Jeff Bes (born July 31, 1973) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player who played several seasons with the

Laredo Bucks The Laredo Bucks were an ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League. The Bucks played in Laredo, Texas, United States at the Laredo Energy Arena, formerly known as the Laredo Entertainment Center. On May 1, 2012, the management, citing declin ...

. Bes has played for many minor league teams such as the

Dayton Bombers The Dayton Bombers were an ECHL ice hockey team located in Dayton, Ohio. The team most recently was in the North Division of the ECHL's American Conference. The Bombers originally played at Hara Arena from 1991 to 1996. The team moved to the Ervi ...

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

Mississippi Sea Wolves The Mississippi Sea Wolves are a professional hockey team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and play in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves are members of the FPHL. They are a revival of a team by the same name that played in the ECHL, ma ...

Orlando Solar Bears The Orlando Solar Bears are a professional ice hockey team that plays their home games at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. They play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference and are affiliated with the Tampa Bay Lightning of t ...

Jacksonville Lizard Kings The Jacksonville Lizard Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formerly known as the Louisville Icehawks, they played in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1995–2000. They played their home games in the J ...

SaiPa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

and several other teams including the

Dukes of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...

. He also coaches in the

Southern Professional Hockey League The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the mid ...

Playing career

Junior

Born in

Tillsonburg Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 18,615 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19. History Prior to European settlement, the present site of Tillso ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Bes started playing hockey at age 2. He began his junior career in 1990–91, playing for the

of the

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overag ...

. He would score 23 goals and 47 assists for 70 points. His time with Hamilton would be short lived as the following season they became the

Guelph Storm The Guelph Storm are a major junior ice hockey team based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. They have played in the OHL since the 1991–92 season. The team plays home games at the Sleeman Centre. History The franchise started as the Toronto Marlb ...

. He played the 1991–92 season with the new, Storm, and finish with 40 goals and 62 assists for 102 points. He spent the 1992-93 campaign with the Storm again, scoring 48 goals and 67 assists.

Professional

Bes was selected by the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

in the third round of the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who retire ...

, 58th overall. He would never see regular season action, but was considered a top prospect in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

at the time. Bes spent the next 11 years going back and forth between leagues, such as the International Hockey League, the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

and the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

. In 2003, he signed with the

of the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

(CHL). Bes is the Bucks all-time leader in goals, assists, and points a two-time MVP of the CHL. In 2007 Bes took on the responsibilities of being a player and assistant coach with the bucks.

International

Bes was selected for the

1993 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1993 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1993 WJHC'') was the 17th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held in Gävle, Sweden. Canada won the gold medal, its sixth championship, while Sweden won silver, and the co ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where he played on a line with

Paul Kariya Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (born October 16, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Known as a skilled and fast-skating offensive player, he played in the NHL for the Might ...

. He won a gold medal with

Team Canada Canadian National Team or Team Canada may refer to: Canada at multi-sport events * Canada at the Olympics * Canada at the Paralympics * Canada at the Commonwealth Games * Canada at the Pan American Games Canada's national sport teams * Canada me ...

Coaching career

In August 2011, Bes was hired as the head coach of the

Mississippi Surge The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi and home games were played ...

of the

. Following the Surge folding in May 2014, Bes was hired to coach the

Fayetteville FireAntz The Fayetteville Marksmen are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They currently play in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) and play their home games in the Crown Coliseum. The team, orig ...

in 2015. After two seasons with Fayetteville, Bes left the team to be closer to his family in

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

, but then took the head coaching job with the

Pensacola Ice Flyers The Pensacola Ice Flyers are a professional ice hockey team of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team played their first season in 2009–10. Home games are played at the Pensacola Bay Center, previously home to the ECHL's Pensacola ...

for the 2017–18 season. In 2019, he was hired as the SPHL's

Evansville Thunderbolts The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league ice hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League. The team plays at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The team replaced the Evansville IceMen of the ECHL. History During the 2015– ...

head coach.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* 1973 births Living people Augusta Lynx players Canadian ice hockey centres Chicago Wolves players Espoo Blues players Greensboro Generals players Guelph Storm players Hamilton Dukes players HDD Olimpija Ljubljana players Ice hockey people from Ontario Jackson Bandits players Jacksonville Lizard Kings players Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Kassel Huskies players Laredo Bucks players Minnesota North Stars draft picks Mississippi Sea Wolves players Orlando Solar Bears (IHL) players Pensacola Ice Pilots players SaiPa players Sportspeople from Tillsonburg Springfield Falcons players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Slovenia {{Canada-icehockey-centre-1970s-stub