RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Rapid City Rush, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, are excited to announce that Scott Burt has been named the team’s Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations. Burt becomes the fourth person to assume the mantle as the team enters its 14th season of hockey this October.
Fans can meet Coach Burt for the first time at the team’s annual “Select-A-Seat” event at Monument Ice Arena from 11am-1pm.
Burt takes over as bench boss for the Rush following a season as the Assistant Coach of the division rival Idaho Steelheads alongside Everett Sheen. In his lone coaching season in Boise in 2019-20, he helped guide the Steelheads to a 36-18-3-4 record in 61 games prior to the season’s conclusion due to Covid-19. That year, Idaho was one of only seven teams in the entire ECHL to amass 20 or more wins on home ice.
Prior to joining the Steelheads, Burt served six seasons in the major-junior level as the Assistant Coach of the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs. With Spokane, Burt coached alongside Don Nachbaur, a former Assistant Coach with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and Dan Lambert, current Assistant Coach of the NHL’s Nashville Predators. He helped the Chiefs to playoff appearances in five of his six seasons on the bench, advancing as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2019. Burt also helped develop young talent that advanced to play in the National Hockey League, including 2021 World Champion Jaret Anderson-Dolan (Los Angeles Kings), 2020 World Junior Champion and 2021 NHL All-Rookie selection Ty Smith (New Jersey Devils), and two-time World Junior Championship bronze medalist and AHL All-Star Kailer Yamamoto (Edmondton Oilers).
His coaching career began with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces as an Assistant Coach for a pair of seasons from 2011 to 2013, serving under Rob Murray, the current Head Coach of the division rival Tulsa Oilers. There, the former Aces Captain made playoffs in both of his seasons on the bench, reaching the 2012 Western Conference Finals and 2013 Western Conference Semifinals. He also helped coach the Aces to a 2013 Brabham Cup Regular Season Championship with an ECHL-best 49-15-4-4 record and 106 standings points.
“This is an exciting day for the Rush organization, and our community of Rapid City as we begin a new era. I am honored and thrilled to announce Scott Burt as the fourth Head Coach in Rapid City Rush history,” said Spire Hockey President Todd Mackin. “When we began this process in June, I expressed that I wanted our new coach to be a community leader, young and energetic, and to be a winner. ‘Burtie’ checks every single one of those boxes. He has worked tirelessly as an assistant coach over the last decade to earn this opportunity to lead a team of his own. He’s developed elite talent that’s achieved great things in the NHL and internationally, he’s worked with many different coaches and players, and is incredibly well-respected in our league. He understands what goes into a playoff and championship culture. His name is on the Kelly Cup three different times, and I look forward to watching him work towards a fourth etching of his name on that trophy with our organization in the seasons to come.”
A native of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Burt, 44, began the coaching phase of his career following 13 seasons as a forward in the WCHL, ECHL, and AHL. All but three seasons of his career were played in the ECHL with the Idaho Steelheads, Utah Grizzlies, and Alaska Aces, amassing career totals of 149 goals, 207 assists, 356 points, and 1,067 PIM in 586 games. As a player, Burt made the playoffs in all but two of his 13 seasons, played for his league championship on six different occasions, and twice was named the Captain of his team, rotating as Steelheads Captain in 2007 while also serving as Aces Captain from 2009 to 2011. Burt is a three-time Kelly Cup Champion, one of only six people with his name on the ECHL’s most coveted prize three times, winning titles with Idaho in 2004 and 2007, and in his final professional season with the Aces in 2011.
