COLTS ANNOUNCE NEW ASSISTANT COACH

Press Release

The Barrie Colts are proud to announce that they have signed Jay Wells to be their new Assistant Coach. The former National Hockey League defenceman has taken over a position left by David Bell, who signed on to be the Head Coach of Quad City in late June.

Wells played in just under 1,100 games in the NHL over the course of 18 seasons, including nine years in Los Angeles where he was drafted 16th overall in 1979.

Wells is happy to come on board to be an Assistant Coach under his former teammate Dale Hawerchuk. “Well this is something I have wanted to do for a long time,” said Wells. "I have been working towards this and I’m so excited to get started. I truly feel like my dreams have come true.”

Wells played with Hawerchuk in St. Louis and Buffalo and says that staying in touch with Dale over the years helped him land the vacant coaching job in Barrie.

He has coaching experience at the AHL level, spending time with Portland, Hershey and Manitoba.

Coach Hawerchuk says his coaching and playing experience will do wonders for the current roster. “Jay is a guy that was on our radar and fits in extremely well with what we are trying to accomplish moving forward,” said Hawerchuk. “He has the pedigree to be a great coach in this league and a great mentor to our players.”

Wells was a former Kingston Canadian in the Ontario Hockey Association when he was drafted to the Kings in 1979. He posted career-highs in 1985-1986 when he put up 11 goals, 31 assists, 42 points and 226 penalty minutes.

The native of Paris, Ontario won the Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994 and has also spent time with the Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning and St. Louis Blues.

The Colts open up training camp on Monday, August 28th, with their first exhibition game on Sunday, September 4th in Owen Sound.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)