Project Stanley Podcast: Recent Episodes
Aaron Riccio
Mark is currently the COO of North America for InStat Sports, a leading performance data and video analysis software provider.
Mark has held multiple scouting positions across various leagues in North America including QMJHL, OHL, USHL, and NHL. He served in scouting and player personnel capacities with the Halifax Mooseheads, Mississauga Steelheads, Muskegon Lumberjacks, and Florida Panthers during his tenure.
Listen in as Mark shares insights into his player evaluation methodologies, use of data analysis, and stories throughout his scouting journeys.
Bill Bowler was named General Manager and VP of Hockey Operations of the Windsor Spitfires in July of 2019. He had been active in the front office since 2015 and brought significant experience to his role having also played (1991 - 1995) and coached (2005 - 2007) as a Spitfire. Bill won the 2017 Memorial Cup while acting as VP of Hockey Operations with the organization.
Over his four-year, Ontario Hockey League career, the Toronto native played in 250 regular season games, recording 149 goals and 318 assists (a league record that still stands). His 467 career points also remain a franchise record. Bowler went on to play nine professional seasons in the NHL, IHL, AHL, and DEL.
Ryan Papaioannou enters his 12th season as General Manager & Head Coach of the Brooks Bandits.
A two-time Canadian National Junior A Champion, and a two-time AJHL Coach of the Year in 2012-13 and 2018-19, Ryan Papaioannou is the winningest and longest-tenured coach in franchise history, as well as a five-time AJHL champion.
Papaioannou has built the Bandits into a perennial contender in the AJHL. In the last eight seasons, the Bandits have finished 1st in the AJHL 4 times, won 5 league championships, and 2 national championships. The program has also had more than 85 Division I committed players over the last nine seasons.
The Connecticut Whale named Alexis Moed General Manager in June 2021 ahead of the 2021-2022 NWHL Season. Alexis started her first week preparing for the 2021 NWHL Draft selecting Taylor Girard 1st Overall.
Moed currently serves as the President and Founder of the New York Islanders Girls Elite Organization and will remain in those roles in addition to serving as GM of the Whale. Created in 2016, the Islanders Elite program is committed to the support and development of girls ice hockey on Long Island and in the NY metropolitan area.
Moed played four seasons of NCAA hockey, finishing her career at Boston College.
In the summer of 2018, longtime Michigan Wolverines athletic trainer, Rick Bancroft, was promoted to director of hockey operations with the program. Now entering his 31st season at Michigan, Bancroft has been with the Wolverines since 1991.
During his time in Ann Arbor, Bancroft also held the role of coordinator of athletic medicine from 2000 to 2018, athletic training consultant from 2006 to 2018 and professional development coordinator from 1991 to 2018. He also served as an intermittent lecturer and instructor in the division of kinesiology from 1991 to 1993 and 1997 to 2001.
Theresa Feaster entered the 2020-21 season as her ninth at Providence, and fifth season as the director of men’s ice hockey operations. She was a graduate assistant for two years prior to head coach Nate Leaman offering her a full-time opportunity in 2016, becoming at the time one of two women working as full-time hockey staff members for Division I men’s hockey teams.
Feaster began working for Coach Leaman and his staff during the 2012-13 season, tracking time-on-ice and other in-game statistics while also serving as coordinator of the team’s involvement with Team IMPACT. In her current role, Feaster is responsible for providing video and statistical support and analysis for the coaching staff.
On the international level, Feaster made her first appearance as a member of the U.S. National Junior Team coaching staff at the 2021 World Junior Championships capturing the gold medal and is the first female to ever serve on the coaching staff of a U.S. National Junior Team.
Christian Koelling took over as the Bulldogs’ director of hockey operations in the summer of 2008. Among his vast array of administrative duties, Koelling is in charge of all video-related endeavors, making team travel arrangements, coordinating community outreach projects, and overseeing ice scheduling, summer camps and budget management. He also assists with the program's media relations and marketing efforts.
