When the Ellis family settled into St. Thomas, it didn’t take long for Mike to start making his mark on minor hockey in the city.
After years of running development camps, getting involved with minor hockey, running a spring hockey program, and becoming a skill development coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, one would think that his plate would be full. But that all changed when his daughter, Miley, decided she had had enough of figure skating and wanted to skate like her daddy – she wanted to play hockey.
So, once Miley signed up for St. Thomas Panthers Girls Hockey, it wouldn’t be long before Mike would have another team – and association – to add to the mix. Just like the St. Thomas Jr. Stars minor hockey program, who has each of the travel teams work with Mike and his staff at Ellis Hockey Development, the Panthers’ 20 teams are all working with the development team as well.
“The goal is to take each player and help them grow their game,” said Ellis. “We want to master the fundamentals and help the stronger or more experienced skaters be the best they can be.”
And how has it worked out so far?
“You can see the improvement across the entire organization,” said Ellis. “Girls hockey has been growing, and in St. Thomas it’s no different. Boys hockey players always had great NHL role model and heroes. But now the girls have Olympic stars to look up too also, and we have some great female hockey stars coming out of St. Thomas as well.”
Mike has worked with some of the biggest female hockey players to come out of St. Thomas, including Mercyhurst University’s Paige Horton, Team Canada U18 player Lexie Adzija, Robert Morris University’s Britany Howard, who – at the time of this writing – leads College Hockey America Conference in points, and has just been named the Dapper Dan Sports Woman of the Year and to Team Canada Women’s National Team.
“Women’s hockey is huge!” says Ellis. “The players are working so hard, and the game is improving at an amazing rate. It’s so great to watch. I’m really excited at what the future holds for Panthers Hockey.”
For more information on St. Thomas Panthers Girls Hockey, visit stthomaspanthers.com.
Submitted by Ellis Hockey Detail
