NEWS

Following the announcement made on October 28, 2015, Curtis Hodgins had stepped down as head coach of the Cobourg Cougars of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) to become the head coach of UOIT’s Men’s Hockey program, the club is pleased to announce that Todd Hooey and Corey Beer have agreed to be co-head coaches of the club for the balance of this season.  Hooey and Beer, as well as the rest of the club's staff, will continue to play key roles with the club.  The club expects to continue to search for a full-time head coach as it moves forward with its plans in hosting the RBC Cup in May of 2017.

Hooey and Beer assumed carriage of all coaching duties once Hodgins took on his new role at UOIT.  Hooey is a seasoned Hockey Canada Advanced certified coach with 16 years of coaching experience.  His achievements include being head coach of the 2013 Ontario Hockey League Gold Cup U16 Champions and assistant coach with Hodgins in 2006 when they were OJHL Eastern Conference Champions.  Beer coached in Oshawa Minor Hockey for 6 years, was head scout of the Whitby Fury of the OJHL in 2008-09 and joined Hodgins and the Fury as an assistant coach in 2011-2012, a club that went to the Buckland Cup finals.  Beer has been an assistant coach in Cobourg since the 2012-2013 season and during his tenure with the club, the club has been to the playoffs every season.  Collectively, Hooey and Beer will continue to run the club’s bench until a more formalized coaching structure may be implemented.

“Giving the co-head coaching roles to Todd and Corey while the club completes its search felt like the right decision for the club,” GM Brent Tully said.  “In addition to each man being a proven developer of junior hockey talent, Todd and Corey know our club and understand the importance of continuity and our overall mission - we have nothing but great confidence in their coaching skills and their integrity,” Tully went on to say.  “We are extremely appreciative of the loyalty that each of Todd and Corey has demonstrated to our club and players and we expect Todd and Corey to play key roles with the club moving forward,” Marc Mercier, Team Governor, also said.

On other fronts, the club and its players have continued to enjoy success both on and off the ice.  Recently, Liam Grande committed to play university hockey for Princeton University.  In addition, club captain Theo Lewis, assistant captains Ryan O’Grady and Sam Dunn, goalie Stefano Durante, defenceman Brennan Roy and forward Brenden Locke have all been selected to play in the Eastern Canada Cup later this month in Cornwall, Ontario.  The club has not missed a beat and continues to provide an exceptional foundation for its players to develop and move on to higher levels of play.

In its 50th anniversary year of operations, the Cobourg Cougars are a strong, community-based and well-supported junior hockey organization.  Please join the club at its next home game, when the Cougars play the Oakville Blades on Monday, November 9th at 7:00 pm, where there will be a pre-game Remembrance Day ceremony to recognize and commemorate those who have died in the line of duty while serving all Canadians as members of our armed forces.  For more information on the Cougars, including the selection of the organization by Hockey Canada to co-host the World Junior A Challenge in December of 2015 and to host the prestigious RBC Cup in May of 2017, please visit www.cobourgcougars.com and follow the Cougars on www.Twitter.com/CougarsHockey.  For more information on the OJHL, please visit www.ojhl.ca.