Welcome to the CardinalHockey.Net Summer Series: Alumni Profiles. This weekly series will feature Cardinal Hockey alumni news and also take look at who is still involved with hockey at some level.
This week’s alumni profile is Paul Kelly.
Former Cardinal Paul Kelly Signs With Odessa for 2009-10 Season
Paul Kelly (Peabody, MA) played forward for the Plattsburgh State from 2003-05. He transferred to Plattsburgh State from Boston College. In 57 games with the Cardinals, Kelly scored 34 goals and 29 assists for 63 points. In 2004-05, Kelly was a Co-Captain for the Cardinals along with Dave Young. In his senior year, Kelly was the only Cardinal named to the All-SUNYAC team (2nd). He was also voted Cardinal Hockey Fan Favorite by the fans and voted the team’s Most Valuable Player by his teammates.
Recently, Kelly has signed a contract with the Odessa Jackalopes of the Central Hockey League for the 2009-2010 season.
According the an Odessa Jackalopes press release, Kelly joined the Jackalopes for the final nine regular season games and a playoff run during last season. With Odessa, Kelly scored six points in 13 playoff games including a pair of game-winning goals in the conference finals against the Texas Brahmas. Prior to joining Odessa Kelly played for the Rapid City Rush, scoring seven goals and four assists in 26 games.
"This is a great situation for me," Kelly said. "We came within one game of making the finals and I know that everyone on the team won't be happy until we take that next step."
“Paul came in late last year and really surprised us,” said Jackalopes head coach Paul Gillis. “He has good size, he was good on the face-off, and he scored some big goals for us in the playoffs so we’re certainly happy to have him back.”
Since leaving Plattsburgh, Kelly has played for three different ECHL and CHL teams.
Paul Kelly Professional Career:
2004-05 Augusta Lynx (ECHL) GP0 0-0-0
2005-06 Augusta Lynx (ECHL) GP31 5-6-11
2005-06 Dayton Bombers (ECHL) GP42 13-13-26
2006-07 Dayton Bombers (ECHL) GP93 34-38-72
2007-08 Tulsa Oilers (CHL) GP62 26-27-53
2008-09 South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) GP28 5-9-14
2008-09 Rapid City Rush (CHL) GP17 2-4-6
2008-09 Odessa Jackalopes (CHL) GP22 8-3-11
2009-10 Odessa Jackalopes (CHL) Signed for upcoming season
Thanks to Joe Burl, Odessa Jackalopes, OAOnine, and HockeyDB.com for contributing to this story.
Odessa Jackalopes
HockeyDB
OA Online
