The Oakville Rangers Hockey Club (ORHC) is
pleased and excited to announce these U14-U18 AAA coaching selections for the
2023-2024 season.
Oakville Rangers Announce the First Phase of our 2023-2024 AAA Coach Selections!
The Oakville Rangers Hockey Club (ORHC) is pleased and excited to announce these U14-U18 AAA coaching selections for the 2023-2024 season.
These selections will support continued growth in the ORHC's collective bench strength that was established several years ago when the organization made a commitment to find, select, and develop the highest quality and potential coaches possible for our players. Since then, this focus on coach selection has been a key element of our improving development system which has led to a consistent improvement of our players and teams overall.
We believe that this announcement reflects another extremely strong coaching group who are the foundation, along with the support of our deep organizational resources, to continuing to build a "Best in Class AAA Hockey Program".
Congratulations to the successful applicants and thanks to all those who applied. It all starts with coaching.
Steve Pinizzotto – Head Coach: Under - 14 (U14)
Email: [email protected] Phone: 647-807-0126
Steve grew up playing hockey his whole life. He got his start in the MTHL (now the GTHL), before moving on to the Oakville Rangers Organization. He then played Junior for the Oakville Blades. He spent 4 seasons with the Blades, serving as Co-Captain in his final season. Steve then took the NCAA route and joined the RIT Tigers (Rochester Institute of Technology), becoming the 1st player in school history to sign an NHL contract. During his 13 year professional career, Steve has garnered 5 Championships-- 2x AHL Calder Cup Champion with the Hershey Bears, and 3x DEL Champion with Redbull Munich. In addition to his championship titles, Steve played at the top level in the National Hockey League for the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. While playing with the Oilers, Steve is one of very few players to have ever achieved a Gordie Howe Hattrick (goal, assist, fight in one game). He continued in his hockey profession over the last few years, as co-owner and trainer of the P3 Hockey Academy.
Steve is entering his 5th season coaching, 2nd with the Rangers. A strong leader with great passion for the game. He loves communicating with his players and offering a more experienced approach.
Congratulations to Steve on his selection as Head Coach for the Oakville Rangers Under-14 (U14) AAA team for the 2023-24 season.
Rob Hisey – Under-15 (U15)
Email: [email protected] Phone: (289) 681-0809
Rob Hisey was born and raised in Oakville, playing minor hockey for the Oakville Rangers and in the GTHL. He went on to play 4 years in the OHL and signed with the New York Islanders. Rob played in many of the top leagues in Europe and North America. In 2017, he retired after a 12-year professional career.
Rob has been the Head On-Ice Skills Instructor at BTNL in Oakville over the past number of years, working with some of the top players in the area from the OHL to the NHL. He also runs his own academy in the mornings before school working with a number of young players in the area. He has coached the 2009 birthyear AAA Oakville Rangers team the past four seasons and prior to that served as the Head Coach for the Toronto Young Nationals Minor Atom AAA and the Streetsville Tigers Minor Atom AA – both teams were extremely successful.
He has really enjoyed the opportunity to coach with the Oakville Rangers organization and found a true passion in coaching. His impact has been evident with the 2009 birth year age group – The team has been consistently among the top teams in the OMHA. He is looking forward to another successful season.
Congratulations to Rob on his selection as Head Coach of the Oakville Rangers Under-15 (U15) AAA team for the 2023-24 season.
Mike DeRenzis – Under-16 (U16)
Email: [email protected] Phone: 905-464-4488
Mike played his minor hockey at the AAA level ever year, starting with the Oakville Rangers and then finishing with the Mississauga Senators, and was proud to be named the captain of his team every year from Minor Atom to Minor Midget. He then made the jump to Jr. A, as he was the only 16-year-old skater selected to the team straight from Minor Midget. His 2nd season in junior he was named Assistant Captain, and then became Captain the following season. Unfortunately, only 5 games into that season while obtaining an NCAA division 1 scholarship, Mike’s playing career was cut short at the age of 18 due to being diagnosed with a heart-condition.
This opened the gate into coaching and instructing, as only a few weeks later Mike joined on as an Assistant Coach with both the Atom Rangers and the Streetsville Derby’s Jr. A team, as well as beginning his own Hockey School called First Star Hockey.
Now, 13 years into coaching rep hockey and running First Star Hockey, Mike has found early success: winning an OMHA AAA Silver Medal and multiple tournaments as a coach, and many players have been drafted to the OHL or obtained NCAA Division 1 scholarships that Mike has either coached or instructed through his hockey school, with a few players also being drafted to the NHL. Currently, Mike’s U15 AAA Rangers team sits at 2nd in the Ontario Rankings at 48-3-3 overall, while they are 26-0 in their regular season, and have won all 3 tournaments they have attended (Toronto Red Wings Early Bird, Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic, and the Oakville Rangers Winter Classic).
Mike brings the ability to teach players individual skills, as well as how to think and play the game at an elite level, to prepare them for the next level after minor hockey. He takes pride in his ability to connect with his players, create a fun learning environment, and instill in them a passion for the game and a love for coming to the rink. He is excited to continue working with this great group of players!
Congratulations to Mike on his selection as Head Coach of the Oakville Rangers Under-16 (U16) AAA team for the 2023-24 season.
Rob Ricci – Under-18 (U18)
Email : [email protected] Phone: (647) 458-2484
Rob returns for his 4th season as U18 Head Coach. The team currently sits in 2nd place and is making a run towards a second consecutive OMHA Tournament appearance. Prior to Oakville, Rob served 4 seasons as an assistant coach for the Georgetown Raiders in the OJHL and was part of the 2016-17 OJHL Championship winning team.
The Brampton, Ontario native grew up playing in the OMHA and GTHL before beginning his junior hockey career with the Milton Merchants OJHL and then moving on to the Cedar Rapids Roughriders USHL where Rob captained the 2004-05 team to a USHL Championship. From there, Rob moved on to play NCAA Division 1 hockey at Merrimack College in the Hockey East conference earning All-Rookie team honours and was named a 3-time team MVP.
Rob’s post collegiate career lasted 7 seasons playing in the ECHL, AHL, Denmark, Sweden and UK. Rob was fortunate to play on the 2008-09 ECHL Champion South Carolina Stingrays under the helm of current NHL head coach Jared Bednar. Besides Bednar, other prominent coaches that Rob has been coached by or worked with include the likes of Glen Gulutzan, Cail Maclean, Spencer Carbery, Mark Dennehy, Greg Walters and Mark Carlson.
The knowledge and insight that Rob has accumulated over the years has allowed him to run a successful player development business for the last 8 years throughout Oakville, Georgetown and surrounding GTA areas. Experience and passion to help young players achieve their goals are at the forefront of Rob’s coaching. At the U18 level the goal is to push each player to continuously develop their mental and physical skill sets to achieve their maximum potential in the period of time together. Rob is excited about the opportunity to continue building the Oakville Rangers U18AAA program.
Congratulations to Rob on his selection as Head Coach of the Oakville Rangers Under-18 (U18) AAA team for the 2023-24 season.