Phantoms Hire Brande as Director of Player Personnel

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown Phantoms announced Thursday the hiring of Rich Brande as the director of player personnel.

Brande will primarily be responsible for scouting and networking on the East Coast while also working on player personnel with the director of scouting, Tim Parkos, the president of hockey operations, Keith Primeau, and co-GM’s Ryan Kosecki and Jason Deskins.

“We are excited to welcome Rich to the Phantoms ‘Phamily.’ He brings vast relationships in the prep market on the East Coast to our program,” says Kosecki. “Rich knows talent, character, and potential and we are thrilled to have him work with Tim Parkos and our scouting staff in Youngstown.”

Brande resides outside of Boston and is director of admission at Hillside School in Marlborough, Mass. Following his prep career at South Kent School in Connecticut and collegiate career at the University of Connecticut, he played in the minor professional ranks before embarking on his coaching and player development career. Among those he has coached is Kosecki.

His coaching resume includes starting the women’s hockey program at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, N.Y., and being the assistant coach/recruiting director for the women’s ice hockey team at the University of New Hampshire.

In 2003, he returned to the South Kent School where he oversaw the ice hockey program and led the transition and development of the South Kent Selects Hockey Academy. Seen as a deeply innovative program at its inception in 2010, the Selects Hockey Academy has produced 17 NHL draft picks and over 40 NCAA Division 1 players.

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