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Coaching
and Staff
Head Coach and General Manager:
 Ryan Leonard is an Educational
Assistant for the Algoma District School Board and has been since
2000.
During five years of Junior A (tier 2) hockey he played with the
Elliot Lake Vikings, Abitibi Eskimos, Parry Sound Shamrocks and the Soo
Thunderbirds. He also played exhibition games with the Soo Greyhounds
and La Drakar De Baie Comeau of the QMJHL in 1997. He had a couple of
offers to play College D3 hockey in the US but was ineligible due to having
participated in OHL exhibitions games the year before. He also played
a few games with the Soo City Mavericks in the now defunct IIHL Semi Pro
League in Michigan. Having decided to stay on with the School Board he
played on the weekends with the Goderich Pirates in Southern Ontario in a
Senior League after Junior A.
His coaching experience started with the Thessalon Flyers, a new Junior B
team out of Thessalon Ontario where his team was in first place prior to
him leaving. The following year Ryan accepted a position as Assistant
Coach for the Blind River Beavers Junior A Hockey Club where he continued
for a total of three years. The next step for Coach Leonard was to the
Elliot Lake Bobcats not only as Coach but also as General Manager which he
has been doing since their inception. In his first year Ryan was
selected by his peers as 'Coach of the Year'. He feels that to date he has
achieved loads success with a two and half seasons of great hockey (91W,
31L & 2T in the first two seasons) and the fact that eleven of our
alumni have been sent off to University to play hockey in the United
States. Ryan Leonard said " I love the City of Elliot Lake and love
the GMHL, but my goal is to spend a couple more years here to gain more
experience and then move up and Coach a Major Junior team or in a Semi Pro
League somewhere, be it in the United States or Europe".
Assistant Coach
 Piere-Luc
Racette is from Magog Quebec. He played for the Hull Citoyen.
Has coached for the last few years for such teams as the Sherbrooke Saint Francois in 2007 as well as
Thetrord Mines Isothermic 2008-2010
Trainer
 Roger Gervais is an active member
of the Elliot Lake ATV club. You will also find him as the third base
coach and occasional player of the Fireside Heat a local fastball club.
Last season (2008) Roger stepped up to the mound and pitched a two hitter,
not too shabby for a 55 year old!
Roger a St. John Ambulance Qualified Trainer, played his hockey in high
school and has fifteen years of experience as a trainer with the Elliot
Lake Vikings and the Elliot Lake Ice. Two years prior to coming the the
Bobcats, Roger was the trainer for the Blind River Beavers.
Scorekeeper and Anouncer
 Doug Dumont works for the Huron
Superior Catholic District School Board; half the time as a teacher's aid
and the other half as the secretary in the Special Education Department.
Doug, not surprisingly, likes fishing and golfing.
Doug is the voice of the Bobcats at all of our home games and the fans
appreciate his voice inflections when announcing our players names
and his ability to pronounce all of our Slovak players names! As a
scorekeeper, well what can you say about scorekeepers? I will say
when I look at the score sheet after a game there are never any (chicken)
scratches on the sheet!
This is a quote from Doug last year when asked about his hockey
ambitions. " I would like to learn how to speak French and then to the
penalty box at the 'Centre Bell' in Montreal" [editors note: the fact
that Doug is a Montreal fan should not be held against him]
International Scout/Agent
 Miroslav Semjan is the person
responsible for finding all of the Slovakian hockey players on our roster.
Miro works for Elwood Sports Mgt. L.L.C. in Detriot Michigan. He works
as an international scout/agent in partnership with Steven Janowicz.
I have been in touch with Miro and he is very hopeful for his European
players to do a great job here in Elliot Lake. The photo of him indicates
that he would like to see at least one of his imports hoist Lord Stanley
Cup one day.
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