Billy Peters
Head Instructor – Detroit Redwings
Peters is entering his second season as an assistant coach with the Red Wings. In his first season in the Motor City, Peters worked primarily with the team’s defensemen and penalty kill units. He joined the coaching staff following three seasons behind the bench of the Rockford IceHogs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. During his three-year tenure in Rockford, Peters compiled a 122-97-7-14 record and led the IceHogs to back-to-back 40-win seasons and consecutive Calder Cup playoff appearances in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Peters directed the second-youngest team in the AHL to a 38-33-4-5 record in 2010-11. During his time in Rockford, he helped 28 players ascend to the NHL ranks, including three members of the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks – goalie Antti Niemi, and defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jordan Hendry. (From RedWings.com)
Prior to his tenure with the IceHogs, Peters enjoyed tremendous success as a head coach at the junior level. He led the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League to a franchise record 50 wins and 107 points in 2008, and guided the Chiefs to the 2008 Memorial Cup title as champions of the Canadian Hockey League. The Chiefs defeated the Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the championship game. In three seasons as the head coach in Spokane, Peters compiled a 111-82-10-23 record. He also served as an assistant with the Chiefs twice under current Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock, first as a midseason replacement in 1996-97 and then returning to the same position in 1999-00. Babcock and Peters led the Spokane franchise to a 47-win/100-point campaign that season, along with the WHL’s Western Conference championship.
Peters, 47, served as the head coach of the University of Lethbridge for three campaigns from 2002-05. He guided the Proghorns to one postseason appearance in his three seasons behind the bench before returning to Spokane as head coach of the Chiefs for the 2005-06 season. The Three Hills, Alberta, native also has impressive international credentials, having served as the head coach of Team Canada, which defeated Russia, 6-3, in the gold medal game at the 2008 U-18 Junior World Cup.
Peters and his wife, Denise, have two children, Aleze and Ayden
Steve Poapst
Head Instructor – Rockford Ice Hogs AHL
Steve Poapst enters his third season with the Rockford IceHogs after being named an Assistant Coach on Sept. 1, 2010. The former Blackhawks blueliner joins Head Coach Ted Dent and Assistant Coach Ben Simon on the staff of the organization’s top minor league affiliate. (From Blackhawks.com)
Prior to joining the Blackhawks, Poapst, 43, served as General Manager and Head Coach of the United States Hockey League’s Chicago Steel for four seasons. He was honored as the 2008 USHL Coach of the Year after guiding the Steel to a 20-win improvement and a postseason berth in his first full season behind the bench.
The Cornwall, Ontario, native played 220 of his 307 regular-season NHL games with the Blackhawks. Between 2000 and 2004, Poapst registered eight goals, 23 assists and 118 penalty minutes with Chicago and 36 points (8G, 28A) overall in seven NHL seasons with Washington, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and the Blackhawks. He added 205 points (45G, 160A) and 340 penalty minutes in 498 career AHL tilts during a career that spanned 15 years. Steve is considered to be one of the top D Coaches in the country.
John Torchetti
Head Instructor – Houston Aeros AHL
John Torchetti is in his second season as the Head Coach of the Houston Aeros. He guided the team to a berth in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs despite using a a record number of players due to both NHL call-ups by the Minnesota Wild and subsequent minor league transactions. (From HoustonAeros.com)
The native of Boston, Mass., holds 28 years of professional hockey experience as a player, coach and manager. His NHL coaching resume includes stops in Tampa Bay (1999-2001), Florida (2002-04), Los Angeles (2005-06), Chicago (2007-10) and Atlanta (2010-11), Prior to joining the Aeros, Torchetti served as the associate coach for the Atlanta Thrashers.
Prior to joining the Thrashers, Torchetti served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Blackhawks. During his time in Chicago, he helped the team improve in wins and points each season. The Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2008-09 and won the 2010 Stanley Cup Championship.
Torchetti has served as an interim head coach in the NHL on two occasions: with the Florida Panthers in 2003-04, where he posted a 10-12-4-1 record in 27 games, and with the Los Angeles Kings in 2005-06, earning a 5-7-0 record in the final 12 games of the season. He was also the head coach of the San Antonio Iguanas of the Central Hockey League (1994-96), the Fort Wayne Komets of the International Hockey League (1996-98), the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage (2002-03) and the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (2006-07). Torchetti was twice named Coach of the Year, first with San Antonio in 1994-95, then with Fort Wayne in 1997-98.
In 1996-97, He spent time as the assistant general manager with the San Antonio Dragons (IHL) and was the general manager of the Detroit Vipers (IHL) in 1998-99. During his tenure in Detroit, the Vipers posted a 50-12-11 record and captured the IHL’s Eastern Conference Championship.