The Bloomington, Minn., native has been heavily involved in the local hockey scene over the past decade-plus, having spent three seasons as the head coach at the now-defunct Duluth Central High School (2005-08) and five more years coaching Duluth East youth teams. Koelling, the co-founder of the Duluth Area Special and Sled Hockey (DASH) association, is currently the Coach-In-Chief for the Minnesota district of USA Hockey and is a past-president of the Duluth Amateur Hockey Association’s Board of Directors. In August 2012, he served on the coaching staff for U.S. Under-18 Team during its tour of the Czech Republic. He also is a member of the Northern Lights Foundation advisory board.
A 2004 graduate of UMD (a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a coaching minor), Koelling played three years of varsity hockey for Bloomington Jefferson High School and paced the Jaguars in scoring as a senior while leading them to their second Minnesota State High School Class AA Tournament appearance in three years.
The 2020-21 season marks University of Notre Dame hockey coach Jeff Jackson’s 16th season behind the Irish bench. During his first 15 seasons, the program has enjoyed a great deal of success, including four trips to the Frozen Four and eight conference championships. The highly regarded Jackson has over 30 years of coaching experience and led Notre Dame to back-to-back Big Ten tournament championship seasons in 2018 and 2019 while also guiding the Irish to the 2018 national title game en route to being named the Spencer Penrose Award winner as the National Coach of the Year. Jackson was also named the Spencer Penrose award winner in 2007 and he is one of just 14 coaches to have earned the honor multiple times (dating back to 1951). Additionally, Jackson is the only coach to have earned the honor multiple times in the last 16 seasons.
Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson era began in 2005 when the University searched for a coach who could move the program among the elite hockey schools in the country. The veteran coach owned a resume packed with success at the collegiate, junior hockey, professional and international levels. Throughout his coaching career, Jackson’s teams had been successful both on and off the ice and the hope was that he could deliver those same qualities at Notre Dame.
Jackson’s Notre Dame teams have made 10 trips to the NCAA Championship (2007-09, 2011, 2013-14, 2016-19), advancing to the Frozen Four four times and playing in the 2008 and 2018 national title games.
During his 15-year run, Notre Dame has become one of the nation’s top teams while playing in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, Hockey East and now Big Ten. Under Jackson, the Irish won the CCHA regular-season title twice (2006-07 and 2008-09) while earning three Mason Cup championships (2007, 2009 and the final one in 2013). Then, in the team’s first season in the Big Ten (2017-18), Notre Dame captured both the regular season and conference championships and followed up by once again winning the conference tournament in year two (2018-19).
Jackson’s success on the ice also has had a major impact off the ice for the Irish. With the wins came a commitment from the University that led to the new home of Irish hockey — The Compton Family Ice Arena — one of the finest college hockey facilities in the nation. The venue opened for business on Oct. 21, 2011.
Since Jackson’s arrival, the Irish have had 35 players selected in the National Hockey League Entry Draft (leading into the 2020 NHL Draft), including three first round selections. In that same span, 26 players from USA Hockey’s National Team Developmental Program have matriculated to Notre Dame.
During Jackson’s tenure, the Irish have had eight players garner All-America honors — Bobby Nardella in 2019, Cale Morris in 2018, Anders Bjork in 2017, Robbie Russo in 2015, Anders Lee in 2013, Ian Cole and Erik Condra in 2009 and David Brown in 2007. In addition, 24 of Jackson’s Notre Dame players have gone on to play in the NHL.
Jackson enters the 2020-21 season with a 20-year collegiate record of 516-258-89 for a .649 winning percentage, the third-highest winning percentage among all active coaches with five years or more in Division I (entering 2020-21). His 516 career wins rank tied for 12th all-time in Division I and second among active coaches (entering 2020-21).
Hill joined the St. Lawrence men's hockey staff as an assistant coach in June 2019.
Hill spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Holy Cross after spending the previous five years as the Director of Hockey Operations at Miami University in Ohio where he worked alongside Coach Brekke as part of the RedHawks staff. Hill was also a volunteer assistant coach for Miami during the 2012-13 season prior to moving to Hockey Operations.
In 2018-19 with the Crusaders, Hill served as the co-recruiting coordinator and was also in charge of academic and compliance coordination, as well as team video and pre-scouts.
A 2012 graduate of Ferris State University, Hill captained the Bulldogs' NCAA runner-up team during the 2011-12 season. He was a two-time recipient of the team's Most Competitive Award, and was also the Most Improved Player in 2009-10. He obtained a Master's degree in Sports Studies from Miami University in 2015.
