Damon Whitten
# Damon Whitten

Damon Whitten (born April 5, 1977) is an American ice hockey coach and former player. He is currently the men's hockey head coach of the Lake Superior State Lakers.

## Playing career

Whitten played junior hockey for the Detroit Freeze of the North American Hockey League in 1995–96 before moving to the St. Michael's Buzzers in the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League the following season. Beginning in the 1997–98 season, Whitten played four years for the Michigan State Spartans, and was named alternate captain in his senior season. After college, he turned pro, playing two seasons in the ECHL: in 2001–02 for the Greenville Grrrowl (winning the league championship Kelly Cup) and 2002–03 for the Arkansas RiverBlades.

## Coaching career

Whitten returned to Michigan State in 2004–05 to serve as an assistant coach under head coach Rick Comley. He then spent one season as an assistant at Wayne State before moving to Alaska Anchorage for two seasons. In 2006, he returned to his alma mater where he was named Director of Hockey Operations. Whitten returned to the bench in 2010, when he was an assistant coach at Michigan Tech. On April 26, 2014, Whitten was named head coach at Lake Superior State.

## Head coaching record

Statistics overview :

| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Lake Superior State Lakers (WCHA) (2014–2021) ||||||
| 2014–15 | Lake Superior State | 8–28–2 | 7–20–1 | t-8th | WCHA first round |
| 2015–16 | Lake Superior State | 14–22–5 | 10–13–5 | 7th | WCHA first round |
| 2016–17 | Lake Superior State | 11–18–7 | 8–13–7 | 7th | WCHA quarterfinals |
| 2017–18 | Lake Superior State | 10–22–4 | 8–17–3 | 9th | |
| 2018–19 | Lake Superior State | 23–13–2 | 16–10–2–0 | 4th | WCHA semifinals |
| 2019–20 | Lake Superior State | 14–23–4 | 11–13–4–4 | 7th | WCHA quarterfinals |
| 2020–21 | Lake Superior State | 19–7–3 | 9–5–0 | T–2nd | NCAA regional semifinals |
| Lake Superior State: | Lake Superior State: | 99–133–27 | 69–91–22 | | |
| Lake Superior State Lakers (CCHA) (2021–present) ||||||
| 2021–22 | Lake Superior State | 18–18–1 | 13–13–0 | 4th | CCHA quarterfinals |
| 2022–23 | Lake Superior State | 9–25–2 | 8–17–1 | 8th | CCHA quarterfinals |
| Lake Superior State: | Lake Superior State: | 27–43–3 | 21–30–1 | | |
| Total: | Total: | 126–176–30 | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||
