JDM, Maciuk, make it happen
David Maciuk has been involved in hockey since he was a youngster growing up in Sault Ste. Marie in the mid 1950s and later playing for the Soo Greyhounds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League and then the Ontario Hockey League.
Now living in Chicago and the president and founder of JDM Sports Management, Maciuk has grown his firm into one of North America’s top advisory agencies with over 100 Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association commitments during the past four years alone.
Besides having played the game at a high level, Maciuk also coached and was a director for many years with the reputable, Chicago Young Americans AAA program.
Hard work has always been a Maciuk trademark, traits he learned from his Ukranian father and Italian mother. And hard work on behalf of his clients — which include National Hockey League goalie Anthony Stolarz of the Anaheim Ducks and winger Dawson DiPietro, who is a Buffalo Sabres prospect — have helped keep Maciuk and JDM Sports Management at the top of the game.
As well, no less than seven JDM Sports Management clients were Hobey Baker nominees over the past two years as the top Division 1, NCAA players in the nation.
With his 34-year old son Justin Maciuk — who was a winger with the 2007 NOJHL champion Soo Indians — as his right hand man, the elder Maciuk has a staff of experienced advisors from Toronto to Detroit to the New Jersey, Wisconsin and Minnesota areas, including a recent expansion to women’s hockey.
And lest one thinks that Maciuk and JDM Sports Management cater only to pro players and Division 1 standouts, they also have a number of clients in junior A hockey at the NOJHL level, mostly with the Soo Eagles.
“I am a big fan of the NOJHL as a development league,” Maciuk stressed. “A number of our clients, many of them from the Eagles, have moved on to the Division 3, NCAA level.”
Indeed, Eagles president and general manager Bruno Bragagnolo has noted that “Dave is one of the hardest working and most respected advisors around. He and his staff do a great job of representing their players. And when he recommends one of his clients, you know that they are capable of playing.”
I have worked with Dave in the past when I was involved in Junior hockey and while Dave is a good friend of mine, I could always rely on him to recommend solid players for me to recruit that would be a bonus to our roster.
He knows his hockey and a player’s future.