Peter Mannino to begin coaching career with USHL’s Chicago Steel

By @MichaelCaples –

Farmington Hills native Peter Mannino is hanging up the pads, but he’s not leaving the game.

The longtime goaltender is joining a new coaching staff with the USHL’s Chicago Steel after a seven-year professional hockey career. Mannino joins new head coach Dan Muse in Chicago to begin working in a league he once played in (Tri-City Storm, 2003-04).

“I’m very excited to be a part of the Chicago Steel,” Mannino said in a statement from the Steel. “In talks with Dan and the entire staff, it’s just a real intriguing situation and I think the direction of the program now from where I played in the league just seems like a real thrilling thing to be a part of.”

Mannino, 31, last played for the AHL’s Binghamton Senators. After a four-year NCAA career with the University of Denver, Mannino began a professional career in 2008-09, and a lockout-shortened 2012-13 season was the only year he didn’t spend with multiple teams, staying in place with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL. In 2011-12, Mannino played with four different professional clubs – the St. John’s IceCaps (AHL), the Winnipeg Jets (NHL), the Chicago Express (ECHL) and the Portland Pirates (AHL).

He appeared in six NHL games with the Islanders, Thrashers and Jets over the course of his career.

On May 21, the Steel announced that Larry Robbins, a Chicago area native and professional investor, had purchased the majority interest of the team, and that Dan Muse would be the new head coach. Ryan Bennett is the team’s new GM.