Project Stanley Podcast

Brett Larson began his third season as the head men's hockey coach at St. Cloud State University in 2020-21.

In his first season with the Huskies, Larson made an immediate impact as he led the Huskies to the 2018-19 NCHC regular season championship and a 30-6-3, 19-2-3 NCHC record.  The NCHC Coach of the Year in 2018-19, Larson helped the Huskies earn the top seed for the 2019 NCAA Division I tournament.

Under Larson's direction, the Huskies had an unprecedented four player earn AHCA All-America honors (Jimmy Schuldt, Patrick Newell, Jack Ahcan and Blake Lizotte).  Schuldt was named a Hobey Baker Award top three finalist and also gained NCHC Player of the Year notice in 2018-19.

The Huskies went undefeated at home in 2018-19 under the leadership of Larson and also set a new league standard for most NCHC victories in a season at 19.

In 2020, Larson has been selected to serve as an assistant coach for Team USA at the  IIHF World Junior Championships by USA Hockey.  With the Huskies in 2019-20, Larson led the Huskies to 13-15-6 overall record and a 10-12-2 mark in the always rugged NCHC.  SCSU's Jack Ahcan, David Hrenak and Nick Poehling all earned All-NCHC honors in 2019-20.

Larson is the third coach at St.Cloud State in the history of the University's NCAA Division I men's hockey program, and SCSU's 17th head coach since the program stared intercollegiate play in 1931-32.

Larson most recently served as an assistant coach at his alma mater Minnesota Duluth from 2015 to 2018. He also was an assistant with the Bulldogs from 2008-11 and helped Minnesota Duluth win an NCAA Division I national title in 2011 and once again in 2018. The Bulldogs made five NCAA tournament appearances during Larson's tenure, finished as the NCAA runner-up in 2017, won the NCHC playoff title in 2017 and the WCHA playoff championship in 2009.

At UMD, Larson coached and/or recruited one Hobey Baker Award winner, five All-Americans, eight future NHLers and one U.S. Olympian.

In addition to his time at UMD, Larson served as head coach and general manager with the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers from 2011-13. He spent two seasons in Sioux City and led that team to the USHL playoffs in 2011-12.

Larson, who served as the head coach for gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2012 World Junior A Challenge, returned to the collegiate ranks in 2013 when he joined the staff at Ohio State as an associate head coach. Many of the players Larson coached and recruited at Ohio State helped the Buckeyes advances to the Frozen Four in 2018.

A Duluth native and 1991 Denfeld High School graduate, Larson played college hockey as a defenseman at UMD for four seasons (1991-95). He scored 24 goals and 43 assists in 133 career games. He captained the Bulldogs during his senior year in 1994-95 and was a three-time WCHA All-Academic team award recipient. He also landed the team's Community Service Award and was named UMD's Most Improved Player as a junior.

An 11th round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990 National Hockey League draft, Larson went on to play 12 years in the professional ranks, including two (1990-2001) as a player-coach with the San Diego Gulls of the now-defunct West Coast Hockey League.

He also played with the Colonial Hockey League's Madison Monsters, the East Coast Hockey League's Louisville Riverfrogs, the International Hockey League's Utah Grizzlies, Las Vegas Thunder and Long Beach Ice Dogs in addition to spending another five years in Denmark, Germany and England. He wrapped up his playing days in 2006-07 as a player/assistant coach for the Florida Seals of the Southern Professional Hockey League. During the spring of 2008, Larson coached Team RBK (AAA selects) in the Twin Cities metro area.

Originally from Toronto, Ontario, Coach Will is entering his 13th season as the Varsity Hockey coach at Salisbury where he also serves as the Dean of School and the Dean of the Third Form. In that time, the team has compiled a 234-50-21 (.802) record while capturing five New England Prep Championships (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2020), eight Housatonic League titles (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019), and the Flood-Marr Tournament five times (2009, 2013, 2014, 2018 & 2019). 

Prior to Salisbury, Will served as an assistant hockey coach at Union College (Schenectady, NY) where the Dutchmen saw their overall record improve each of his four seasons with the program. In 2003, Coach Will moved across the Hudson River where he spent the season as an assistant coach at RPI (Troy, NY). That year, the Engineers went on to win 22 games and advanced to the ECAC Quarter-Finals. 

