2023–24 U14 AAA

Coach's Letter

Dear Prospective Players and Family Members,

On behalf of our entire coaching staff, I am pleased to welcome you to the 2023–24 Ottawa Myers Automotive AAA season.

We are excited to see everyone out at tryouts ready to showcase their skills, work ethic, and the character needed to earn a spot on our team. Our coaching staff places a high priority on the intangibles that contribute to being a good teammate and competing at the very highest levels. Selfless, tough, resilient, positive, coachable, focused, hard-working, and willing to do ‘whatever-it-takes’ to help their team be successful; these are some of the qualities we value most.

Our season will focus on elite level individual skill and tactical development throughout, while developing the highest possible level of awareness and abilities in the team tactics required to be successful at the highest levels of hockey. Our season will be broken up into phases. Early on we will look to establish our style of play, structure, and team standards (as we develop the skills needed for each) and progress to the point where all players fully understand expectations and are held accountable for demonstrating them consistently.

This will be accomplished through team meetings and video sessions, intentionally designed practices executed with intensity, off-ice training and team building activities, mental performance coaching, in-game coaching, use of individual skill development experts (Myers Development Mondays with the Sens Elite Hockey Development and Fitquest Staff), and be supported by an extremely caring, passionate, qualified, and professional coaching staff. We will at all times maintain a fun, highly disciplined and respectful environment. All players and parents will be expected to contribute to this environment with positivity at all times.

Joining me to help lead our team through a FUN and successful season will be my associate coach Jake Bullen, assistant coach Jonathan Al-aaraj, part-time assistant coach Marcus Quinlin, goaltending coach Connor McNair, strength & conditioning coach Nick Silva, along with a mental performance coach Mike Kostka, and other specialists and consultants.

Collectively our goal will be to push players to be their absolute best while having a blast and increasing their love of the game, and achieving maximum development in the areas outlined above. We aim to equip our players with the skills, tactics, and game knowledge needed for them to succeed at the highest levels they wish to obtain.

The U14 AAA level provides our team with the opportunity to qualify for the U14 OHL Cup (GTA in April) while some of our players will also attend the Ontario Winter Games (Thunder Bay in February). These events give our team additional opportunities to develop through the competitive challenge they present as we strive to qualify to represent the HEO AAA league. Of course, our team will also be striving towards regular season and playoff success; hoping to earn our club the honour of being named HEO champions in back-to-back seasons at U14.

In addition to those possibilities, our team will be participating in the following tournaments:

• October 6–8, 2023
  Wendy Dufton Memorial Tournament
  London, ON

• October 26–29, 2023
  Eastern Exposure Cup
  Boston Area, USA

• November 10–12, 2023
  Myers Automotive AAA Shootout
  Ottawa, ON

• November 23–26, 2023
  International Silver Stick Finals
  Whitby, ON

• *December 27-30, 2023 (Tentative)
  Toronto Marlboros Holiday Classic
  Toronto, ON
• January 19–21, 2024
  Battle on the Bay (Quinte Red Devils)
  Belleville, ON

We look forward to welcoming all athletes to our tryouts in August and selecting the most competitive and positive group possible.

Best of luck to all,

Andy Bryan
Instagram/Threads: @andycoach88
Head Coach,
Ottawa Myers Automotive U14 AAA