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Sunday, August 03, 2008
Vitale named head coach of the Canada Deaflympic Hockey Team
Bolton resident Jim Vitale with the Roy Hysen Cup after coaching the Ontario Deaf Ice Hockey Team to the Canadian Deaf Hockey Championship in May.
As head coach of the Ontario Deaf Ice Hockey Team, Vitale led them to the seventh Canadian Deaf Hockey Championship/Roy Hysen Cup this past May, by beating the Western Provinces Team, 3-1, in Whitby. In four tournament games, Ontario scored 37 goals, while only allowing two.
Hysen, the general manager and former head coach of the Canada Deaflympic Hockey Team, selected Vitale to represent his country as head coach. Canada will face Russia, the U.S., Sweden and Finland at the world championships.
"Representing the province and the deaf community of Ontario was already an honour as it was, but to represent Canada and the deaf community nationally is an unspeakable honour and I'm grateful for the opportunity," explained the 30-year-old Vitale, who is the owner of the Vital Hockey Skills school out of the Vaughan Sports Village.
Assistant coaches Gerald McDonald (of Winnipeg) and Patrick Bergeron (of Roxton-Pond, Que.) have also been added to the squad and will work along side Vitale.
Vitale, a Level 3 coach, will be coaching the AAA Toronto Young Nationals of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) this season and has coached the Toronto Red Wings and the Vaughan Kings in the past. He was also an assistant coach at York University for two years and with the Vaughan Vipers of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League.
He played minor hockey with the AAA Vaughan Kings, junior hockey with the Markham Waxers and also two years with York University, where he attended teachers college after graduating from Queen's University.
After Queen's he opened up Vital Hockey Skills, which runs week-long hockey clinics in Vaughan. They have also run after school clinics at the Albion-Bolton Arena, as well as in Inglewood.
Vitale is currently a religion teacher at St. Edmund Campion Catholic High School in Brampton.
The Canada Deaflympic team is holding a selection/evaluation camp at Teen Ranch in Caledon, Sept. 25 to 28, where the coaching staff has to narrow the team from 35 (who participated in the Canadian Deaf Hockey Championships) to 19 players (10 forwards, six defencemen and three goalies).
"I see potential in everybody and it's always a challenge to help people fill that potential," said Vitale about coaching the deaf hockey team and as an educator. "You really see the ability in disability when you work with those guys and they don't use it (being deaf) as a crutch. They are an inspiration."
Some notables who will be at the evaluation camp are defencemen Casey O'Brien (of Ottawa), 28, and Jalen Harris (North York), 16, as well as forward Steve Devine (Toronto), 27. O'Brien has played hockey as a pro in Finland, while Devine was the captain of the University of Toronto men's hockey team for four seasons. Harris was recently drafted in the Ontario Hockey League draft and has been heavily sought after by the Toronto Blue Jays, as a pitcher.
"The deaf community is very cohesive, but the key for them is to be cohesive on the ice," stated Vitale. "Half the battle will be for the team to jell as a unit, as they believe and sacrifice in each other.
"The other hand credits the tactical point of view, so how to beat opponents and competing at an international level. I try to emphasize quick puck movement, control and explosive speed."
As head coach of the Ontario Deaf Ice Hockey Team, Vitale led them to the seventh Canadian Deaf Hockey Championship/Roy Hysen Cup this past May, by beating the Western Provinces Team, 3-1, in Whitby. In four tournament games, Ontario scored 37 goals, while only allowing two.
Hysen, the general manager and former head coach of the Canada Deaflympic Hockey Team, selected Vitale to represent his country as head coach. Canada will face Russia, the U.S., Sweden and Finland at the world championships.
"Representing the province and the deaf community of Ontario was already an honour as it was, but to represent Canada and the deaf community nationally is an unspeakable honour and I'm grateful for the opportunity," explained the 30-year-old Vitale, who is the owner of the Vital Hockey Skills school out of the Vaughan Sports Village.
Assistant coaches Gerald McDonald (of Winnipeg) and Patrick Bergeron (of Roxton-Pond, Que.) have also been added to the squad and will work along side Vitale.
Vitale, a Level 3 coach, will be coaching the AAA Toronto Young Nationals of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) this season and has coached the Toronto Red Wings and the Vaughan Kings in the past. He was also an assistant coach at York University for two years and with the Vaughan Vipers of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League.
He played minor hockey with the AAA Vaughan Kings, junior hockey with the Markham Waxers and also two years with York University, where he attended teachers college after graduating from Queen's University.
After Queen's he opened up Vital Hockey Skills, which runs week-long hockey clinics in Vaughan. They have also run after school clinics at the Albion-Bolton Arena, as well as in Inglewood.
Vitale is currently a religion teacher at St. Edmund Campion Catholic High School in Brampton.
The Canada Deaflympic team is holding a selection/evaluation camp at Teen Ranch in Caledon, Sept. 25 to 28, where the coaching staff has to narrow the team from 35 (who participated in the Canadian Deaf Hockey Championships) to 19 players (10 forwards, six defencemen and three goalies).
"I see potential in everybody and it's always a challenge to help people fill that potential," said Vitale about coaching the deaf hockey team and as an educator. "You really see the ability in disability when you work with those guys and they don't use it (being deaf) as a crutch. They are an inspiration."
Some notables who will be at the evaluation camp are defencemen Casey O'Brien (of Ottawa), 28, and Jalen Harris (North York), 16, as well as forward Steve Devine (Toronto), 27. O'Brien has played hockey as a pro in Finland, while Devine was the captain of the University of Toronto men's hockey team for four seasons. Harris was recently drafted in the Ontario Hockey League draft and has been heavily sought after by the Toronto Blue Jays, as a pitcher.
"The deaf community is very cohesive, but the key for them is to be cohesive on the ice," stated Vitale. "Half the battle will be for the team to jell as a unit, as they believe and sacrifice in each other.
"The other hand credits the tactical point of view, so how to beat opponents and competing at an international level. I try to emphasize quick puck movement, control and explosive speed."
