MASON CITY, Iowa – The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), are pleased to announce the addition of assistant coaches Logan Murphy and Redmond Brow to the 2022-23 coaching staff. Murphy and Brow will serve under Todd Sanden, who returns for his 12th season as North Iowa’s head coach.
Murphy returns to the city where he first made his mark in junior hockey, playing for the Bulls from 2012 to 2015. After an all-state prep career at Chippewa Falls High School in Wisconsin, he helped lead North Iowa to two North American 3 Hockey League championships and two USA Hockey national titles in that span. Murphy served as team captain in 2014-15, and served on the bench as a de facto assistant coach after suffering a career-ending shoulder injury midway through the season. He rejoins the North Iowa organization after two years as an assistant coach with the NAHL’s Chippewa Steel, with 20 Steel players making NCAA commitments during Murphy’s time on the bench.
Brow comes to the Bulls after a two-year run with the Windy City Storm program in suburban Chicago as the program’s Director of Goaltending, and U15 and U14 assistant coach. The Rhode Island native brings three years of NCAA coaching experience to North Iowa, spending the 2019-20 season as a volunteer assistant at Division I Bemidji State University, and two years as a goaltender coach at Division III Salve Regina University. As a player, he was one of Rhode Island’s top high school goaltenders, earning all-state honors three times and leading his Rogers High School club to the state finals in 2010.
“Logan is a coach who has a history with our organization thanks to his playing experience here, and he brings a lot of positives to our staff as a coach and as a person,” said Sanden. “In addition, Redmond’s experience in developing goaltenders will fill a critical need on the hockey operations staff for the Bulls and the Mason City Toros. We look forward to seeing how they’ll contribute to our organization moving forward.”
The new additions come from the departure of assistant coach Mark Hicks, who stepped down from the Bulls coaching staff after serving as an assistant for the team’s entire 11-season history. The North Iowa organization thanks him for his years of service with the team and remains deeply indebted to him for his contributions to the team’s success over those 11 years.
“I cannot begin to thank Mark Hicks, his wife Cassie, and his family enough for the years of dedicated service and mentoring to myself and our players,” said Sanden. “Mark’s presence and knowledge of the sport gave us an edge in every game we played, and he gives freely of himself to prepare his players to achieve at the highest levels. Mark provided not only sound hockey logic and structure to our teams but also provided a grounded approach that players could embrace, and a leadership style that they could follow. Mark will be greatly missed.”
“After 27 years of full-time coaching since I moved to Mason City, I am excited about just watching my grandkids play and helping out where needed,” said Hicks. “My 11 years with the Bulls has been great, from all of our championships to all of the players I hope I’ve had an impact on, but it will be nice to have some weekends off!”
2022-23 season tickets remain on sale, and single-game tickets will be made available soon. For updated news and information on North Iowa Bulls hockey, visit www.northiowabulls.com, or follow the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.