South Portland native Jon Gillies, a goalie in his first year of professional hockey, had season-ending surgery on his left hip Wednesday.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Thomas Byrd of the Nashville Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center in Tennessee, said his mother, Debbie Gillies.

Jon Gillies, 21, led Providence College to the NCAA championship in April and signed with the Calgary Flames shortly after. He was playing with the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate in Stockton, California, when he aggravated a lingering injury in a Nov. 6 game.

“I made a routine save, kind of went down awkwardly and that was that,” Gillies said recently in a story on the Flames’ website. “I had trouble getting back up. I finished the period and that was the end of it.”

Gillies first hurt his hip during his sophomore year at Providence and has been battling the injury for more than two years.

“He’s been doing physical therapy to keep him in the game,” his brother, Cameron, said Wednesday. “He was able to tough it out.”

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Jon Gillies made a career-high 49 saves in a 4-3 win over Boston University in the 2015 NCAA championship game and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four.

Gillies had a 2-3-1 record with a 2.31 goals-against average and .920 save percentage for the Stockton Heat.

Debbie Gillies said Jon will return to Maine later this week.

“There was less damage than at first thought so the recovery time should be closer to four months,” she said.

“We have a flight back to Maine on Friday. Starting Monday, he’ll start physical therapy at OA in Saco. Jon will return to Nashville in four weeks for another follow-up. Jon will go to Calgary after that for physical therapy with the team.”

 


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