Entering his sixth year on the Golden Knights coaching staff, Josh Hauge came to Clarkson in the Fall of 2015 from the Fargo Force in the United States Hockey League where he served as assistant coach and director of Scouting in 2014-15.
In his first five years at Clarkson, Hauge has played an integral role on Coach Jones’ staff, helping to bring the Golden Knights back to national prominence. Since the 2015-16 season, the Green and Gold have skated to 110 victories, four 20-win campaigns, claimed the 2019 ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament title and participated in the past two (2018, 2019) NCAA Tournaments. Last season Clarkson skated to a 23-8-3 overall record and a second place 16-5-1 ECAC Hockey mark. The Knights were poised for postseason success and were rated ninth in the final NCAA Pairwise rankings before the COVID 19 pandemic forced an abrupt end to the college hockey season in early March.
The Knights have brought in several standout recruiting classes to Clarkson in recent years with four Golden Knights earning ECAC Hockey All-Rookie team honors over the past three seasons. Five Clarkson players have been selected in the NHL Draft since 2017.
While with Fargo, Hauge helped the Force improve their win total by 12 games from the previous season. His duties included working with the power play, forwards, recruitment of players and running the USHL Draft along with the handling of NCAA Clearinghouse and educational issues of the team. He joined the Force after acting as the Head Coach/General Manager of the Tri-City Storm for parts of the previous three seasons.
As Head Coach and General Manager with Tri-City from 2011-14, Hauge guided 100% of his players to NCAA Division I or pro hockey. He led the Storm to a 2012 playoff appearance and a 20-18-1 record after a 6-15 start. Hauge, 36, also served as the head coach for the Fairbank Ice Dogs in the North American Hockey League's West Division from 2008-11. In three seasons he compiled a regular-season record of 111-49-15 (.694 winning percentage) and was 20-9-0 in the post-season, which included a 10-1-0 mark in the 2011 playoffs as the Ice Dogs won the Robertson Cup.
A native Rosemount, MN, Hauge has coached teams to one national championship, two national championship runner-ups, three league championships, two league championship runner-ups, two regular season titles, four divisional championships, named coach of the year once, and has a career winning percentage of .633 (250-138-32).
Brett Larson began his third season as the head men's hockey coach at St. Cloud State University in 2020-21.
In his first season with the Huskies, Larson made an immediate impact as he led the Huskies to the 2018-19 NCHC regular season championship and a 30-6-3, 19-2-3 NCHC record. The NCHC Coach of the Year in 2018-19, Larson helped the Huskies earn the top seed for the 2019 NCAA Division I tournament.
Under Larson's direction, the Huskies had an unprecedented four player earn AHCA All-America honors (Jimmy Schuldt, Patrick Newell, Jack Ahcan and Blake Lizotte). Schuldt was named a Hobey Baker Award top three finalist and also gained NCHC Player of the Year notice in 2018-19.
The Huskies went undefeated at home in 2018-19 under the leadership of Larson and also set a new league standard for most NCHC victories in a season at 19.
In 2020, Larson has been selected to serve as an assistant coach for Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships by USA Hockey. With the Huskies in 2019-20, Larson led the Huskies to 13-15-6 overall record and a 10-12-2 mark in the always rugged NCHC. SCSU's Jack Ahcan, David Hrenak and Nick Poehling all earned All-NCHC honors in 2019-20.
Larson is the third coach at St.Cloud State in the history of the University's NCAA Division I men's hockey program, and SCSU's 17th head coach since the program stared intercollegiate play in 1931-32.
Larson most recently served as an assistant coach at his alma mater Minnesota Duluth from 2015 to 2018. He also was an assistant with the Bulldogs from 2008-11 and helped Minnesota Duluth win an NCAA Division I national title in 2011 and once again in 2018. The Bulldogs made five NCAA tournament appearances during Larson's tenure, finished as the NCAA runner-up in 2017, won the NCHC playoff title in 2017 and the WCHA playoff championship in 2009.
At UMD, Larson coached and/or recruited one Hobey Baker Award winner, five All-Americans, eight future NHLers and one U.S. Olympian.
