NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. –Spencer Carbery, 28, a former forward with the South Carolina Stingrays, was named the team’s assistant coach today. He joins another former Stingrays’ player on the coaching staff, Cail MacLean, who took over as head coach last season.

Carbery’s appointment follows a long ‘Rays’ tradition of naming former players to coaching positions within the organization.   

Carbery came to the Stingrays from the Fresno Falcons in the middle of the 2008-09 season and played a big role in the ‘Rays’ 2009 Kelly Cup Championship. He is out of Victoria, British Columbia and turned pro after playing four years of NCAA collegiate hockey in the US.

After spending his first pro season in the Central Hockey League with Tulsa, he moved to the ECHL playing for both Bakersfield and Fresno before joining the Stingrays.  Overall he scored 58 goals and 117 points in 244 pro games.

In South Carolina he racked up big penalty minutes (258) over the past two seasons. While not a constant scrapper, he was willing to stand up for his teammates. MacLean in describing his new assistant recognized that trait.

In the team press release MacLean noted that “He consistently gave his team an honest effort, was courageous on the ice and led with an even temperament.”

His hiring follows a long-term organizational pattern of hiring former players as assistant coaches and then promoting them into the head coaching slot when a vacancy at the helm develops. The last three head coaches Jason Fitzsimmons, Jared Bednar and Cail Maclean all played with the team, served as assistant coaches and then moved up to the head coaching position. 

Fitzsimmons moved on to a scouting position with the Washington Capitals while Bednar was named head coach of the America Hockey League Peoria Rivermen during the off season.

Bednar had spent the previous season as an assistant coach with the Abbotsford Heat of the AHL.

“It is a tremendous opportunity from the organization and from Cail, I will miss playing the game, but I look forward to helping younger players develop,” Carbery was quoted as saying in the press release.

MacLean handled last year’s coaching duties without an assistant, doing an excellent job in his rookie season. He guided the team to a 41-19-6-6 record. The ‘Ray’s were eliminated in playoffs by the eventual 2010 Kelly Cup Champions the Cincinnati Cyclones. Still he welcomes the help.

“As a player, Spencer was a consummate pro and a great leader. Those qualities along with Spencer’s experience and passion for the game of hockey will make him a huge asset behind the bench,” said MacLean.

Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com