metal Ligaen as he had in college but couldn't help Aalborg finish better than 7th in the league. He moved to the Eliteserien the following year, recording nearly two points per game for Viking IK. After a year in Norway, McDonough was on the move again and spent the bulk of the next year in Scotland. He scored over 3 points per game for the Murrayfield Racers finishing second on the team and the led the club in scoring during the postseason.

McDonough returned to Viking IK the following year and found himself with a new club each year until settling in with Frisk Asker Ishockey in 1996. McDonough found his greatest success with Frisk Asker, leading the entire league in scoring four different times. He was productive all the way until the end of his career, serving as an alternate captain every year for the club and leading them to the league championship in 2002. McDonough is currently the 7th all-time leading scorer for Norway's top league and the only non-Norwegian in the top 10.[3]

With his playing career finished, McDonough returned to New Hampshire and began working as a teacher. He eventually found himself behind the bench of ice hockey team at his alma mater, Manchester Memorial High School.[4] He was inducted into the Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999 and the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey in 2003.[5][6]

Happy Gilmore

McDonough was the inspiration for the title character in Happy Gilmore. While golfing with his friend Adam Sandler, McDonough would drive the ball much farther than the rest of the group, with the consensus being that playing ice hockey helped him in this respect. The anecdote was used as the premise for the movie. McDonough later acted in a scene for Grown Ups 2 but it was left out of the final edit.[7]

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1985–86 Vermont ECAC Hockey 31 13 13 26 26 — — — — —
1986–87 Vermont ECAC Hockey 32 28 12 40 44 — — — — —
1987–88 Vermont ECAC Hockey 32 18 22 40 40 — — — — —
1988–89 Vermont ECAC Hockey 34 27 28 55 60 — — — — —
1989–90 Aalborg Pirates Metal Ligaen 32 28 28 56 52 — — — — —
1990–91 Viking IK Eliteserien 32 31 30 61 — — — — — —
1991–92 Raleigh IceCaps ECHL 2 1 0 1 6 — — — — —
1991–92 Murrayfield Racers BHL 28 46 47 93 28 6 13 10 23 10
1992–93 Viking IK Eliteserien — 34 29 63 — — — — — —
1994–95 Stjernen Hockey Eliteserien 37 38 24 62 — — — — — —
1995–96 Huddinge IK Division 1 36 24 16 40 55 4 4 1 5 0
1996–97 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 39 36 48 84 119 — — — — —
1997–98 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 44 20 33 53 119 — — — — —
1998–99 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 43 33 44 77 137 — — — — —
1999–00 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 36 19 24 43 93 — — — — —
2000–01 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 40 23 53 76 141 — — — — —
2001–02 Frisk Asker Ishockey Eliteserien 42 37 41 78 77 — — — — —
NCAA totals 129 86 75 161 170 — — — — —
Eliteserien totals — 271 326 597 — — — — — —

Awards and honors

Award Year
All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1988–89 [8]
AHCA East First-Team All-American 1988–89 [1]
Eliteserien All-Star 2001–02

References

  1. ^ a b "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  2. ^ "UVM Men's hockey Record Book" (PDF). Vermont Catamounts. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  3. ^ "Norway - All-time totals". Elite Prospects. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  4. ^ "Memorial coach continues family tradition". Manchester Union Leader. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  5. ^ "Kyle McDonough". Vermont Catamounts. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  6. ^ "Kyle McDonough". New Hampshire Legends of Hockey. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  7. ^ "Ex-Racer the inspiration for Happy Gilmore". British Ice Hockey. May 13, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  8. ^ "ECAC All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Eliteserien Scoring Champion
1996–97
1998–99
2000–01 / 2001–02 		Succeeded by