Kevin’s ongoing
hockey journey has been an amazing one. He has been involved in
hockey virtually his entire life. Born in Edmonton, Alberta,
Kevin played his youth and junior hockey in Canada. Two of his
coaches growing up were current Hockey Canada president Bob
Nicholson and current AHL president Dave Andrews. Kevin then
went on to attend the University of Maine on an athletic
scholarship playing varsity hockey for legendary coach Shawn
Walsh, including serving as captain his senior year, when he was
also named Hockey East Academic Player of the Year.
Following a stellar
playing career at Maine, Kevin spent five (5) years coaching at
the collegiate level. He assisted Walsh at Maine for a year
before joining Jerry York as a Graduate Assistant at Bowling
Green. And in 1987 Kevin arrived on the Illinois hockey scene,
accepting a coaching at UIC. It was here that Kevin met Mary,
his wife of seventeen years, and the reason he settled in the
Chicago area.
In his induction
speech, Kevin gave special mention to his coaches Nicholson,
Andrews, Walsh and York, giving credit to them as having been
along with his parents his most important mentors. He proudly
said these were men from whom he learned important life lessons
about: accountability (Andrews); attention to details (Walsh);
being a good teammate (Nicholson); and integrity (York).
In 1989, Kevin left
the college coaching ranks and began conducting youth hockey
training programs in the Chicagoland area. This was a career
move that led him ultimately into rink management, rink
ownership and consulting. Kevin and his rink management
companies helped bring new arenas into existence, including
Johnny’s Ice House in Chicago, the Glacier in Vernon Hills, and
the Edge Arenas in Bensenville. The Edge of course became the
home offices for AHAI and its coaching education programs.
For the last
twenty-four (24) years, Kevin has coached at every level of
youth hockey, from Learn to Skate programs up through midget AAA
hockey. Kevin’s influence within Illinois youth hockey has been
far-reaching, and goes well beyond his service as a coach. His
accomplishments as an administrator and builder are perhaps even
more impressive. He either created or helped to create: a) the
Chicago Blues Tier 2 program; b) the Chicago Steel USHL Jr.
Team; c) the Chicago Mission AAA Hockey Club; d) the Mid America
Hockey League (for midwest Tier 1 teams); e) the Bauer
International AAA Invite (the largest AAA hockey tournament in
the world); and f) the Bresy Chi-Town Shuffle (a prominent
spring tournament also held in the Chicago area each year).
All these
accomplishments have brought tremendous recognition and prestige
to Illinois hockey over the years, and Kevin takes great pride
in all the players who played for him or his programs, many of
whom have gone on to play junior hockey, earn college
scholarships, and even play professionally.
Over the years, as
Kevin became more and more active in advancing Illinois hockey,
he also became active promoting hockey through AHAI and USA
Hockey. He served AHAI as a board member from 1997-2000 and
also co-chaired AHAI’s Coaching Education Program and Adult
Hockey Committee for three (3) years.
His involvement with
USA Hockey includes serving as a member of USAH’s Adult Council
and also as an Executive Director of USAH’s STAR (Serving the
American Rinks) Council. Since 2007, Kevin has served as a
member of USAH’s International Council, a position he maintains
to this day.
Kevin has also had a
prominent influence on international youth hockey as well. He
runs his hockey tournaments not only in Illinois, but also in
Europe and Russia. He also helped to found and oversees the
Bauer Russia AAA Invite. Over the years, he has taken youth
teams to tournaments in Sweden, Germany, Russia, Finland, Czech,
Slovakia, Italy and Austria.
Kevin and his family
live in Elmhurst.
2011 Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame
Inductees
