Sunday, August 16, 2009

E.J. McGUIRE TO ENTER BROCKPORT H.O.F.



The Golden Eagles Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches and/or administrators who have made outstanding contributions to the intercollegiate athletics program at the State University of New York College at Brockport.

So far, 151 athletes and coaches have been inducted...and not one of them from the hockey program.

That will change this fall. The Athletics Department has announced that E.J. McGuire is among the 5 inductees in this year's Hall of Fame class who will be inducted on September 26th.

E.J. is a 1975 graduate of the College who was a gritty, hardworking player best known for his five assists (a single game record) against St. John Fisher in his senior year. Shortly after finishing his masters degree, the cerebral McGuire took control of the team and was the head coach from the '77-'78 season through the '81-'82 season, compiling a 44-74-1 record.

The Brockport experience helped prepare him for a great career in the management side of professional hockey. McGuire is one of the most respected men in NHL circles.

He twice served as a Philadelphia Flyers assistant coach, under Mike Keenan from 1984 to 1988 and Bill Barber in the 2001-2002 season. In the 80's stint McGuire and the team won three straight Patrick Division titles and went to the Stanley Cup Finals twice.

McGuire is now the Director of Central Scouting for the NHL. The Central Scouting Service provides leagues and team directories, schedules and rosters for dozens of leagues and tournaments in North America and Europe that have NHL prospects participating in them. A focus is placed on the CHL, U.S.College and US Junior leagues and as a result, the department provides NHL scouts a weekly injury update and player movements report for those leagues. Along with these reports, Central Scouting provides NHL teams with video footage of top prospects and two player ranking lists during the season. These lists are used by NHL clubs as a second opinion and as an aid in making their own prospect evaluations. Over the last few years Central Scouting has been inviting approximately 100 of the top prospects from around the world to Toronto for Medical and Fitness testing. This event allows NHL teams to view these top players prior to the entry draft during medical and physical tests and gives them an opportunity for one on one interviews with the players.