Paul Polillo (born April 24, 1967) 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 ...

former 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. He played in the Colonial Hockey League (later renamed the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor professional ice hockey league, with teams in the Unite ...

) for nine seasons, winning the UHL Most Valuable Player Award three years in succession.

Playing career

Born in

Brantford Brantford (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River (Ontario), Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by County of Brant, Brant County, but is politically separate with ...

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 ...

, Polillo played college hockey with

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

from 1986 until 1990, and was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

in the

1988 NHL Supplemental Draft The 1988 NHL Supplemental Draft was the third NHL Supplemental Draft. It was held on June 10, 1988. Selections by round Round one The first round was limited to teams that missed the 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs. Round two See also *1988 NHL Ent ...

. After college, he played professionally in Italy with Latemor for two seasons. In 1992, he joined the

Brantford Smoke The Brantford Smoke were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Colonial Hockey League and the United Hockey League. They played in Brantford, Ontario, from 1991–92 (the league's inaugural season) until 1997–98, playing home games at th ...

of the Colonial league, where he played until 1998, with one tryout with the

Denver Grizzlies Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1994–95. He then played three seasons with the

Port Huron Border Cats The Port Huron Border Cats were a minor professional ice hockey team in the United Hockey League that played from 1996 to 2002. The team was based in Port Huron, Michigan, and played at McMorran Place. The team ceased operations in 2002 and was r ...

, before retiring from professional hockey. He then played in

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the Province of Ontario. The OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern Ontario Hockey As ...

senior league play with the

Dundas Real McCoys The Dundas Real McCoys are a Canadian senior ice hockey team based in Dundas, Ontario. They play in the Ontario Hockey Association's Major League Hockey. The Real McCoys have won two National Championships, winning the 1986 Hardy Cup as Canadi ...

and the

Brantford Blast Brantford Blast are a Canadian senior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association's Allan Cup Hockey, from Brantford, Ontario. The team was established in 2000, and play their games at the Brantford Civic Centre. The Blast were the winners ...

before retiring from competitive hockey in 2006.

Awards and honours

References

External links

* 1967 births Brantford Smoke players Denver Grizzlies players Port Huron Border Cats players Ice hockey people from Brantford Living people Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey players Canadian ice hockey centres National Hockey League supplemental draft picks Pittsburgh Penguins draft picks {{Canada-icehockey-centre-1960s-stub