NEWS

The Toronto Patriots have elected to go with internal solutions for the vacancy of John Dean at the head coach and assistant general manager positions.

Mark Joslin, who was the general manager of the team that won the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s regular season last campaign, has assumed the job of head coach of the club, while Mike Daley, who assisted Dean, has added the assistant general manager’s job to his title.

Joslin, last year’s OJHL Executive of the Year, has a National Championship ring in his collection, as he won the RBC Cup as an assistant coach under Jerome Dupont and the Aurora Tigers in 2007.

The Richmond Hill native has been a head coach twice so far in his career in the OJHL. He lead a North York Rangers team that included Pittsburgh Penguins prospect and current RPI defender Will Reilly, as well as fellow Division I regulars Gabriel Valenzuela, Matthew Whittaker, and Jake Harris in 2014-15, and an Aurora Tigers club in 2015-16 that featured Alex Formenton, the highly touted Ottawa Senators prospect, who burst on to the scene at the World Junior Hockey Championships last year.

Daley, 37, is a native of Burlington, and spent many years as a head coach in the Oakville Rangers minor hockey organization, highlighted by three OMHA ‘AAA’ midget gold medals between 2009 and 2013. He assumed the role of general manager with the Junior ‘A’ Blades ahead of the 2013-14 season, bringing along such talent as Los Angeles Kings prospect Matt Luff, and Arizona Coyotes draft pick Patrick Kudla; not to mention the countless Division I and Division III NCAA commitments the Blades received under his watch.

Dean departed the club when he was named the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in early July.

Photo courtesy OJHL Images