Jacksonville Icemen tap Mashinter as new head coach

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Icemen have a new head coach as they ready to lace up for the 2024-2025 season..

Brandon Mashinter has spent the past three seasons with the icemen as as assistant coach. He will also be Director of Hockey Operations.

A native of Newmarket Ontario, Mashinter, 35, played 64 games in the NHL between the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. He spent parts of nine seasons in the AHL, with 261 points in 535 games. His career includes stints in the ECHL, Germany and Slovakia. In Major Junior, he won the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers in 2008.

Mashinter is the third coach in Icemen history.

“We are thrilled to introduce Brandon Mashinter as our new head coach,” Icemen & Zawyer Sports CEO Andy Kaufmann said in a press release. “Brandon has played a pivotal part in our team’s growing success the past three seasons, and we cannot think of a more deserving individual to usher us into this new era of Icemen Hockey.  We are confident that he will put a competitive team on the ice each night that will continue to make Jacksonville proud.”

Former Head Coach Nick Luukko, has accepted a position with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Icemen finished with 40 or more wins in each of the past three seasons under the leadership of Luukko and Mashinter.  

“First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Nick Luukko on his deserving accomplishment and move up to the AHL,” said Mashinter. “I am excited and honored to continue to build on the foundation and culture that we started to build three years ago. I would like to express thanks to Andy Kaufmann, Scott Einhorn and Joe Ernst for the opportunity to be the next head coach of the Jacksonville Icemen.”