Head Coach
2020 - Present
Growing up in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, PJ played minor hockey before moving to Cobourg to begin his junior A hockey career with the Cobourg Cougars. PJ was voted the team’s Fan Favourite in two of his Junior A seasons, entertaining the fans while also playing tough on the ice. From there, PJ moved to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, for his post-secondary education at St. Francis Xavier University. He played hockey for the St. FX X-MEN while completing his Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree. While completing his B.Sc., PJ began playing hockey for the Bay of Island Bruins, of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League (NSHL), which would prove to be the end of his hockey playing career before moving into the coaching world.
PJ’s first coaching position was with the St. FX X-Women, Atlantic University Sport (AUS). During his three seasons as the team’s assistant coach, the team was AUS Finalists in 2003 and 2004 and AUS Champions in 2005. From there, he took a break from coaching in order to focus on his nursing career. 2016 brought an exciting new opportunity for PJ as he joined the Toronto Furies, of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) as the team’s assistant coach. During his three years, PJ led the recruitment of top prospects including direct communication with the NCAA coaches and parents; he assisted with the drafting and selection of players; ran and implemented penalty killing strategies; and leveraged contacts to secure in-kind and monetary sponsorships. After the ceased operations of the CWHL, PJ was selected by the players to join the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and became the assistant coach for the GTA West Training Centre. In his time with the PWHPA, he developed plans and delivered practices for top female players including Olympic athletes. PJ was one of two coaches selected to travel to Japan with the PWHPA All-Star team for the International Competition against Team Japan ahead of the World Championships.
PJ is looking forward to beginning a new chapter together with the Campbellford Rebels hockey organization. PJ intends to draw from his years as both a player and a coach in order to rebuild the organization. He considers himself a player's coach and knows that that will go a long way with creating a winning culture, which is his short-term goal for the team. His long-term goals include bringing Campbellford back into the fold as a top hockey program, as it once was, making it a destination in the PJHL ranks where players want to play.
