Chris Collins was named the Gamblers’ Assistant Director of Scouting, Tim MacLean the team’s Director of Canada Scouting/Recruitment, and Frank O’Connor Director of Player Development and Special Assignments Scout. All three bring a wealth of experience and knowledge of hockey to the Gamblers organization.
Collins is a native of Rochester, who grew up playing minor hockey in Western New York and Ontario before a top junior season in the USHL with the Des Moines Buccaneers. As a standout player at Boston College, he led the nation in scoring as a senior and was runner-up for the 2006 Hobey Baker Award.
After graduation, he signed an NHL contract with the Boston Bruins and played in the American Hockey League for the Providence Bruins. Chris went on to have an eight-year professional career, signing with two different NHL organizations and playing in both the Finish and German Elite Leagues.
After retiring from professional hockey as a player in 2013, he returned to Rochester and co-founded The Evolve Sports Group, a Rochester based training company specializing in Player Development and Advancement. The past 5 seasons Chris has coached the 15O age group with the Rochester Coalition and BK Selects Organizations. He is currently the Director of Hockey for the BK Selects Boys program.
With a strong background in coaching and recruiting, Collins brings the kind of expertise needed to enhance the organization’s draft and development process. He will be an integral part of Green Bay’s scouting operations at all levels.
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MacLean comes to the Gamblers with extensive evaluation experience in professional and junior hockey. He spent 12 years as a scout with the New York Islanders from 2006-17, where he filled a variety of roles including head OHL/Ontario scout and crossover (all regions) scout. In his time with the Islanders, he met with nearly every draft-eligible OHL prospect, scouted myriad international (IIHF) tournaments, and was often asked to lead the Islanders NHL draft combine meetings.
From Newfoundland, he most recently worked for the OHL’s Niagara Ice Dogs as their GTHL scout for the previous four seasons. Prior to being in the NHL, he spent more than 10 years on the staff of the Red Line Report independent scouting service, where his focus was on evaluating and ranking the top NHL draft prospects out of Western Canada. MacLean will coordinate and integrate the efforts of Green Bay’s Canada-based scouts to continue to bring the best Canadian talent south to the USHL.
Based in Toronto, he is a graduate of the University of Lethbridge, where he earned a BA in Education and BE in Kinesiology. Tim has been married to Nicola Geary for 15 years and they have two wonderful, talented daughters Samantha, 13, and Alex, 9.
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Since 2018, O’Connor has been on the staff at Mount St. Charles Academy serving as the 14U Head Coach. As the Head Coach, O’Connor’s teams have reached the USA Hockey National Quarterfinals and won back-to-back New England Regional Championships.
In O’Connor’s four years at MSC, two players have made the US National Team Development Program along with two tendering in the USHL. The 2020-2021 14U (2006) had seven players picked in Phase 1 of this past year’s USHL Draft.
Prior to Mount Saint Charles, the Arlington, Mass. native spent seven seasons working in numerous roles with the Northern Cyclones including NCDC General Manager and Midget Director. O’Connor served at the U16 Neponset Valley River Rats Head Coach from 2009-2012 which included a trip to the 2010 USA Hockey National Championships.
O’Connor’s responsibilities will be wide-ranging, from working with Gamblers prospects to maximize their developmental paths, to scouting and recruiting future talent.
