Brian Mueller

Brian Mueller is an American ice hockey coach and former defenseman who was a two-time All-American for Clarkson. Over the winter break, Mueller was also selected as a member of Team USA for the 1992 World Junior Championships. While he went scoreless in 7 games, he was part of the defensive corps that shut down opponents for 5 wins and enabled the US to win the bronze medal, just the second medal the team had earned in the 16-year history of the tournament.

For his sophomore season Mueller increased his point total and helped the Golden Knights win the conference tournament. unfortunately, for the second straight year, Clarkson flamed out in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. In his first two seasons Mueller had been a stable defender for the Golden Knights but he turned into an offensive dynamo during his junior year. He finished second in the nation for scoring by defensemen and was named an All-American. Unfortunately for Mueller, Clarkson lost in the conference semifinal and ended up getting left out of the national tournament.

Mueller nearly repeated his offensive production as a senior but was able to help the team finish atop ECAC Hockey. Clarkson was again felled in the semifinal but they were able to secure a bid to the 1995 NCAA Tournament. The Golden Knights got a home game for the opening round, however, they were set against defending champion Lake Superior State. While the Lakers weren't as good as the year before, they were battle tested and the team managed to fight back against Clarkson and win a hard-fought road game 5–4.

After graduating, Mueller began his professional career spending most of his first two seasons with the Springfield Falcons. He headed to Europe in 1997 and spent most of the year with HPK before returning to North America. Mueller rounded out his career with a parts of two seasons in lower-level minor leagues and retired in 2000.

After his playing days were over, Mueller turned to coaching, working with junior players in Michigan Wisconsin and Illinois. He was named Vice President of Hockey operations for a program in the Chicago area and led teams to two national junior championships in 2012 and 2016. After the second title, Mueller was hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as a head coach and executive director of the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex Hockey Academy and continues to work in that role as of 2021.

Statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular Season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1990–91 South Kent School CT–HS 32213051—————— 1991–92 Clarkson ECAC Hockey 294131732————— 1992–93 Clarkson ECAC Hockey 326232912————— 1993–94 Clarkson ECAC Hockey 3417395660————— 1994–95 Clarkson ECAC Hockey 3612425456————— 1995–96 Springfield Falcons AHL 51712194920000 1995–96 Richmond Renegades ECHL 3112230220 1996–97 Springfield Falcons AHL 42720272870220 1996–97 Manitoba Moose IHL 61122————— 1996–97 Québec Rafales IHL 100000————— 1997–98 Hershey Bears AHL 20000————— 1997–98 HPK SM-liiga 2724626————— 1997–98 HC Thurgau NLB 10220530314 1998–99 Saginaw Gears UHL 5112203238————— 1998–99 Port Huron Border Cats UHL 707710————— 1998–99 Detroit Vipers IHL 12123410110 1999–00 Saginaw Gears UHL 263101336————— NCAA totals 131 39 117 156 160 — — — — — AHL totals 95 14 32 46 77 9 0 2 2 0 IHL totals 28 2 3 5 6 1 0 1 1 0 UHL totals 84 15 37 52 84 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1992 United States WJC 7 0 0 0 0

Awards and honors Award Year All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1993–94 AHCA East First-Team All-American 1993–94 All-ECAC Hockey First Team 1994–95 AHCA East First-Team All-American 1994–95 ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team 1995