CHL Hockey

AG Enforcer · Tue Aug 29, 2006 4:36 pm Two new players, including new asst coach

GORILLAS INK PLAYER/ASST. COACH, SCORING THREAT - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 at 15:32
The Amarillo Gorillas of the Central Hockey League (CHL) made a huge splash in the player signing department today as they came to terms with their newest player/assistant coach along with a bona fide scorer for the upcoming season. The Gorillas are pleased to announce Chris Lipsett will be the team’s player/assistant coach, replacing Mark DeSantis who signed with the Basingstoke Bison of the Elite Ice Hockey League this off season following a 4-year stint in Amarillo. Lipsett, 31, was born in Ottawa, Ontario and comes to the Gorillas with ten years of professional hockey experience under his belt.

“Chris is the perfect example of what you want out of a player/assistant coach,” Gorillas head coach Jim Wiley said. “He’s a workhorse both on and off the ice and a leader in every sense of the word. He has the ambition to remain in hockey after his playing days are over and this opportunity affords him the chance to get some good experience while still playing hockey and taking care of his family.”

Lipsett’s career began at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York where he compiled 31 goals and 36 assists during his 4-year college tenure. From there, the 6’, 190 pound right winger began playing professional hockey with the Roanoke Express of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL). In 2 ½ seasons in Roanoke, Lipsett tallied 58 goals and 66 assists for 124 points in just 158 games, which includes a 65-point outpouring during the 1997-98 season to lead the Express in scoring.

From there, Lipsett spent the next three years patrolling the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Kentucky Thoroughblades where he played alongside current NHL standouts such as Scott Hannan, Jonathon Cheechoo, Miikka Kiprusoff and Evgeni Nabokov. In 143 AHL games, Lipsett finished with 47 goals and 57 assists and was 6th on the team in scoring in both 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Lipsett’s best season in the AHL came in 2000-01 when he finished with 55 points, just 11 points behind now-NHL-50-goal-scorer Jonathon Cheechoo.

In recent years, Lipsett’s taken his game overseas and has enjoyed just as much success in Europe as he did in the States. His European playing days began during the 2001-02 campaign where Lipsett was nearly a-point-a-game player for the Sheffield Steelers of the British Ice Hockey Superleague notching 42 points in just 46 regular season games. After a year in the UK, Lipsett then spent a pair of seasons playing in Germany for the Iserlohn Roosters and Freiburg EHC. Most recently, Lipsett finished 2nd on the team in scoring during his time in Freiburg during the 2004-05 season where he accumulated 27 goals and 26 assists in just 48 games.

“I obviously want to win at any cost,” Lipsett said. “But anything I can learn about the front office and coaching while I’m still playing is so beneficial. I’m just looking forward to coming down there, playing a few years and making a new home in Amarillo.”

The Gorillas also solidified some of their offensive output for the upcoming season with the signing of proven scorer, Joey Bastien. Bastien, 26, hails from Edmonton, Alberta and comes to the Gorillas with already 430 points in just 525 games over his six-year professional career.

“I got a first hand look at Joey last year when he was playing in Richmond,” Wiley said. “He was their top-line center and was better than a point-a-game guy with incredible offensive skill and playmaking abilities. But he’s also a tremendous character player who will do anything, offensively or defensively, to help his team win.”

Bastien’s career began with 4 seasons in the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he compiled 79 goals and 103 assists during stints with the Tri-City Americans, Edmonton Ice and Regina Pats. From there, Bastien joined the professional ranks and for the last six seasons has split time between the United Hockey League (UHL) and the CHL. Gorilla fans will be glad to know that Bastien is coming off his most prolific scoring season as a professional when he tallied 20 goals and 48 assists in just 66 games for the Richmond Riverdogs in 2005-06.

“There are so many reasons for me to be excited about the opportunity to play in Amarillo,” Bastien said. “First, it’s extremely exciting to play for a coach who’s coached at the highest possible level. Second, I’ve played with [Brent] Hughes before when we were both in Austin and he has only good things to say about the Gorillas organization.”

gorillakido · Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:04 am

still not impressed.

come on wiley, get something better.