Suffolk County Police Athletic League SUFFOLK PAL ICE HOCKEY 2007-2008 Suffolk PAL Hockey Coaching Staff After much hard work and long hours, our Player and Coaching Development Coordinator Buzzy Deschamps is pleased to announce the following coaches for the 2007–2008 season. These decisions were very difficult but were all made to benefit our player development goals and the organization as a whole. Please welcome the new, thank the previous and support them all! The purpose for making these changes were to help player development and to increase our ability to retain quality players while attracting new players. This commitment plus the addition of valuable ice time and off ice training at Bluestreak makes PAL very attractive. PAL requests that all current players continue your loyalty to PAL as this will be a very exciting year and if you are looking at PAL for the first time, we are happy to welcome you to the family. Please welcome the new, thank the previous and support them all! Tier I Mite AAA 1999 and 2000 Birth Years Buzzy Deschamps Buzz Deschamps hails from Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada and currently resides in Bayshore. Married for 35 years and the father of 5, Buzzy landed in New York by way of a 10 year professional hockey career. Buzzy worked in the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames organizations as a Pro Scout. Deschamps also played for Baltimore & Providence in the AHL, the Champion St Paul Rangers in the CPHL under legendary coach Fred Shero, and Los Angeles & Chicago Cougars in the WHA. Buzzy was also the Long Island Ducks all time goal scoring leading with 59 goals, varsity coach for St John University, and 13 years Director of the Islander Youth Hockey Program. He is presently partner & owner of Bryan Trottier Hockey schools in Ontario, Canada as well as President of Buzz Deschamps Hockey Schools. Assistant Coaches – Chris Brinster and TBD Tier I and Tier II Travel Hockey Recreation Hockey & Learn To Skate Programs Silver Shields Blue Knights Suffolk County Police Athletic League SUFFOLK PAL ICE HOCKEY Squirt Minor AAA 1998 Birth Year Aleksey Nikiforov Aleksey is an internationally distinguished Russian-Lithuanian ice hockey coach with over 36 years of coaching and playing experience. He played professionally for the Dynamo Riga in the Russian Elite League and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from the Anatoly Tarasov Elite Level Ice Hockey Coaching School. He has trained two former PAL players and recent NHL first-round draft picks (Mike Komisarek, of Islip Terrace, in 2001; Chris Higgins, of Smithtown, in 2002) as well as longtime professionals Darius Kasparaitis (Rangers), Dainius Zubrus (Capitals), Alexei Yashin (Islanders) and Bryan McCabe (Maple Leafs). In fact, Kasparaitis, Yashin and McCabe spent several days training at The Rinx during the NHL lockout. Nikiforov, who works with players of all ages, says his coaching success isn't determined by wins and losses but by how much his students improve as hockey players and human beings. Although he has been made offers to serve as a practice coach for both the Rangers and Islanders, Nikiforov said he plans on sticking with youth-level hockey. Assistant Coaches – Mike Fogarty, Bob Lund and Tom Haggerty Squirt Major AAA 1997 Birth Year George Brennan George played PAL Hockey as a child and continued to play in college at St. John’s University. George was elected team captain for 3 out of the 4 years at St. John’s. After college he pursued a professional career in the Dutch Elite League, in Holland, for two seasons. Upon returning home, he was invited to the New York Islanders Training Camp. After much consideration decided not to accept a minor league contract, but become a professional power skating coach/instructor. For the past 12 years George has devoted his time in helping children develop, not only skill, but character. Assistant Coaches - TBD Tier I and Tier II Travel Hockey Recreation Hockey & Learn To Skate Programs Silver Shields Blue Knights Suffolk County Police Athletic League SUFFOLK PAL ICE HOCKEY Peewee Minor AAA 1996 Birth Year Keith Young Keith has been involved with the Suffolk PAL Hockey organization for over 25 years. He played his youth and Junior Hockey for PAL prior to playing in college for Marist and CW Post. After College Keith was a skating and hockey instructor at The Rinx for 10 years. He has been a coach with Suffolk PAL Hockey for 17 years and has coached all levels from Mite to Bantam. In that time Keith has had the pleasure of coaching players like Chris Higgins, Steven Birnstill, Matt Anderson, Patrick Dineen, Greg Holt, Jonathan Pelle, Mike Brennan and Bobby Geopert. These players have all played Division 1 Hockey and some