Paul Gardner (ice hockey)

Paul Malone Gardner (born March 5, 1956) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and a former centre, who most recently coached at Löwen Frankfurt in Germany.

Paul Gardner
Coach of the Hamburg Freezers, 2009
Born (1956-03-05) March 5, 1956
Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Colorado Rockies
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
Buffalo Sabres
NHL Draft 11th overall, 1976
Kansas City Scouts
WHA Draft 24th overall, 1976
Toronto Toros
Playing career 19761986

He is the son of former National Hockey League (NHL) player Cal Gardner and younger brother of Dave Gardner. Gardner was born in Fort Erie, Ontario, but grew up in Toronto, Ontario.

Playing career

As a youth, Gardner played in the 1968 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Leaside.[1]

Drafted in 1976 by both the Kansas City Scouts of the National Hockey League and Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association, Gardner followed the Scouts franchise when it relocated to Colorado, where he played for parts of three seasons. He would also play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and Buffalo Sabres. Gardner was an effective presence in front of the net, and was a skilled scorer. He led the American Hockey league in scoring twice (1985 and 1986). A popular player, his limited skating skills curtailed a promising career.

Coaching career

Shortly after his playing career ended, Gardner jumped into the coaching profession, becoming head coach of the Newmarket Saints of the American Hockey League for four seasons. He would later become an assistant coach for the Baltimore Skipjacks (later Portland Pirates after their relocation) under coach Barry Trotz. Both Trotz and Gardner would later be promoted to the NHL level when they moved to Nashville to work for the expansion Predators. Gardner would be assistant coach through the 2002–03 season and then worked as a pro scout for the organization.[2]

In January 2007, he was named head coach of the Russian KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.[3] He guided the team to a nine-game winning streak and made the playoffs, but was released in February 2008.[4] In the summer of 2008, he was named head coach of Dynamo Minsk in Belarus and assistant coach of the Belarus national team.[5] In late July 2008, his contract was cancelled due to personal reasons.[6]

On December 18, 2008, he became the coach of the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) and guided the Freezers to the playoff-quarterfinals that season. In Gardner's second season at the helm, Hamburg did not qualify for the playoffs.[7] His contract expired at the end of the 2009-10 season.

Gardner signed with the Mississippi RiverKings of the Central Hockey League (CHL) for the 2010-11 campaign. On July 29, 2011, Gardner was informed by the team that was relieved of his duties for the following season.[8]

In September 13, 2011 Gardner was named head coach of fellow CHL team Bloomington Blaze. On January 18, 2013 Gardner was appointed head coach of the Braehead Clan of the Elite Ice Hockey League. He guided the Scottish club to the EIHL Gardiner Conference Championship and a playoff-quarterfinal appearance, but did not have his contract renewed at the end of the 2012-13 season.[9]

In Mai 2013, Gardner was named head coach of Dutch Eredivisie side Tilburg Trappers, signing a two-year deal with the team.[10] Under his guidance, the Trappers won back-to-back Dutch championship titles and Dutch cup titles.

On January 1, 2016, German second-division club Lausitzer Füchse hired Gardner as their new head coach.[11] He stayed on the job through the end of the 2015-16 season.[12] On June 29, 2016, Gardner took over the coaching job at fellow DEL2 side Löwen Frankfurt, working alongside sporting director Rich Chernomaz.[13] He guided the Frankfurt team to the 2017 DEL2 title in his first year in charge.[14] Gardner was sacked on March 17, 2018, during the playoff quarterfinal series against Kassel, in which the Frankfurt team had lost the first two games.[15]

In 2019, Gardner was inducted into the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame.[16]

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1973–74St. Michael's BuzzersMetJHL448744131
1974–75Oshawa GeneralsOMJHL642736635450009
1975–76Oshawa GeneralsOMJHL6569751447542352
1976–77Rhode Island RedsAHL141041412
1976–77Colorado RockiesNHL6030295925
1977–78Colorado RockiesNHL4630225229
1978–79Colorado RockiesNHL6423264932
1978–79Toronto Maple LeafsNHL11729060114
1979–80New Brunswick HawksAHL201116271415105155
1979–80Toronto Maple LeafsNHL4511132410
1980–81Springfield IndiansAHL14912216
1980–81Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL623440745951018
1981–82Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL593633692851562
1982–83Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL7028275512
1983–84Baltimore SkipjacksAHL5432498114101210220
1983–84Pittsburgh PenguinsNHL160556
1984–85Binghamton WhalersAHL64517913010539120
1984–85Washington CapitalsNHL122466
1985–86Rochester AmericansAHL71615111216
1985–86Buffalo SabresNHL20000
1996–97Portland PiratesAHL10110
NHL totals 447 201 201 402 207 16 2 6 8 14
AHL totals 238 174 212 386 72 30 25 24 49 5

See also

References

  1. "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  2. "Paul Gardner | LinkedIn". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  3. "Russian club hires Gardner as coach". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  4. alan-parker. "Chasing Pucks and Dreams in Europe". Nosey Parker. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  5. "NEWS SINGLEVIEW". www.iihf.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  6. Branchu, Marc. "Paul Gardner quitte Minsk | Russie | Hockey sur glace | Hockey Archives". www.passionhockey.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  7. "Paul Gardner verlässt die Freezers". Hockeyweb. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  8. "RiverKings Dismiss Coach Paul Gardner | SPHL Southern Professional Hockey League - Pointstreak Sites". thesphl.com. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  9. Behan, Paul (2013-04-10). "Coach Gardner exits Braehead Clan". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  10. "Oud-NHL-speler Paul Gardner nieuwe hoofdcoach Tilburg Trappers". omroepbrabant.nl. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  11. "Paul Gardner wird neuer Füchse-Coach". Lausitzer Füchse. 2016-01-01. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  12. DNN-Online. "Eishockey – Lausitzer Füchse präsentieren Hannu Järvenpää als neuen Trainer / Regionalsport / Sport - DNN - Dresdner Neuste Nachrichten". www.dnn.de. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  13. Frankfurt, Löwen. "Erfahrung pur: Paul Gardner coacht die Löwen Frankfurt - Löwen Frankfurt". www.loewen-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  14. "Löwen Frankfurt feiern Zweitliga-Meisterschaft". op-online.de (in German). 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  15. Frankfurt, Löwen. "Coach Paul Gardner freigestellt, Franz-David Fritzmeier springt ein" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  16. Sc, Susan; iffio (2019-11-01). "Leaside Sports Hall of Fame celebrates inductees". Leaside Life. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
Preceded by
Barry Dean
Kansas City Scouts first round draft pick
1976
Succeeded by
Barry Beck
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