Elmira Jackals Name 13 Year Veteran Coach Paul Gillis Team's New Head Coach - UHL

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Elmira, NY - The Elmira Jackals announced today that Paul Gillis has been named 
 Head Coach and will grab the reins starting with practice on Thursday afternoon.
 
 Paul Gillis brings a wealth of experience and a history of winning hockey to the 
 Elmira Jackals as he begins his 13th season as a head coach and his 9th year in 
 the United Hockey League.  In twelve seasons as a head coach in the UHL, 
 American Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League, Gillis has a career record of 
 (455-304-25-42) in 836 games; a career 55.9% winning percentage.
 
 During his 8-year UHL tenure, Gillis has been behind the bench for the Quad City 
 Mallards, the New Haven Knights and the Danbury Trashers.  The Toronto, Ontario 
 native has a career UHL coaching record of 358-184-62 in 604 games, a career 
 64.4% winning percentage, which ranks 2nd All-Time in the UHL in wins and games 
 coached.  Perhaps even more impressive than his vast number of wins is the fact 
 that Gillis has led each and every UHL team into the playoffs.  In his first 
 season in the UHL, Gillis took the 1997-98 Quad City Mallards to the Colonial 
 Cup Championship, beating the Flint Generals in the Finals in 7 games.  Since 
 then he has taken Quad City to the Finals twice in 1998-99 & 2002-03.
 
 Last season as the Head Coach of the Danbury Trashers, Gillis led the 2nd year 
 franchise to their first ever Eastern Division regular season title and their 
 first appearance in the Colonial Cup Finals, Gillis' fourth career trip to the 
 Finals.
 
 "I am excited to be bringing in a coach of Paul Gillis' incredible talent and 
 winning reputation," said Jackals General Manager Robbie S. Nichols.  "He has 
 been successful with every team he has been associated and I think he will be a 
 great fit behind the bench in Elmira.  This move once again demonstrates Dr. 
 Afr's and Tamer Afr's continued commitment to bring a winning team to Elmira.  I 
 am looking forward to working with both Paul and Kris to beef up the Jackals for 
 our playoff run.
 
 Due to some recent health issues Robbie Nichols will step aside from his 
 coaching duties effective immediately and return his focus towards running the 
 Jackals and First Arena; Kris Waltze will continue in his capacity as the 
 Jackals Assistant Coach.  Nichols hopes his relief from coaching will be better 
 for the team, for his physical well being and also will allow him to concentrate 
 on his duties as General Manager of the team and the Arena.
 
 "This will give me time to focus on the building and day-to-day operations of 
 First Arena," said Nichols.  "We have some great events and hockey games coming 
 up in the next few months and I hope to continue to improve all aspects of our 
 arena.
 
 Well before he began his career in coaching, the 43-year old Gillis had an 
 enormously successful career as a player in the National Hockey League.  Gillis 
 was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the 2nd round (#34 overall) of the 1982 
 NHL Entry Draft, while playing for the Niagara Falls Flyers and the North Bay 
 Centennials of the OHL.  At just 20 years of age he made his NHL debut with 
 Quebec during the 1982-83 season and the rest was history.  He spent parts of 9 
 seasons with the Nordiques, going to the Stanley Cup playoffs four times, being 
 named an assistant captain and earning Quebec's Player of the Year award for the 
 1988-89 season.  The next year, 1989-90, Inside Hockey magazine named Gillis one 
 of the 21 most underrated players in the NHL.  In 1990-91, Gillis was traded to 
 the Chicago Blackhawks, where he played parts of two seasons.  He finished his 
 decorated 11-year professional hockey career with the Hartford Whalers and 
 retired from playing after the 1992-93 season.  During those eleven seasons as a 
 pro, Gillis accumulated 282 points (105 goals, 177 assists) and 1,715 penalty 
 minutes in 684 career games played.  Of those numbers, he posted 242 points (88 
 goals, 154 assists) and 1,498 PIMs in 624 career games in the NHL.  In 1993-94 
 Gillis stayed on with the Whalers organization and got his start in coaching as 
 an Assistant Coach for Hartford.  
  
 "The Jackals need to be a winning organization," said Jackals captain Brent 
 Cullaton.  "The players feel that we have the talent in the dressing room to be 
 a very successful team, but we need to get guys going in the right direction.  
 We want to get ourselves headed towards a championship and hopefully this move 
 accomplishes just that."
 
 Gillis becomes the 6th Head Coach in the history of the Elmira Jackals franchise 
 and for the second time in his coaching career Gillis is coming to a hockey 
 organization as a midseason replacement; he was brought in to right the ship for 
 the OHL's Windsor Spitfires during the 1995-96 season. 

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