Jarrod Skalde
Email: Jarrod@prairiethunderhockey.com
Position: Head Coach
Biography
Jarrod Skalde Head coach and Director of Hockey Operations Born: Feb. 26, 1971 Age: 38 Hometown: Niagara Falls, Ont. Jarrod Skalde begins his second year as head coach of the Bloomington PrairieThunder after compiling a 29-40-2-5 record in his initial season. This will be his 19th season in professional hockey with 17 of those years as a player, including parts of nine seasons with eight teams in the National Hockey League. The 38-year-old Skalde is the second coach in the four-year history of the PrairieThunder. He served as a player/assistant coach for the PrairieThunder during the first half of the 2007-08 season before ending his playing career with a one-month stint for Jesenice (Slovenia) of the Austrian League.
During his 115-game stint in the NHL, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers. He also played professionally in the IHL, AHL, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan in a career that spanned 1,071 games. The Niagara Falls, Ontario native was a member of championship teams at Oshawa of the OHL (1990 Memorial Cup) and Orlando of the IHL (2001 Turner Cup). During his professional career, he scored 307 goals with 511 assists for 818 points. He was named the Utah Grizzles “Community Man of the Year” while playing for the AHL team in 2004. Skalde served as captain five times and assistant captain seven times during his career. Skalde and his wife, Erin, have two children, 11-year-old daughter True and 6-year-old son Skate.
