Paul Adey

Paul Adey (born August 28, 1963) is a Canadian former ice hockey player and coach. Adey enjoyed a notable playing career in British ice hockey, playing 11 seasons for the Nottingham Panthers between 1988 and 1999 and 29 games for the Sheffield Steelers during the 2000–01 season. His number 22 jersey is retired by the Panthers and he is a member of the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Playing career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Adey joined the Hull Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1981 at the age of 18, moving to the Shawinigan Cataractes in 1983. His professional career began in International Hockey League with the Toledo Goaldiggers before he moved to the Fort Wayne Komets. After three seasons he moved to the Peoria Rivermen before moving to Europe in 1988. He began the 1988–89 season with Ligue Magnus side Briançon but in October joined the Nottingham Panthers in the British Hockey League. He played for the club for the next 11 seasons, finishing as the top point scorer on five occasions and setting club records for goals, assists, and points, surpassing the records previously held by Chick Zamick. Adey helped the team to the Playoff Championship in his first season and won four Autumn Cup winners medals with the team.

Adey departed for Italy in 1999 having scored 828 goals, 781 assists and 1,609 points in 609 appearances for the Panthers. In 2000–01 Adey was a mid-season signing for Nottingham's archrivals, the Sheffield Steelers. He scored 11 goals and earned 12 assists in 29 games for the Steelers, helping the club to a Grand Slam of all four cups. He retired from playing at the end of the 2000–01 season. However, whilst coaching, he played as an injury cover twice in the 2001–02 season and once in the 2003–04 season.

Coaching career Following his retirement as a player in 2001, Adey returned to Nottingham as a coach under director of hockey Alex Dampier. In 2002 he assumed the role of head coach after Dampier's dismissal. Adey presided over the Panthers for three seasons, leading the club the Challenge Cup in 2004, their first trophy since 1998. Following the 2004–05 season, Adey's contract was not renewed. In the summer of 2006 he became the head coach of Italian side Renon Ritten. He was retained for the 2007–08 season. He became coach of the Belfast Giants in the Elite Ice Hockey League for the 2013–2014 season, and helped bring them the League Cup and to the final of the Challenge Cup and the playoffs. He also won coach of the year that season. However, there was a lot of controversy when he was not retained to be coach in the following season. A statement released by Belfast Giants said 'that Adey and general manager Todd Kelman had failed to come to an agreement for next season and mutually decided to part ways'. Fans were shocked by this move by Kelman and the controversy continued when Kelman then left his general manager role at the Giants to buy the Cardiff Devils for the next season.

Awards Named to the ISL All-star first team 1997 and 1999. Sekonda Face to Watch in January 1999. World Championships Pool B Silver medallist 1999. Jersey number (22) retired by Nottingham Panthers in 2003. Inducted to the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006.

Records All-time points record for Nottingham Panthers with 1609.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1981–82 Hull Olympiques QMJHL 54 17 24 41 0 14 8 9 17 9 1982–83 Hull Olympiques QMJHL 70 58 104 162 14 7 5 11 16 0 1983–84 Shawinigan Cataractes QMJHL 56 37 52 39 78 6 6 3 9 13 1983–84 Toledo Goaldiggers IHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1983–84 Fort Wayne Komets IHL — — — — — 3 0 0 0 0 1984–85 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 81 30 31 61 135 13 4 7 11 23 1985–86 Fort Wayne Komets IHL 39 13 11 24 44 — — — — — 1985–86 Peoria Rivermen IHL 14 8 7 15 7 11 4 5 9 6 1986–87 Peoria Rivermen IHL 79 35 28 63 40 — — — — — 1987–88 Briançon Alpes Provence FRA 31 32 22 54 49 — — — — — 1988–89 Nottingham Panthers BHL 34 82 71 153 99 6 6 12 18 6 1989–90 Nottingham Panthers BHL 31 54 49 103 50 5 5 7 12 2 1990–91 Nottingham Panthers BHL 36 72 35 107 30 6 7 6 13 4 1991–92 Nottingham Panthers BHL 36 55 50 105 12 8 11 11 22 18 1992–93 Nottingham Panthers BHL 35 66 58 124 50 7 10 15 25 10 1993–94 Nottingham Panthers BHL 45 80 63 143 58 1 0 0 0 2 1995–96 Nottingham Panthers BHL 56 85 69 154 81 8 10 1 11 39 1996–97 Nottingham Panthers ISL 34 28 26 54 67 8 6 3 9 6 1997–98 Nottingham Panthers ISL 44 14 23 37 14 6 0 5 5 6 1998–99 Nottingham Panthers ISL 42 21 35 56 20 3 0 1 1 2 1999–00 HC Milano FRA 29 15 17 32 24 — — — — — 2000–01 Sheffield Steelers ISL 29 11 12 23 8 2 0 0 0 0 2001–02 Nottingham Panthers ISL 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2003–04 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — IHL totals 215 86 77 163 226 24 8 12 20 29

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1996 Great Britain World Championships Pool B 7 4 4 8 10 1997 Great Britain World Championships Pool B 7 5 1 6 4 1999 Great Britain World Championships Pool B 7 3 3 6 2 1999 Great Britain World Championships Pool A Qualifiers 3 0 0 0 0 2000 Great Britain World Championships Pool B 7 2 5 7 14 2001 Great Britain World Championships Division 1 5 3 2 5 4 Senior totals 36 17 15 32 34

Coaching career Season Team League G W L T OTL PCT 2002–03 Nottingham Panthers ISL 32 15 13 4 -- .469 2003–04 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 56 34 14 6 2 .607 2004–05 Nottingham Panthers EIHL 50 25 14 5 6 .500 2006–07 Renon Ritten Italian Serie A 32 14 8 10 -- .438 2013–14 Belfast Giants EIHL 52 43 6 0 3 .827