Jason Fitzsimmons: The Story of a Stingrays Legend

By Owen Gund

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C- The South Carolina Stingrays will honor a franchise legend on Saturday, April 5, at their final home game of the 2024-25 regular season. Jason Fitzsimmons, the current Director of Minor League operations for the Washington Capitals and a former goaltender, assistant coach, and head coach for the Stingrays, will be recognized with a special bobblehead giveaway for the first 1,000 fans in attendance at the North Charleston Coliseum. The game starts at 6:05 p.m. and will also serve as the team's annual Fan Appreciation Night. 

Fitzsimmons has been working for the Stingrays' NHL affiliate, the Washington Capitals, for the last 18 years and has been involved with the Stingrays organization for more than 30 years.

Arriving in South Carolina

Fitzsimmons' journey with the Stingrays began in 1994 when he was assigned to the team after being drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 1991. He admits that at the time, he knew little about the team or even the fact that South Carolina had hockey.

"I was in the third year of my entry-level contract with Vancouver. I was playing in Syracuse, New York. I got called into the coach's office in Syracuse, and they told me they were going to send me down to the ECHL for conditioning for two weeks. And I said, 'Well, where are you sending me?' This was the second year of the Stingrays' existence, and I knew nothing about them. So they said, 'We're sending you Charleston'. And I said, 'West Virginia'? They said, 'No, South Carolina'. I said, 'They have a hockey team?'. And they said, 'Yup. It's going to take you a roughly 15-hour drive to get down there; you should get on your way'. From the moment I got here, I fell in love with the city, people, arena, and organization. It was great."

Fitzsimmons appreciated that the fans were quick to embrace hockey in the Lowcountry.

"It was interesting. Hockey was new in Charleston, and it was just a great market for it. When you describe hockey to people who have never seen it, you could say it's a combination of NASCAR and UFC fighting. Those are two passions that a lot of people in the South have, and they liked the speed and the physicality. The fans here just fell in love with hockey.

Fitzsimmons and his teammates fed off the fans' passion.

"As a goaltender coming in here, I noticed the fans really rally behind you. I would make a save on a shot that was going wide to the net, and they would cheer really loud. As players for the Stingrays, you just wanted to go out and run through the other end of the rink for these fans, because we were filling that rink up with 10,000 fans on a Tuesday night, and they were just passionate about us winning. So it gives you that extra drive. You don't want to go out there and not let them down."

The 1996-97 Championship Season

One of Fitzsimmons' most cherished memories is from the 1996-97 season when the Stingrays won both the Brabham Cup for the best regular-season record and the Kelly Cup as ECHL champions. A standout goaltender, Fitzsimmons was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1997 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Fitzsimmons takes the most pride in the 1996-97 team's style. He sees parallels between that squad and this year's team.

"It's very similar to this year's team in terms of how it was constructed. The coach back then, Rick Vaive, did a great job building the team. We had a combination of skill, toughness, and goaltending, and that's a lot like this year's team. Off the ice, all the players got along really well. It turned into a pretty amazing run that spring. We had a good team that year."

Current Stingrays President Rob Concannon, who was a teammate of Fitzsimmons on that championship team, agrees.

"The 1996-97 team was the first team in the ECHL to win the Brabham Cup and the Kelly Cup. Winning the Kelly Cup this season is our ultimate goal. There's definitely a lot of similarities between the two teams, and hopefully, the 2024-25 team can duplicate what the 1996-97 team did."

The fan support after that first championship in 1997 left a lasting impression on Fitzsimmons.

"What was cool and something I'll never forget was after that first championship in 1997 when we won in Louisiana. We had about a 16-hour bus ride to get home and we didn't get home until the next evening. By the time we got back to the North Charleston Coliseum at about seven o'clock the following night, 10,000 fans were waiting for us in the arena to watch us come off the bus with the championship. It was just a memory I'll never forget. It just goes to show the fan base's passion in Charleston."