An accomplished collegiate athlete, Will captained the hockey team at Union College in his senior year. After a successful season, Will was named the ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year and was selected as a member of the All-ECAC Second Team. Will went on to play two seasons of professional hockey. 

Tyler Helton begins his third season as an assistant coach on Mike Cavanaugh’s coaching staff in 2020-21.  Helton has been a part of the UConn men’s hockey program since his freshman year in Storrs in 2012.  He will assist the program working with the Husky defensemen, special teams and assisting with all aspects of recruiting.

Helton initially joined Coach Cavanaugh’s staff in the fall of 2013 and worked with the program as a student assistant and graduate manager for five seasons.

He was responsible for developing scouting reports on opponents and worked with the entire coaching staff on practice planning.  Helton worked with players in individual skill sessions and assisted with coaching the Huskies special team units.

He was responsible for all aspects of team video including pre-scout and post-game video break down, training student managers on in-game video and stats and breaking down NHL games for use as teaching points for players.

Away from Storrs, Helton has worked with USA Hockey district camps in New England and the Atlantic regions since the fall of 2016, scouting and evaluating top players and assisting with practice planning.  He worked as a coach at the Western Regional High-Performance Camp in 2017 and 2018, working with players from the western United States.  He began working with USA Hockey at the national camp in the summer of 2014 and has been a part of that program every summer since, coaching and evaluating players and assisting with player selection for the U17 and U16 teams.

Helton completed an USA Hockey internship in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the summer of 2016 as well as working with the USA Hockey Five Nations team that year.  He also served as a coach with the Yale Midget AA split season teams in 2016 and 2017.

Helton, who played for the Huskies as a freshman in 2012-13, graduated with a degree in sport management from UConn in 2016.  He earned his master’s degree in sport management in 2018. 

Michael joined the Rangers as the team’s Director of Analytics and Stats in 2017. He is responsible for leading the team’s use of stats and analytics as it relates to player evaluation, development, trades, drafting, and in-game performance. Michael works closely with a small team of dedicated video trackers/analysts who play an important role in gathering data used by the Rangers.

Prior to the 2018-19 season, he took on the added responsibility of Hockey Operations Assistant whereas he reports directly to general manager Mike McKenzie.

He played a number of seasons as a goaltender in the GTHL. Michael also played rugby for a number of years, winning a national silver medal as part of Team Ontario (U18), as well as an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) silver medal as part of the Western University Varsity Men’s Rugby Team.

Prior to his role as Director of Analytics and Stats, Michael acted an an analytics consultant to the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds during the 2016-2017 season, and previously completed project work for an NHL team. Michael has five years of professional experience, previously working in private equity investing and business strategy consulting after graduating from the Ivey Business School at Western.

Tim Joncas has been head coach since 2007, earning Large School Coach of the Year honors in 2011. Assistant coach Jay Keough brings with him more than 12 years of coaching experience in the NEPSAC. Coach Keough’s primary responsibility is the director of recruiting.

Westminster has won the Founders League Championship title four times, most recently in 2019 and has advanced to the semifinals and finals of the New England Championship as recently as 2016. Out of 62 New England Prep programs, Westminster is consistently in the top 16 teams that compete for a New England Championship at season’s end.

The Martlets competed for a New England Championship in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In 2011, Westminster was crowned the New England Large School Champion. The team is fortunate to play in the Flood-Marr Holiday Tournament and has won the tournament four times since entering it, winning it most recently in 2011 and 2015.

John Hanna was announced as the assistant general manager of hockey operations for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in May of 2019.

Prior to his current position, John served in various roles with the Screaming Eagles including as a scout, assistant coach, strength and conditioning coach and board member.

During his playing career, Hanna won a Memorial Cup with the Ottawa 67s in 1984 and later went on to play with the Cape Breton Oilers for the 1988-89 season.

As Director of Player Personnel, Fowler is responsible for the coordination of the Royals’ scouting staff, assisting in the development of the team’s 50-man Player Protected List and the recruitment of prospects.