professionally. Assistant Coaches – Ed Fischer and Ray Seeback Peewee Major AAA 1995 Birth Year Rob Kinnear Rob is a coach who prides himself on his team’s work ethic, heart, discipline, and motivation. He believes youth ice hockey players need to learn the systems of ice hockey, while improving their individual skills. This recipe of human character traits has allowed his teams to be successful and at the Midget level where that particular team had reached the states. As a coach, he has successfully earned the respect of his players as they all developed to the next level. Rob’s playing career began with PAL when he was a mite. In 1998, he was a member of the Suffolk PAL Junior B team that won a Silver Medal at the National Championships. Rob finished his ice hockey career at Division III SUNY Cortland. Assistant Coaches – Rob Darcy and Mark Gianchetta Tier I and Tier II Travel Hockey Recreation Hockey & Learn To Skate Programs Silver Shields Blue Knights Suffolk County Police Athletic League SUFFOLK PAL ICE HOCKEY Midget American 16U AAA 1991 and 1992 Birth Year Jim White Coach White has enjoyed a long and successful hockey career. In 2006/07, Jim coached the Suffolk PAL Tier II Midget Minor team and advanced to the LIAHL playoffs. Coach White has been with the PAL organization for seven (7) years, advancing to the state play-offs in 2001/02 and winning the LIAHL Championship in the 2004/05 season. Throughout his playing career, Coach White participated at the highest levels lettering four years for the ECAC Division I Brown University. Prior to that, Jim played Rhode Island high school hockey at Mount Saint Charles Academy under Coach Bill Belisle (all-time high school hockey win’s leader). At Mount, Jim skated to four consecutive state championships and two National Championships, being line mates with future NHL players, Brian Lawton and Paul Guay. Jim was also selected to the US Junior Olympic team by Coach Lou Vairo in 1981, but was unable to participate due to collegiate commitments. Assistant Coaches – TBD Girls 19U AAA 1988 Birth Year and Under Zoe Baldwin Zoë, born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, is the head Women's Ice Hockey coach at Portledge School in Locust Valley, NY. She also teaches Religious Studies and is an administrator at Portledge School 's athletic department. Prior to working at Portledge, Zoë attended Hamilton College in Clinton , NY , where she received her B.A. in Religious Studies in May 2006. Zoë played on the Hamilton Women's Ice Hockey team all four years, and left the program with the record in points and goals in a season. She was awarded the Jack B. Riffle Award for top female athlete in her graduating class. Prior to Hamilton Zoë attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she played hockey and was named MVP her senior year. Zoe resides in Forest Hills , NY with her fiancée, Richard Schwam. Assistant Coaches – TBD Tier I and Tier II Travel Hockey Recreation Hockey & Learn To Skate Programs Silver Shields Blue Knights Suffolk County Police Athletic League SUFFOLK PAL ICE HOCKEY Tier II Mite AA 1999 and 2000 Birth Years TBD Squirt AA 1998 and 1997 Birth Year Rich Mingoia Rich Mingoia resides in Ronkonkoma with his wife of 15 years and nine year old daughter. He is an 18 year veteran of the New York City Police Department and is currently assigned to the Evidence Collection Team. Rich has been playing hockey for 30 years. He is an accomplished ice hockey coach with 14 years of coaching experience. From 1994 through 2007 he was an assistant coach for the Stony Brook University Seawolves ice hockey team. He coached the Seawolves to four consecutive Super East Collegiate Hockey League Championships. In addition, from 2004 to 2007, the team was ranked No. 1 in the North East by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA). In each of the past eight years, the Seawolves were invited to the ACHA National Championship Tournament as one of the top 16 teams in the Country. Rich coached for one year at the high school level taking the Ward Melville Junior Varsity ice hockey team to their first league championship in 1993. Assistant Coaches – Rob Bussi Peewee AA 1996 and 1995 Birth Year Jason Bryan Jason has worn a PAL logo on his chest from Mite’s to Junior’s. After playing Junior hockey for PAL he continued his career at Suny Canton where he was able to win a National Championship. During this time, Jason also had the honor of traveling to many different cities in Europe and playing against European Professional Hockey Teams. Jason has been a very successful assistant and head coach for PAL over the past four years. Jason brings to the table many skills and life lessons taught from the different coaches he had through his hockey career.