Torchetti’s professional playing career spanned seven seasons in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, the All-American Hockey League, the ECHL and the AHL. In total, Torchetti earned 532 points (258-274=532) in 359 career games with the Carolina Thunderbirds (ACHL, AAHL, ECHL), Virginia Lancers (ACHL), Binghamton Whalers (AHL) and Winston-Salem Thunderbirds (ECHL) from 1984-91
Leon Hayward
Head Instructor – Governor’s Academy
(From TheGovernorsAcademy.com) Coach Hayward was appointed to the Governor’s Faculty in the summer of 2011. Mr. Hayward, took the prep hockey route to college hockey, and then to the professional level. Coach Hayward, originally from Seattle, Washington, made his way to Northeastern University via Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts. At Tabor Academy, Coach Hayward played three varsity “helmet sports” for three seasons. Coach Hayward was named “Athlete of the Year” at Tabor as a sophomore. At the end of his three years at Tabor Academy he earned a scholarship to attend Northeastern University to skate for the Huskies in the very tough Hockey East conference. After graduating from Northeastern with a B.S. in Business Administration, concentrating in Entrepreneurship, Coach Hayward went on to a very successful American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League career. Over five seasons, between the American and East Coast Hockey League, Coach Hayward appeared in three hundred and fifty-eight regular season games and fifty-two playoff games. During his five year minor league professional hockey run, Coach Hayward amassed a total of eighty-five goals, and eighty-eight assists for one hundred and seventy-three points. Coach Hayward was an equally effective player during his playoff games as well, where he notched ten goals and ten assists, and won the “Kelly Cup,” the East Coast Hockey League’s version of the Stanley Cup with the Trenton Titans in the 2004-2005 NHL lockout season. Coach Hayward was named the “Kelly Cup Finals MVP” in which he collected six points in the final two games of the series to lead the Titans to victory. Coach Hayward moved into the coaching ranks during the 2007-2008 season as an assistant coach for the Texas Wildcatters, of the ECHL, where he helped guide the team to tying the ECHL record for most regular season points. After coaching professionally, Hayward moved to the prep ranks as the assistant coach at The Taft School where he helped to coach the team to a New England tournament berth in 2009. Mr. Hayward is currently in the last year of his Master of Science in Leadership at Northeastern University. During the summer Coach Hayward works with skating and skill development coach Paul Vincent, Stanley Cup winner with the Chicago Blackhawks and currently working with the Florida Panthers. Hayward also evaluates across the country for USA Hockey at their regional development camps, culminating with coaching at the U15, U16, and U17 National Camps in Rochester, NY. Coach Hayward is a USA Hockey CEP Level 4 certified coach. At Governor’s, Coach Hayward is the Associate Director of Admission and Dorm Parent. Coach Hayward lives in Perkins Dormitory with his wife Jessica, two sons Ellison and Harlan, along with their dog Bailey.
Matt Deschamps
Instructor – Cleveland Barons AHL
Deschamps spent his college years in Orono skating for the University of Maine Black Bears. The highlights of his career at Maine include notching an assist on the goal in triple-overtime to win the 2004 Hockey East Tournament Championship, four appearances in the NCAA Tournament and two trips to the NCAA Finals. As a senior, Matt was a captain of the Black Bears, recipient of the First Annual Shawn Walsh Memorial Scholarship, and presented with the Richard Britt Award for Perseverance. After college, Deschamps attended training camp with the National Hockey League’s San Jose Sharks in 2005. During a six-year professional career, Matt played in the American Hockey League with the Cleveland Barons, the ECHL with the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, Charlotte Checkers, Fresno Falcons, Mississippi Sea Wolves, and Phoenix Roadrunners. As a coach Matt has been able to help develop players and their skill from mini mites all the way to the pros. He has worked with USA Hockey, coaching and evaluating during their select festivals. He’s also worked skill development with the New York Rangers Youth Camp, Pro Ambitions, Palm Beach Blackhawks Elite, and Champion’s Edge. Prior to Micro Ice, Matt was the Site Director of Total Hockey Florida; a hockey skills training facility in Deerfield Beach, FL (From MicroIceCenters.com)
Ian O’Connor
Instructor – Reading Royals ECHL
Ian enters his first year working with Coach Vincent as an instructor. Ian is an alumni of Coach Vincent’s summer camps. Ian played his college hockey at Providence College and served as Captain his senior year. Ian currently is a top player for the Reading Royals of the ECHL and has seen games with the Worcester Sharks of the AHL.
