NOJHL also advances coaches
It has a sustained track record of developing draft picks for the Ontario Hockey League as well as moving players to college and university programs throughout Canada and into the United States. And in the span of mere weeks during this off season, the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League has seen three members of its head coach fraternity move up to higher levels of the game.
Not bad for a league that does not always get full recognition for what it continues to do in the area of development. I mean, three coaches who had considerable success over time in the NOJHL moving up within weeks of one another is a chapter onto its own.
Jordan Smith. It has been an ongoing ascent to the top — as in the National Hockey League — for the 40 year old Sault Ste. Marie native, who coached the Soo Thunderbirds from 2013 to 2017 and was a two time coach of the year and two time league champion. Smith recently became an NHL assistant coach in Vancouver under new Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra. Smith was previously a a championship assistant to Malhotra with the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. After his successful stint in the NOJHL with the Thunderbirds, Smith spent five seasons as an associate coach in the OHL, working for both the Soo Greyhounds and Sudbury Wolves.
Peter Goulet. A lengthy apprenticeship spanning a few decades finally resulted in an OHL assistant coach position for the highly regarded Goulet. Most recently with the Powassan Voodoos of the NOJHL as a two time coach of the year — in the span of just four seasons — the 56-year old Goulet has joined the OHL staff of the Brantford Bulldogs under incoming head coach Michael Babcock. Besides having success in the NOJHL with Powassan, Goulet has also coached in the Ontario Jr. Hockey League and the Central Canada Hockey League.
Brandon Perry. A homegrown head coach, Perry is leaving the Timmins Rock of the NOJHL to coach in his adopted home town of Kingston. The 37 year old Perry is the new bench boss of the Queen University Golden Gaels. Perry, who coached Timmins for five successful seasons, including an NOJHL championship and a coach of the year award, heads to Queen’s to replace the retired Brett Gibson. Not only did Perry play four seasons at Queen’s as a hard working forward and graduate from there with a degree in Economics, but he was a junior hockey mainstay with the Kingston Voyageurs for four years before that.