Prior to serving as Director of Player Personnel, Fowler had spent the last six seasons (2013-2019) as a member of the Royals’ scouting staff, most recently serving as the team’s Senior Regional Scout (West).

The Vancouver, BC native has spent over 30 years around the game of hockey including five years (2008-13) as the part-owner and general manager of the North Delta Devils Junior B team of the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL). In 2011-12 Fowler was named as the PJHL’s Executive of the Year. He began his foray in the hockey world by coaching for over 10 years at various levels with the Surrey Minor Hockey Association.

The two-time OHL Coach of the Year, Burnett begins his 23rd season behind an OHL bench and 3rd season as head Coach of the Guelph Storm. Burnett is the fifth-winningest head coach in league history including two OHL Championships in 1997-98 and 2018-19, both with the Storm

Overseeing the team’s Hockey Operations, Burnett has an extensive record of very successful leadership in the OHL as a Head Coach and General Manager. During his 23-year junior career behind the bench, he has amassed 706 regular season wins and earned five division titles. Throughout his tenure, Burnett has guided his teams to 18 playoff appearances, while advancing to the conference championship series or beyond on nine of those 18 occasions.

In addition to three Memorial Cup appearances and two OHL championships, Burnett has also earned coaching titles in the American Hockey League (1993 Calder Cup), and twice internationally with Team Canada (2010 IIHF Ivan Hlinka U18 Gold and 2001 IIHF U18 World Cup Gold). Burnett was also an Assistant Coach in both the 2011 and 2012 World Junior Championships, winning a Silver and Bronze medal.

Burnett is a former NHL Head Coach with the Edmonton Oilers and Assistant Coach with the Anaheim Ducks. He also spent 4 years as an AHL Head Coach with the Binghampton Rangers and Cape Breton Oilers.

Dennis, a 31-year-old Toronto native, played four OHL seasons as a goaltender with the Guelph Storm and London Knights culminating in 2005-06.

A member of London’s 2005 Memorial Cup championship team, he played a total of 160 games, producing a goals-against average of 2.58 and a save percentage of .917 while posting a won-lost-extended record of 100-39-6 and 10 shutouts. In three playoff seasons, including two with London, he played 49 games with a 2.48 GAA, a .923 save percentage and three shutouts while recording a won-lost mark of 36-12.

A sixth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in the 2005 National Hockey League Draft, he played three seasons in the American Hockey League and five years in Europe, in Italy, Germany and Austria. He has worked out of the OHL office for the last two years as the league’s director of player recruitment and education services.

Accompanied by an impressive Junior Hockey coaching pedigree, André Tourigny joined the Ottawa 67’s as Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations prior to the franchise’s 50th anniversary 2017/2018 season. The Nicolet, Quebec native, who had spent the entirety of his Major Junior coaching career in the QMJHL, joined the Barber Poles boasting a remarkable junior hockey résumé that began in 1998 as Assistant Coach for the Shawinigan Cataractes.

Following a pair of seasons in Shawinigan, Tourigny joined the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in 2002, where he spent more than a decade as both Head Coach and General Manager. In his 11 years with Rouyn-Noranda, Tourigny qualified for the playoffs in all but 1 season, amassing a record of 337-336-20 over 693 regular season games and setting a QMJHL record for most games coached with one franchise. In 2005/2006, Tourigny was the recipient of the QMJHL Ron Lapointe Coach of the Year Award, and in 2007/2008 he coached the Huskies to a league-best 47-20-2-1 record. Tourigny’s coaching pedigree extends to the international level as well, where on 2 different occasions he helped represent Canada as an Assistant Coach for the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships, winning silver on both occasions.

Not lost among his junior hockey accolades, Tourigny’s wealth of coaching experience brought him to the National Hockey League as well, where he spent the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons as the Defensive Coach for the Colorado Avalanche. Following his tenure in Colorado, Tourigny then found himself north of the border once again, this time as Assistant Coach for the Ottawa Senators under then Head Coach Dave Cameron. Most recently, Tourigny spent the 2016-2017 season as Head Coach of the QMJHL Halifax Mooseheads.