Team NOHA names coach
Former Ontario Hockey League forward Richard Rochefort has been named head coach of Team NOHA for the 2017-2018 season.
The Northern Ontario Hockey Association and the Great North Midget Hockey League confirmed the selection of Rochefort to the post.
The 40-year old Rochefort currently coaches at the minor hockey level in North Bay and has previous experience as an assistant coach with the Nipissing University Lakers men’s team.
After playing three seasons in the OHL for both the Sudbury Wolves and Sarnia Sting, Rochefort went on to skate for five years in the minor pro, American Hockey League as a National Hockey League draft pick of the New Jersey Devils before heading to Europe.
“I am looking forward to working with Richard in helping enhance the development experience for these young players as they work towards their goals. Richard is a great communicator and a very well prepared and detailed coach. His experiences as a player and coach will be instrumental in the development of Team NOHA,” relayed Team NOHA director of operations Matt Rabideau.
Rochefort’s roles will include coaching the team, assisting Rabideau with the selection of the assistant coaches and the players who will be competing for Team NOHA throughout the 2017-2018 season.
“I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I look forward to collaborating with the NOHA and enjoying this wonderful experience with a talented and driven group of hockey players,” said Rochefort.
Team NOHA will compete at various events in the 2017-2018 season, including the 2017 OMHA Eastern AAA Showcase in Aurora, the 2018 OHL Cup in Mississauga and the 2017 OHL Gold Cup in Kitchener.
Team NOHA will be made up primarily of 2002 birth year players from the Great North loop including the minor midget Soo Thunderbirds, Sudbury Wolves and North Bay Trappers.
It will be very interesting to see how many 02 Sault kids make team NOHA with a North Bay head coach as compared to last season’s 2001 team NOHA which was coached by our local midget coach, Kevin Panco. IMHO, the 02 group has not been very strong as proven by their past hockey ranking records. Should more then two 02 Sault kids make this team, then there is no question Panco had a vendetta against last year’s 01 local group from which he only took 2 kids and should be tossed out of the local AAA system for having zero desire to see local kids excel.
That group was one of the strongest to come through the system in years.
Good hire by the N.O.H.A. this guy Rochfort is a excellent Coach that communicate with all of his players.
The absurdity of the “vendetta” statement does not merit a response but I could not resist. He took two out of the three 01s that were ELIGIBLE, based on the selection criteria to play on Team NOHA.
And why were there only 3 kids eligible last year JT?? Oh yes that’s right, cause he only took three 01s which made the rest of the group ineligible. So to clarify for you JT, he screwed the whole group when there were at minimal six or more 01s that should have easily made his major midget team and which would have made them ‘eligible’ for team NOHA last year. Instead they had to play AA and unable to qualify. That JT is the truth.
It certainly looks good on him that half of his 01s this year are house league players as the rest of the AAA calibre 01 group flocked off to high school knowing how he screwed them over and the waste of money that his program is.
Not sure what Panco’s agenda is but I am 100% certain that it certainly isn’t to develop draft eligible aged kids.
Disgraceful
Panco has his own agenda