Orlando Solar Bears’ newest rival hires experience behind the bench and in front office

Orlando's newest likely in-state rival, the Jacksonville Icemen, have named Jason Christie as their Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations. Jason is the all-time leader in ECHL wins as a Head Coach with 547, and is second in most games coached in league history, trailing John Marks by only one game. He will tie John Marks for most career coaching years in the ECHL in the 2017-2018 season with 18.

Jason spent the last two seasons with the Tulsa Oilers, while previously coaching the Peoria Rivermen, Utah Grizzlies, and Ontario Reign in the ECHL. He was an assistant coach with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL for two seasons, and the head coach of the Bloomington Prairie Thunder of the CHL. In his 14 ECHL seasons, Christie's teams have only missed the playoffs three times, and had a sub-500 season twice.

In the ECHL, the ability to find and locate players falls largely on the Head Coach, who serves typically as the de-facto General Manager. Given that Jacksonville is likely to be in the Solar Bears’ division, Christie’s experience and past success are likely to make it more difficult for the Solar Bears to make the playoffs, or advance beyond the first round.

The divisional alignments for the 2017-2018 season have not yet been finalized, but if it’s anything like last season, Jacksonville will sit neatly in the South alongside the Atlanta Gladiators, Cincinnati Cyclones, Florida Everblades, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Norfolk Admirals, and South Carolina Stingrays.

More of Christie’s coaching statistics can be found here.