U12 AAA

Coach's Letter

Dear Players and Parents,

I would like to extend a formal invitation to all players interested in attending tryouts for the Ottawa Myers Automotive U12 AAA Team (2012s) for the 2023–24 hockey season. 

To give you a background about myself, I grew up playing in Nepean, playing across all competitive levels (both defense and forward) before making the jump to junior hockey. After my playing career was finished, I decided to pursue coaching as I have such a love for the game, and desire to grow the game.  I was lucky enough to be the coach of the 2008 AA Nepean Raiders the past two seasons where we experienced success and saw consistent development of our players. 

Returning to coach alongside me this year will be Matthew O’Brien. Matthew has coached alongside me the past two years. Matthew and I played together frequently throughout our playing careers. Matthew will be responsible for the defense. 

Joining our coaching staff this year is Ty Power. Ty played various high levels of junior hockey. In fact, Ty, Matthew and I won a championship in 2019 together for the Perth Blue Wings. This is Ty’s first year on the coaching staff, however, Ty has an extensive background as a skating coach. Ty will be responsible for the forwards. 

Our team philosophy will be to provide a safe, positive, and structured environment that enables the players to have fun and develop their hockey and life skills. We hope we can provide lessons that players will be able to take with them once their time in competitive hockey is complete. Practices are intense, with a focus on individual player development, conditioning and team systems. 

We enforce a “team first” mentality. Thus, we are looking to build a team that consists of players who are coachable and willing to compete each time they are on the ice. Of course, we appreciate talent, but if you are looking to impress the coaches during tryouts, our advice is simple — be the hardest worker on the ice. 

This season we will be entering the following tournaments: 

• September 22–24
  Toronto Marlies Friendship Tournament
• October 13–15
  Peterborough Ice Fest
• November 10–12
  Ottawa Myers Automotive AAA Shootout
• December 27–January 1
  Bell Capital Cup
• January 12–14
  Taylor Hall Classic    

Good luck to all participants in tryouts!

Dylan Sharpley
Head Coach,
Ottawa Myers Automotive U12 AAA