In addition to his time at UMD, Larson served as head coach and general manager with the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers from 2011-13. He spent two seasons in Sioux City and led that team to the USHL playoffs in 2011-12.
Larson, who served as the head coach for gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2012 World Junior A Challenge, returned to the collegiate ranks in 2013 when he joined the staff at Ohio State as an associate head coach. Many of the players Larson coached and recruited at Ohio State helped the Buckeyes advances to the Frozen Four in 2018.
A Duluth native and 1991 Denfeld High School graduate, Larson played college hockey as a defenseman at UMD for four seasons (1991-95). He scored 24 goals and 43 assists in 133 career games. He captained the Bulldogs during his senior year in 1994-95 and was a three-time WCHA All-Academic team award recipient. He also landed the team's Community Service Award and was named UMD's Most Improved Player as a junior.
An 11th round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990 National Hockey League draft, Larson went on to play 12 years in the professional ranks, including two (1990-2001) as a player-coach with the San Diego Gulls of the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League.
He also played with the Colonial Hockey League's Madison Monsters, the East Coast Hockey League's Louisville Riverfrogs, the International Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies, Las Vegas Thunder and Long Beach Ice Dogs in addition to spending another five years in Denmark, Germany and England. He wrapped up his playing days in 2006-07 as a player/assistant coach for the Florida Seals of the Southern Professional Hockey League. During the spring of 2008, Larson coached Team RBK (AAA selects) in the Twin Cities metro area.
Originally from Toronto, Ontario, Coach Will is entering his 13th season as the Varsity Hockey coach at Salisbury where he also serves as the Dean of School and the Dean of the Third Form. In that time, the team has compiled a 234-50-21 (.802) record while capturing five New England Prep Championships (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2020), eight Housatonic League titles (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019), and the Flood-Marr Tournament five times (2009, 2013, 2014, 2018 & 2019).
Prior to Salisbury, Will served as an assistant hockey coach at Union College (Schenectady, NY) where the Dutchmen saw their overall record improve each of his four seasons with the program. In 2003, Coach Will moved across the Hudson River where he spent the season as an assistant coach at RPI (Troy, NY). That year, the Engineers went on to win 22 games and advanced to the ECAC Quarter-Finals.
An accomplished collegiate athlete, Will captained the hockey team at Union College in his senior year. After a successful season, Will was named the ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year and was selected as a member of the All-ECAC Second Team. Will went on to play two seasons of professional hockey.
Tyler Helton begins his third season as an assistant coach on Mike Cavanaugh’s coaching staff in 2020-21. Helton has been a part of the UConn men’s hockey program since his freshman year in Storrs in 2012. He will assist the program working with the Husky defensemen, special teams and assisting with all aspects of recruiting.
Helton initially joined Coach Cavanaugh’s staff in the fall of 2013 and worked with the program as a student assistant and graduate manager for five seasons.
He was responsible for developing scouting reports on opponents and worked with the entire coaching staff on practice planning. Helton worked with players in individual skill sessions and assisted with coaching the Huskies special team units.
He was responsible for all aspects of team video including pre-scout and post-game video break down, training student managers on in-game video and stats and breaking down NHL games for use as teaching points for players.
Away from Storrs, Helton has worked with USA Hockey district camps in New England and the Atlantic regions since the fall of 2016, scouting and evaluating top players and assisting with practice planning. He worked as a coach at the Western Regional High-Performance Camp in 2017 and 2018, working with players from the western United States. He began working with USA Hockey at the national camp in the summer of 2014 and has been a part of that program every summer since, coaching and evaluating players and assisting with player selection for the U17 and U16 teams.
Helton completed an USA Hockey internship in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the summer of 2016 as well as working with the USA Hockey Five Nations team that year. He also served as a coach with the Yale Midget AA split season teams in 2016 and 2017.
Helton, who played for the Huskies as a freshman in 2012-13, graduated with a degree in sport management from UConn in 2016. He earned his master’s degree in sport management in 2018.
Michael joined the Rangers as the team’s Director of Analytics and Stats in 2017. He is responsible for leading the team’s use of stats and analytics as it relates to player evaluation, development, trades, drafting, and in-game performance. Michael works closely with a small team of dedicated video trackers/analysts who play an important role in gathering data used by the Rangers.
