The Gloucester Cumberland Girls Hockey Association (GCGHA) and the Lady Grads AA program are excited to announce the appointment of Dan Tessier as Head Coach of the Lady Grads U22AA team and Director of Hockey Operations for the new Lady Grads High-Performance Development Program (LGHPD).
The LGHPD program, led by Dan, will provide a consistent and uniform skills and player development program for the U22AA(Junior), U18AA/A and U15AA/A teams within the Lady Grads program. Dan will ensure that all coaches and staff work in a collaborative environment across these teams to ensure that each Lady Grads player is reaching their maximum potential as both a hockey player and student-athlete. Collaboration and consistency of these high-performance teams will ensure that resources are utilized as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Dan played professional hockey in North America and Europe for over 10 years and was a member of the Ottawa 67’s Major Junior Hockey Club for four years, highlighted by winning the Memorial Cup in 1999 and serving as team captain in the 2000 season. Since retiring from hockey he has been extensively involved in hockey development for all ages, coaching both boys and girls. He is a certified Hockey Canada Coach and recently completed his HP1. He is a father of two, both involved in minor hockey and is also the owner of the Eastern Ontario Spring Academy, a hockey skills and development program for all ages. He has been coaching hockey development for over 20 years and loves helping kids of all ages.
His coaching philosophy is to educate the kids on life experiences to get the best of them on and off the ice. He wants to help the kids utilize all the hockey experience that he’s had in his professional career. Dan will say that he was lucky to have had amazing coaches that have helped him develop growing up. Respect by all players and parents for coaches, volunteers, teammates, opponents, and officials will be expected and reinforced. Expectations of the players will be high, but realistic. Players will learn that the team always comes first and that they must be focused and work hard to achieve their goals. While winning is the ultimate goal, it will not be used as the sole measure of success. The focus will be on skill development and getting better as a team and as individuals. The goal is to teach players hockey and life skills.
Dan will be tasked with ensuring that all the key priorities of the program are achieved with the ultimate goal of providing Ottawa and area players with the best hockey experience from top to bottom. We are excited and confident in the future of this program and cannot wait for Dan to get started. For specific details on the LGHPD, please see attached program description.
From all of us at GCGH, welcome to the LGHPD Program Dan!
Dan and GCGH will be announcing the AA coaches very soon.
GCGHA would like to thank Darren Proulx for his endless time, commitment and efforts in starting the Lady Grads program.