Elliot Lake’s junior ‘A’ hockey team has a new name and head coach.
The community-based team will be sporting the name Elliot Lake Wildcats when the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season starts this fall.
Wildcats general manager Todd Stencill selected Nathan Hewitt as the teams head coach.
Team president Howard Hennessey says Hewitt has a wide range of hockey experience. He has enjoyed success as a head coach and player at the junior ‘A’ level, and as a varsity player in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport League CIS.
He adds that Hewitt started running skill camps in his hometown of North Bay, at the age of 23. His reputation helped earn him a position as the head coach of the Temiscaming Titans, junior ‘A’ Hockey team of the Greater Metro Hockey League. An expansion team at the time, the Titans experienced immediate success.
Hewitt led the young squad to a 38-3-1 record during the franchise’s first year, tying an all-time GMHL records for the most wins in a single season.
Hewitt recently served as head coach and director of hockey operations for the Cumberland Grads of the CCHL. In this position, he was able to help advance several players to the NCAA divisions 1 and 3, as well as major junior hockey.
Before coaching, Hewitt played three seasons with the North Bay Skyhawks of the NOJHL. He finished his playing career with the Nipissing Lakers of the CIS, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