Prior to the 2018-19 season, he took on the added responsibility of Hockey Operations Assistant whereas he reports directly to general manager Mike McKenzie.
He played a number of seasons as a goaltender in the GTHL. Michael also played rugby for a number of years, winning a national silver medal as part of Team Ontario (U18), as well as an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) silver medal as part of the Western University Varsity Men’s Rugby Team.
Prior to his role as Director of Analytics and Stats, Michael acted an an analytics consultant to the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds during the 2016-2017 season, and previously completed project work for an NHL team. Michael has five years of professional experience, previously working in private equity investing and business strategy consulting after graduating from the Ivey Business School at Western.
Tim Joncas has been head coach since 2007, earning Large School Coach of the Year honors in 2011. Assistant coach Jay Keough brings with him more than 12 years of coaching experience in the NEPSAC. Coach Keough’s primary responsibility is the director of recruiting.
Westminster has won the Founders League Championship title four times, most recently in 2019 and has advanced to the semifinals and finals of the New England Championship as recently as 2016. Out of 62 New England Prep programs, Westminster is consistently in the top 16 teams that compete for a New England Championship at season’s end.
The Martlets competed for a New England Championship in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In 2011, Westminster was crowned the New England Large School Champion. The team is fortunate to play in the Flood-Marr Holiday Tournament and has won the tournament four times since entering it, winning it most recently in 2011 and 2015.
John Hanna was announced as the assistant general manager of hockey operations for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in May of 2019.
Prior to his current position, John served in various roles with the Screaming Eagles including as a scout, assistant coach, strength and conditioning coach and board member.
During his playing career, Hanna won a Memorial Cup with the Ottawa 67s in 1984 and later went on to play with the Cape Breton Oilers for the 1988-89 season.
As Director of Player Personnel, Fowler is responsible for the coordination of the Royals’ scouting staff, assisting in the development of the team’s 50-man Player Protected List and the recruitment of prospects.
Prior to serving as Director of Player Personnel, Fowler had spent the last six seasons (2013-2019) as a member of the Royals’ scouting staff, most recently serving as the team’s Senior Regional Scout (West).
The Vancouver, BC native has spent over 30 years around the game of hockey including five years (2008-13) as the part-owner and general manager of the North Delta Devils Junior B team of the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL). In 2011-12 Fowler was named as the PJHL’s Executive of the Year. He began his foray in the hockey world by coaching for over 10 years at various levels with the Surrey Minor Hockey Association.
The two-time OHL Coach of the Year, Burnett begins his 23rd season behind an OHL bench and 3rd season as head Coach of the Guelph Storm. Burnett is the fifth-winningest head coach in league history including two OHL Championships in 1997-98 and 2018-19, both with the Storm
Overseeing the team’s Hockey Operations, Burnett has an extensive record of very successful leadership in the OHL as a Head Coach and General Manager. During his 23-year junior career behind the bench, he has amassed 706 regular season wins and earned five division titles. Throughout his tenure, Burnett has guided his teams to 18 playoff appearances, while advancing to the conference championship series or beyond on nine of those 18 occasions.
In addition to three Memorial Cup appearances and two OHL championships, Burnett has also earned coaching titles in the American Hockey League (1993 Calder Cup), and twice internationally with Team Canada (2010 IIHF Ivan Hlinka U18 Gold and 2001 IIHF U18 World Cup Gold). Burnett was also an Assistant Coach in both the 2011 and 2012 World Junior Championships, winning a Silver and Bronze medal.
Burnett is a former NHL Head Coach with the Edmonton Oilers and Assistant Coach with the Anaheim Ducks. He also spent 4 years as an AHL Head Coach with the Binghampton Rangers and Cape Breton Oilers.
Dennis, a 31-year-old Toronto native, played four OHL seasons as a goaltender with the Guelph Storm and London Knights culminating in 2005-06.
A member of London’s 2005 Memorial Cup championship team, he played a total of 160 games, producing a goals-against average of 2.58 and a save percentage of .917 while posting a won-lost-extended record of 100-39-6 and 10 shutouts. In three playoff seasons, including two with London, he played 49 games with a 2.48 GAA, a .923 save percentage and three shutouts while recording a won-lost mark of 36-12.