Coaching Career

After his playing career, Fitzsimmons transitioned into coaching, serving as an assistant coach from 1998-2002 before becoming the Stingrays head coach from 2002-2007. He played a key role in the team's second Kelly Cup Championship in 2001. During his tenure as head coach, he hired his former teammate, Jared Bednar, as an assistant, a move that helped launch Bednar's coaching career. Bednar is currently at the helm of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and is the third longest-tenured active head coach in the NHL.

"When I got the head coaching job, I hired Jared as my assistant, and we worked together for five years. Whenever you can work with one of your good friends, it makes coming to the rink a lot of fun. We thought the game the same, which was fun, and our beliefs on building an organization were the same."

The Capitals-Stingrays Affiliation

Fitzsimmons moved on to the NHL in 2007, joining the Washington Capitals as a pro scout before also becoming their Director of Minor League Operations in 2016. He played a pivotal role in initiating and maintaining the long-standing affiliation between the Capitals and the Stingrays, which began in 2004 when he was South Carolina's head coach.

"It's important to have a really good affiliation. Back in 2004, I had a relationship with George McPhee, who was, at the time, the general manager of the Washington Capitals, and Glenn Hamlin, the head coach at the time with the Washington Capitals. Those were the people who drafted me with the Vancouver Canucks in 1991, so we had an excellent relationship that stems back that far. When I got the head coaching job, I realized that if we were going to be successful, we had to have a good affiliation. I reached out to George and Glenn and made the initial call. It's turned into this really good relationship that's been 20-plus years now."

Currently, all three levels of the Capitals organization are thriving. Washington is in first place in the NHL, Hershey is second in the AHL, and the Stingrays are currently atop the ECHL.

"It's what we strive for every year," Concannon said. "The Capitals want to win the Stanley Cup, the Bears want to win the Calder Cup, and the Stingrays want to win the Kelly Cup. All three teams try to position themselves as best as possible to win hockey games and be ready to win hockey games on a daily basis. It's not easy to do, but having Fitzy's intuition and mindset about the ECHL and the Stingrays is important. Our three-tiered system is instrumental and crucial to getting quality hockey players and quality people here to play for us, eventually helping them develop to move on to the AHL and then the NHL."

Fitzsimmons' Legacy in South Carolina

Fitzsimmons' legacy with the Stingrays is unquestionable, making him the perfect choice to be honored with a bobblehead night.

"Fitzy has been a huge part of the Stingrays organization for over 30 years," Concannon said. "I couldn't think of anybody else to do a bobblehead for this year, and I think he's honored and excited."

In his current role as Washington's Director of Minor League Operations, Fitzsimmons continues to have an impact on South Carolina's success. 

"He's somebody who continues to play a significant role in our organization," Concannon said. "He still lives here in Charleston. He's at two to three games a week. He's invested in what we're doing here. He believes in ECHL and what the Stingrays do on and off the ice. He sees it as an asset for affiliated players, whether they're AHL or NHL contracts, to spend some time down here to help them learn and become better people and better pro players."

Fitzsimmons appreciates the recognition of having a bobblehead.

"It really is an honor to be associated with this organization for the better part of 30 years now, and to be honored with a bobblehead is pretty cool," he said. "I think the people who designed it made me look better than I really do," he added with a laugh.

Concannon's Closing Thoughts

For Rob Concannon, Fitzsimmons is more than just a teammate and colleague. He is a close friend. Concannon believes Fitzsimmons has had an immeasurable impact on the Stingrays and his career.

"Fitzy is one of the best guys you'll ever meet," Concannon shared. "Our families have grown up together. It's pretty special when you get to work every day, hand in hand with one of your best friends. He works for the Washington Capitals and the Hershey Bears, but his heart is with the South Carolina Stingrays. That is evident by the amount of time he spends around our group. I feel fortunate to have somebody like Jason in my life. He's a dear friend to me, and I probably wouldn't be in this position without him. The Stingrays organization wouldn't have had the success it has had over the last 32 years without Jason and his dedication to Charleston and the Stingrays organization."

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