Montgomery Earns College Hockey Coaching Opportunity

Press Release

 Dubuque Fighting Saints head coach Jim Montgomery was named today as the new head coach for the University of Denver and will take over the program following the conclusion of the 2013 USHL Clark Cup Playoffs.

Montgomery is in his third season with the Saints after being named the team’s head coach prior to the 2010-11 season, marking the return of USHL hockey to Dubuque.  In that inaugural season, he led the Saints to a 37-14-9 record which was tops in the Western Conference.  Dubuque then went on a magical playoff run to capture the Clark Cup.  Montgomery was named USHL General Manager of the Year.

Last year, Dubuque again won more than 30 games under the direction of Montgomery as they posted a 36-20-4 record.  He also helped develop two first-round NHL draft picks as forward Zemgus Girensons (14th overall to the Buffalo Sabres) and defenseman Mike Matheson (23rd overall to the Florida Panthers) were among a record six USHL alumni selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.  Five players who have played for Montgomery have been chosen in the NHL Draft.

Montgomery guided the Dubuque Fighting Saints to a record-setting season this year as they finished the regular season with a 45-11-8 mark (98 points), the most wins in team history.  They also captured the Anderson Cup for the best regular season finish and brought that title back to Dubuque for the first time in 30 years.

Montgomery has an overall coaching record of 118-45-21 in the USHL for a .698 winning percentage, the fifth best percentage all-time in the League.  He captured his 100th USHL coaching victory on January 25th with a 4-3 shootout win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks.  He also has earned an 11-5 record thus far in the playoffs and will lead the top-seeded Saints into the 2013 USHL Clark Cup Playoffs which begin this week.

The Montreal native was named coach for Team East as the 2013 USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.

Montgomery played 12 seasons of professional hockey, including parts of six seasons in the NHL.  He had a record-setting collegiate career at the University of Maine where he is the school’s all-time leading scorer and helped them capture the NCAA Championship in 1993.

The University of Denver will be part of the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference next season.  This year's squad had 17 USHL alumni.  Saints rookie forward Dylan Gambrell is committed to play college hockey at Denver following his USHL career.

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)