Jim Montgomery Staff

One of the top offensive players in the history of college hockey joins the Notre Dame staff this season as a volunteer assistant on Jeff Jackson[apos]s coaching staff.

Jim Montgomery joins the Irish after 12 seasons in professional hockey that included stints in the National Hockey League with the St. Louis Blues, the Montreal Canadiens, the Philadelphia Flyers, the San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars.

With the Irish, the 36-year old coach will help scout opponents and work with the team[apos]s forwards along with other duties assigned by Jackson during the season.

As a collegiate player at the University of Maine from 1989-93, Montgomery was one of the games most explosive players, scoring 103 goals and 198 assists for 301 career points in 170 games. During his time at Maine, the Black Bears were 138-25-8 with two Hockey East championships and an NCAA title in 1992-93.

Montgomery captained that team that went 42-1-2 on the year and defeated Jackson[apos]s Lake Superior team, 5-4, in Milwaukee, Wis., as he scored three goals in the third period to rally Maine to the title
He was selected most valuable player of the 1993 Frozen Four and was a two-time All-American. Selected all-Hockey East three times in his career, the marketing major was named to the league[apos]s all-Decade Team for
the 1990[apos]s. He ranks fourth in NCAA history in points (301) and assists (198) and is also Eastern College hockey[apos]s all-time leading scorer.

A finalist for the 1993 Hobey Baker Award, Montgomery was Maine[apos]s team MVP twice, won the school[apos]s Dale Lick Academic Achievement Award and had his No. 19 retired following his outstanding career.

Signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Blues on June 2, 1993, the Montreal, Que., native played in 67 games as a rookie with St. Louis, getting six goals and 14 assists for 20 points. He also assisted on Brett Hull[apos]s 400th career goal.

He moved on to Montreal in 1994-95 and only played five games with his hometown team before being claimed on waivers by Philadelphia where he played 13 games over two seasons with the Flyers. During the 1995-96 season, as a member of the AHL[apos]s Hershey Bears, he led the league in assists (71) on the way to a 105-point season and a selection to the AHL all-star team.

After a year in Germany, Montgomery returned to the Flyers and played two more seasons with their AHL team, the Philadelphia Phantoms. There, he helped the Phantoms to the 1998 Calder Cup championship, finishing second in playoff scoring with 29 points in 20 games. The following year, he was fourth in league scoring and again was selected to the AHL all-star team.

He signed as a free agent with San Jose in 2000-01, splitting time between the Sharks (28 games) and their farm team in Kentucky. In 2001-02, the Dallas Stars picked him up and he remained with the organization the next two seasons, playing mostly with the Stars[apos] AHL affiliate in Utah.

In eight seasons in the AHL, Montgomery played in 518 games and had 183 goals and 360 assists for 543 points.

After playing a season (2003-04) in the Russian Super League, Montgomery closed out his career last season as a player-assistant coach with the Missouri River Otters in the United Hockey League. In 42 games he had 20 goals and 27 assists for 47 points.