Jim Montgomery
Age: 55
James Peter Montgomery (born June 30, 1969) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks, and Dallas Stars. He currently is the head hockey coach at the University of Denver.
Playing career
Montgomery was undrafted out of high school, therefore he joined the University of Maine and played 4 years with the team, winning numerous awards and establishing himself as one of the best prospects in hockey. Most notably he was named an All-Star 3 years (1991, 1992, 1993) and was named NCAA Tournament Championship MVP when he captained Maine to a record of 42-1-2 and the 1993 National Championship. Montgomery finished his career at Maine as the school's all-time leading scoring with 301 points on 103 goals and 198 assists. His number 19 was retired for him by Maine, 1 of 3 players who have that honor.
Following college Montgomery was signed by the St. Louis Blues. For the 1993-94 season he skated in 67 contests and scored 20 points, both NHL career highs. Following the season the highly touted Montgomery was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Guy Carbonneau. For the 1994-95 season however things did not work out and after just 5 games Montgomery was released by the Canadiens. Later in the year he was signed by the Philadelphia Flyers and skated in 8 regular season contests and 7 playoff contests with the Flyers. Montgomery is credited with nicknaming the dominant line of John LeClair, Eric Lindros, and Mikael Renberg the "Legion of Doom". The 1995-96 season saw Montgomery play only 5 games with the Flyers but he had a career year with the Flyers minor league affiliate Hershey Bears of the AHL. He scored 105 points in 78 games and was named to the AHL Second All-Star Team.
It would be another 4 years before Montgomery would return to the NHL. He played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) in Germany for the 1996-97 season, followed by two full years with the Philadelphia Phantoms. For The 1999-2000 season Montgomery played part of the year with the Phantoms and spent the majority of the year with the Manitoba Moose.
In 2000 Montgomery was signed by the San Jose Sharks. He played the majority of the 2000-01 season with the Kentucky Thoroughblades but also skated in 28 games with the Sharks. The following year he was signed by the Dallas Stars and played 9 games with the team over 2 years, spending most of his time with the Utah Grizzlies. Montgomery then played one year in Russia and one year with the Missouri River Otters before retiring in 2005.
Coaching career
Montgomery was an assistant coach for Notre Dame for the 2005-2006 season. In 2006 Montgomery began a four-year stint as assistant coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. On April 12, 2010 he was named head coach of the USHL expansion franchise Dubuque Fighting Saints. In the team's first year, Montgomery guided the Fighting Saints to a 37-14-9 record and the 2010-2011 USHL championship with a three games to one victory over the Green Bay Gamblers. Coach Montgomery went on to win the Clark Cup USHL Championship agaIn during the 2012-2013 season. In 2013, Montgomery was signed by University of Denver as head coach of Pioneers hockey and led them to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Denver (NCHC) | |||||||||
2013-14 | Denver | 20-16-6 | 14-12-3 | 6th | NCAA First Round | ||||
2014-15 | Denver | 24-14-2 | 16-11-1 | 4th | NCAA Second Round | ||||
2015-16 | Denver | 25-10-6 | 19-6-3 | 3rd | NCAA Frozen Four | ||||
Denver: | 69-32-14 | 49-29-7 | |||||||
Total: | 69-32-14 | ||||||||
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Career statistics
Regular season | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||||||
1993-94 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 67 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 44 | ||||||
1994-95 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||
1994-95 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||||||
1995-96 | Philadelphia Flyers | NHL | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 9 | ||||||
2000-01 | San Jose Sharks | NHL | 28 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 19 | ||||||
2001-02 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
2002-03 | Dallas Stars | NHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
6 Years | Totals | NHL | 122 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 80 |
Awards and honors
Award | Year | |
---|---|---|
All-Hockey East Rookie Team | 1989-90 | |
All-Hockey East Second Team | 1990-91 | |
AHCA East Second-Team All-American | 1990-91 | |
All-Hockey East Second Team | 1991-92 | |
Hockey East All-Tournament Team | 1992 | |
All-Hockey East First Team | 1992-93 | |
AHCA East Second-Team All-American | 1992-93 | |
Hockey East All-Tournament Team | 1993 | |
All-NCAA All-Tournament Team | 1993 |
- 1996: AHL Second All-Star Team