A sixth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2005 National Hockey League Draft, he played three seasons in the American Hockey League and five years in Europe, in Italy, Germany and Austria. He has worked out of the OHL office for the last two years as the league’s director of player recruitment and education services.
Accompanied by an impressive Junior Hockey coaching pedigree, André Tourigny joined the Ottawa 67’s as Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations prior to the franchise’s 50th anniversary 2017/2018 season. The Nicolet, Quebec native, who had spent the entirety of his Major Junior coaching career in the QMJHL, joined the Barber Poles boasting a remarkable junior hockey résumé that began in 1998 as Assistant Coach for the Shawinigan Cataractes.
Following a pair of seasons in Shawinigan, Tourigny joined the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2002, where he spent more than a decade as both Head Coach and General Manager. In his 11 years with Rouyn-Noranda, Tourigny qualified for the playoffs in all but 1 season, amassing a record of 337-336-20 over 693 regular season games and setting a QMJHL record for most games coached with one franchise. In 2005/2006, Tourigny was the recipient of the QMJHL Ron Lapointe Coach of the Year Award, and in 2007/2008 he coached the Huskies to a league-best 47-20-2-1 record. Tourigny’s coaching pedigree extends to the international level as well, where on 2 different occasions he helped represent Canada as an Assistant Coach for the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships, winning silver on both occasions.
Not lost among his junior hockey accolades, Tourigny’s wealth of coaching experience brought him to the National Hockey League as well, where he spent the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons as the Defensive Coach for the Colorado Avalanche. Following his tenure in Colorado, Tourigny then found himself north of the border once again, this time as Assistant Coach for the Ottawa Senators under then Head Coach Dave Cameron. Most recently, Tourigny spent the 2016-2017 season as Head Coach of the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads.
Murray signed with the Oilers in June 2017, after spending the previous six seasons with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. The Toronto native has a long history of success as a player and coach. During his tenure in Anchorage, Murray led Alaska to three consecutive Brabham Cups with the best regular season record in the ECHL from 2011-12 to 2013-14. The Aces captured the Kelly Cup that third season.
The 51-year-old began his coaching career in 2003 as Assistant for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he stayed in that role for five seasons. Murray was promoted to Head Coach in Providence in 2008, and spent the next three seasons there before heading to Alaska to coach the Aces. In 503 career ECHL games coached, he has compiled a 262-179-62 record.
Murray was drafted in the third round by the Washington Capitals at the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, and enjoyed a 16-year playing career. He played in over 1,000 AHL games throughout his career, and dressed in over 100 NHL games split between the Capitals, Winnipeg Jets and Phoenix Coyotes. In January 2017, Murray was inducted into the American Hockey League’s Hall of Fame.
Mark enters his 19th season with the Sarnia Sting and his seventh as the Assistant General Manager.
Mark joined the Sting in May 2000 and previously served as the club’s director of Public Relations and Game-day Operations.
In his role as Assistant General Manager, Mark handles Hockey Administration for the club including Player Contracts and Player Immigration. Mark also coordinates all Team Travel.
Cam Russell has been the General Manager of the Mooseheads since 2008. Formerly the Head Coach, he moved his attention solely to the role of General Manager early in the 2010-11 season and was the architect of the Memorial Cup winning team in 2012-2013.
The Cole Harbour native enjoyed a successful playing career in the QMJHL with the Hull Olympiques where he won two President Cup championships under coaches Alain Vigneault and the late Pat Burns. He was drafted by Chicago in the 3rd round (50th overall) in 1987 and spent 10 seasons in the NHL as a Defenseman with the Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche. Russell was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
Trevor Georgie is an accomplished sports and entertainment professional who has enjoyed leadership roles on the property, client and agency sides of the business.
Georgie was named the president of the Sea Dogs in January, 2016, making him the youngest in the CHL, and added the general manager’s role in August.
In his rookie year as GM, Georgie put his fingerprints on the Sea Dogs by acquiring Callum Booth, Julien Gauthier, and Simon Bourque, as well as trading former QMJHL 1st overall pick Luke Green at the Christmas trade period.
