Allen Americans secure Whitley between the pipes
ALLEN, TX – The Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League (CHL) announced the signing of Lakehead University star goaltender Chris Whitley today.
“We are very excited to have Chris begin his pro career here with us. He has been a college all-star the past two years and he was a major reason his team challenged for the national championship. We feel very confident in Chris’s ability to excel at the pro level,” Americans Head Coach and General Manager Dwight Mullins said.
Whitley, born February 21, 1983, hails from Oshawa, Ontario, and graduated with a teaching degree in May.
The 6-1, 215 pound goaltender is looking forward to being involved with the new franchise and has high goals. “The coaches are putting a lot of good players in place and have the right attitude. They want to win a league championship, and I want to be apart of that,” Whitley said.
Whitley led the Thunderwolves to a Queen’s Cup championship in 2005-06. He also racked up numerous awards and broke many records during his time at Lakehead University.
Some of these awards include Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Men’s Hockey Most Valuable Player in 2008, OUA First Team All-Star in 2008, Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) First Team All-Canadian in 2008 and Lakehead Male Athlete of the Year in 2008.
Whitley leaves the Thunderwolves with almost every goaltending record. A few of these include most career overall appearances (153), most career overall wins (82), being the only netminder to have a perfect regular season in OUA play (15-0 in 2007-08), best goals against average for an overall season (2.34 in 2007-08) and best save percentage for an overall season (.917 in 2007-08). For a full list of Whitley’s awards and records, visit Thunder Wolves Hockey Website.
Before attending Lakehead University, Whitley played three seasons for the Aurora Tigers in the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (now known as the Ontario Junior Hockey League), where he won an RBC Bank Cup National Championship.
The Allen Americans begin play this fall in the newly built Allen Events Center. Season tickets are on sale now, and corporate partnerships are also available. For information, call 972.912.1000 or visit allenamericans.com. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday.
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[...] possibly earning a callup to Grand Rapids if injuries take hold, or something. Otherwise, he’s signed a contract with the CHL’s Allen [...]