Brent Thompson was named the 11th head coach in the professional history of the Alaska Aces on July 23, 2009. The 38-year-old Thompson has spent the last four years as an assistant coach with Alaska’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen, the last of which in 2008-09 under former Aces bench boss Davis Payne. His 14-year pro playing career includes 121 games in the National Hockey League with Los Angeles, Winnipeg, and Phoenix. The Kings selected the Calgary native with the 39th overall pick in the second round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, and Thompson made the big club two years later, eventually scoring his first NHL goal in an 8-3 win over Tom Barrasso and the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 6, 1993, assisted by Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille, the top two scorers for L.A. that year. Thompson played 30 games for the 1993 Los Angeles club that advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals and his teams reached the Calder Cup semi-finals on four separate occasions (’97 Springfield, ’98 Hartford, ’01 Hershey, ’05 Providence). He served as captain, co-captain, or assistant captain in each of his last eight years as a player. A hard-hitting, 6-2, 210-pound defenseman in his playing days, Thompson earned a berth in the 1992 IHL All-Star Game as a rookie with the Phoenix Roadrunners and, while in Hartford (AHL), won the 1999 Yannick Dupre Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions to local community and charitable organizations.