Prior to joining the Sea Dogs, the native of Mississauga, Ontario, was the senior manager of consulting at Wasserman Media Group, one of the world’s largest sports agencies. His career has led him to work for, and partner with, like-minded brands across the sports and entertainment landscape, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Florida Gators, PGA Tour events, and JUNO Awards.
Georgie believes in continuous improvement and is engaged in Harvard University’s extension program. He holds an MBA from the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor as well as an HBA in Digital Enterprise Management from the University of Toronto.
He can be followed on Twitter @georgietrev
A native of Plymouth, Michigan, Sommariva worked for the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 2006-2014, first serving as an assistant coach and then as Assistant General Manager from 2010-14. Following his role in major juniors, he spent a year with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an amateur scout for the 2014-15 season. As the Director of Scouting, Sommariva oversees the entire Gamblers scouting staff.
Tim was hired by the Blazers full-time in July 2009 to take on the newly created role after spending the last 6 seasons as the team’s part-time video coach. His main duties include being a liaison for media and the team, updating and maintaining the website, organizing team travel as well as doubling as the hockey club’s video coach.
Tim grew up in Regina and moved to Kamloops in 2001. He graduated from Norkam Secondary in 2004 and later attended Thompson Rivers University where he obtained a Business Administration degree graduating with Honours in April 2009. He recently completed a Masters of Sports Leadership from Northeastern University in September 2013.
This is the 11th season Tim has worked for the hockey club, and the 5th season in his current position.
Ryan Hardy joined the Steel prior to the 2018-2019 season. Hardy oversees the Steel’s hockey operations department including scouting and player development, coaching and the team’s exclusive partnership with Belfry Hockey.
Over his tenure with Chicago, the Steel have compiled a 78-28-5-0 record, the most wins in the league over that stretch. The Steel won the 2020 Anderson Cup, the first in franchise history, after setting the team record for wins in a season with a 41-7-1-0 record (83 pts). Hardy was awarded the General Manager of the Year in the USHL by his peers after his first season in 2018-19.
The Madison, Conn., native joined the Steel from the Boston Bruins (NHL) where he spent two seasons scouting amateur prospects across North America.
Prior to joining the Bruins, Hardy spent parts of four seasons (2013-2017) with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, serving as Director of Player Personnel, Assistant Director of Player Personnel and Regional Scouting Manager during that time. Hardy and his colleagues were responsible for building the 2017-2018 NTDP team that completed the most successful USHL season in the history of the program, finishing in first place in the Eastern Conference and winning a program-record 41 games in league play. During his time with USA Hockey, Hardy’s teams won the Gold Medal at the IIHF U18 Men’s World Championship in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and over 60 program alumni were selected in the NHL Entry Draft.
In addition to his work in scouting and player personnel, Hardy has coaching experience at the NCAA level with Sacred Heart University and Williams College, and at the junior hockey level with the Springfield Jr. Blues (NAHL). A Sacred Heart University graduate, Hardy currently resides in St. Charles.
Wes Wolfe enters his fourth season with the Otters as an assistant coach and has already built an impressive resume early in his coaching career, including an OHL Championship in his first year in the league. The 29-year-old has extended his reach into the hockey community with guest roles at various hockey clinics and schools, including the Bruce Boudreau Golden Horseshoe Hockey School. Wolfe also created and operates the Niagara Hockey Coaches Seminar, a now annual event that in 2019 saw over 80 coaches from more than 50 hockey organizations attend to learn and share best practices in growing players. The event also serves as a fundraiser as attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food donations that has seen hundreds of pounds of food donated to Community Care St. Catharines.
Before moving to Erie, Wolfe served as head coach and assistant general manager of the St. Catharines Falcons of the GOJHL during the 2015-16 year, where he led the team to a second-place record of 33-12-5 in the regular season and a Golden Horseshoe Conference Final berth. His background in analytical data systems will further advance the team’s player development reputation.
Prior to joining St. Catharines, Wolfe held head coaching positions with the Pelham Pirates of the GOJHL, and the Niagara Falls 1997 age group Minor and Major Midget AAA teams. He also has served as a coach with the OHL/OHF Program of Excellence and the Horseshoe Prospects Elite Spring Program.
