Amarillo, TX - The Amarillo Gorillas and Coach Tom Coolen are moving forward in their team-assembling process, signing their first goaltender for the 2008-09 season Monday.
It was announced Monday afternoon that the team had officially inked Simon Nielsen to a contract that will keep him in Amarillo for 2008-09. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Nielsen is a native of Denmark, and has played in the "AL-Bank" league in Denmark over the past four full seasons. In his first complete campaign with Herning IK in the Danish league, Nielsen backstopped the Bluefox to a league championship in 2004-05. In 2005, only months later, Nielsen posted a 1.29 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage en route to posting a 3-1 record in the World Junior Championships (Division I).
Nielsen is expected to battle for the starting goaltending position in Amarillo this season-his first in North America. He comes to the Gorillas with four full years of European professional experience, and has participated in three World Championships with the Denmark national team.
Most recently, the 21-year-old played with the R'dovre Mighty Bulls in the AL-Bank Liga, dressing for 89 contests over the past two seasons. Last season, he led the Bulls to a regular season league championship, posting a record of 16 wins and 10 losses to go alongside his goals-against average of 2.20. Nielsen is not new to pressure situations; he has participated in 43 playoff games in his Danish professional career, with 11 of those games coming in the last two years.
