Turcotte to coach Lakers women's hockey team

Darren Turcotte is the head coach of Nipissing’s new varsity women’s hockey team, the university announced Friday.Nipissing University announced in June that they would ice a women’s hockey team to compete in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) league, beginning play in the 2013-14 season.
“We are very excited to be announcing Darren Turcotte as the coach of our first varsity women’s hockey team,” said Vito Castiglione, manager of sports and recreation at Nipissing University. “He brings a vast knowledge of the game of hockey as well as training and player evaluation and recruitment. Darren has also demonstrated a commitment to women’s hockey and is very familiar with coaching at the university level.  He provides immediate credibility to our women’s hockey program.”
Turcotte brings an impressive resume to the team, with a decade of high-level coaching experience, combined with 635 National Hockey League games played over a 12-year career.Most recently, he co-coached the Ontario Under-18 women’s team while also serving as head coach for the North Bay Compuware Ice Boltz Midget AA girls’ team.He is also the director of skill development for the Youth Hockey Development program.Turcotte has earned levels one through four in the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program and has attended the USA Hockey Masters Level Coaching Seminar twice.He has coached at the international level on six separate occasions, including coaching the USA gold medal winning team at the 2006 World Inline Tournament.Turcotte is also a familiar face to the university, having worked as an assistant coach with the Lakers men’s hockey team from 2008 – 2011.
Turcotte was a standout player for the North Bay Centenials from 1984–88, scoring 278 points during that time. He was drafted by the New York Rangers, 114th overall, in the 1986 NHL entry draft. He scored 195 goals and added 216 assists in his NHL career, was the leading rookie goal scorer in 1989 and played in the 1991 NHL All-Star game. He was inducted into the North Bay and Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
“It is a sincere honour for me to be the first coach of the Lakers women’s team,” said Turcotte.  “Women’s hockey is thriving locally, nationally and internationally and we have a fantastic opportunity to build this program into a perennial contender that will excite our fans and provide a fantastic opportunity for our student athletes.  I’m really looking forward to this challenge and can’t wait to get started recruiting players.”