The winningest coach in New England prep school hockey history. Gardner has been coaching at Avon Old Farms since the 1975-76 season when he took over a developing team and turned it into a perennial contender in New England prep hockey. Gardner has won eight New England Division I championships and ten Founders League championships. His 800th win as a prep coach came in November 2020. John coached multiple USA national team participants, including Brian Leetch '86 considered by many as the best American-born defenseman, and Jon Quick '05, who won two Stanley Cups as the starting goal-keeper for the L.A. Kings. John has coached 40+ players who have gone on to play professionally.
RJ Gicewicz is from Orchard Park, New York, 20 minutes south of Buffalo, New York. He attended Nichols School in Buffalo, where he played Prep A varsity hockey for 3 years, beginning his freshmen year. He also played football and baseball while attending Nichols. During the summers going into his sophomore and junior seasons, he was selected to represent the United States at both the 5 Nations Tournament and Ivan Hlinka Tournament, respectively. Gicewicz was selected as an assistant captain his junior year at Nichols, and was awarded all-tournament team selections at both the Northwood Prep and St. Francis Prep Tournaments. He was drafted in the third round to the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL Entry Draft the summer leading into his junior year at Nichols and left to play for the Gamblers for his senior season.
Gicewicz spent a total of 2 years with the Gamblers, before heading to St. Lawrence University on a full athletic scholarship in the fall of 2015. Although recruited as an athlete, Gicewicz was forced to retire his junior season due to chronic neck injuries and repetitive head injuries. He spent 2 years as a student assistant coach, helping with team statistics, video scouting, off ice training, mental training, on-ice skills, and most importantly as a liaison between the coaching staff and players. He was also awarded the Terry Slater Perseverance Award two times, which is ‘presented to the Saint player who, when faced with a significant personal challenge, performed with distinction and conducted himself with grace, thereby bringing credit to himself and the team.’ At graduation in the spring of 2019, Gicewicz was selected to speak on behalf of all student-athletes based on his 4-year experience at St. Lawrence University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Business.
Associate Professor of Statistics, St. Lawrence UniversityCo-founder, Statistical Sports Consulting @SchuckersM Schuckers co-founded Statistical Sports Consulting, LLC ( @EmpiricalSports ) and his work on hockey analytics has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, ESPN The Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, and The Hockey News. He has consulted for sports organizations including a major league baseball team as well as for the U. S. Department of Defense. An applied statistician with degrees from Penn State, Michigan, and Iowa State, he is the author of over two dozen published papers including the 2010 book Computational Methods in Biometric Authentication: Statistical Methods for Performance Evaluation (Springer). His work in biometric identification has been funded by the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR). Currently, he is Associate Editor for the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports.
As a graduate of Dartmouth College and a current data science master’s student at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, Sam brings a unique combination of high-end technical skills alongside a multi-disciplinary background and strong written and verbal communication abilities. Sam's professional experience spans a leading sports tech startup, SportlogiQ, a Fortune 100 insurance company, a private equity firm, and more. Sam is highly proficient in Python, R, and SQL.
Sam has worked on a number of projects, including his recent work with The Hockey Code, NHL Contract Projections 2020. https://thehockeycode.com/nhl-contract-projections-2020/
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Kirt Hill serves as the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the Edmonton Oil Kings. He joined the team after serving as an amateur scout for the Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) during the 2017-18 season.
The Winnipeg, MB native brings with him a wealth of Western Hockey League experience, having worked for the League from 2014-17 in the role of Manager of Player Development and Recruitment, as well as Director of Hockey Operations. Prior to his time at the WHL, he worked as a member of the Ottawa Senators marketing department during the 2013-14 season.
Hill was drafted in the 2nd round, 40th overall by the Kelowna Rockets in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft. He spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Rockets which culminated in a WHL Championship in 2005 before suiting up for the Regina Pats from 2006-08. Prior to his time in the WHL, he won gold with Team Canada West at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2004.
Following his junior playing career, he played one season with the Lincoln Stars (USHL) in 2008-09, followed by four seasons with the University of Waterloo Warriors (U SPORTS) from 2009-13. Hill graduated from the University of Waterloo with an undergraduate degree in Recreation and Sports Business.