Pikes Peak Miners

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Lucas Trombetta
	Coach Trombetta is entering his 11th season of coaching youth hockey and 5th with the Pikes Peak Miners organization. Lucas has coached Pee-Wee AA, Bantam AA, Midget Minor AA, Midget Major AAA, and Midget Minor AAA during his tenure. In addition, he served two years as Hockey Director for the Southern Colorado Amateur Hockey Association. Coach Trombetta was recently named Program Director for the Pikes Peak Miners organization, and also serves as Assistant Hockey Director for the Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association.
At every level and every age group, he has been successful at not only teaching the game of hockey, but also developing impeccable character in the young men who have played for him. His recruiting philosophy is simple: Recruit good kids who are willing to work hard, and teach them how to play the game. His coaching philosophy is simple: If a coach works hard for his players, the players will work hard for him. On Recruiting “It’s easy to be a good coach when you have the best players. Recruiting is important at the AAA level, but I refuse to sell my soul to get a player to play for me, and I refuse to bash other AAA programs as part of my sales pitch. At the end of the day, 99% of the coaches I’ve met are good people with a lot to offer their players. It is the responsibility of the player to find the coach with the personality that suits his own personal development.” On Coaching “AAA midget hockey is still youth hockey, and we want players who exhibit the character and integrity to be successful in the long-run above all else. I’d rather build a AAA program with guys who want to work hard, want to learn the game, and who strive to be good people off of the ice. My job is to make sure the Miners are successful at Bantams, Midget Minor, and Midget Major, and the way we are going to do that is by getting good people and good players involved with the program early, keeping them in the program by constantly working on their behalf, and by moving players on to higher levels of hockey.” On Winning “Winning is extremely important to insure the long-term stability of any program, but developing and preparing players for the next step in their hockey careers is really what coaching AAA hockey should be about. I refuse to shorten the bench in September to make sure I win 50 games a year. For me, coaching at this level is about all of our players learning the game, preparing them to move on to higher levels of hockey, and helping them become better people because of their time spent in a Miners uniform.” Coach Trombetta graduated with honors from Northern Michigan in 1997 with majors in both Psychology and Health Education. He and his wife Sabina are highly involved in the Southern Colorado community as small business owners, teachers, and volunteers. Miners Coaching Recap 2004/2005—Assistant Coach U18AAA team. 31-28-4 record. RMD participant. 2005/2006—Assistant Coach U18AAA team. 29-26-8 record. Colorado Runner-Up, Rocky Mountain District participant. 2006/2007—Head Coach, U16AAA team. 20-28-5 record. Inaugural season for Miners U16 team. 2007/2008—Head Coach, U16AAA team. 38-23-4 record. Colorado Runner-Up, Rocky Mountain District Runner-Up. Overall Miners Coaching Record 138-105-21

Assistant Coach: John McAfee
In his second year as Miners U16 Assistant, coach McAfee brings 15 years of coaching experience to the team for the 2008 – 2009 season. John has coached at every level from Mini-Mite to Midget AAA in both the head and assistant coaching roles. In addition to his many years of coaching, John has served local Colorado hockey associations as President, Vice President of Hockey Operations, Hockey Director, and Scheduler as well as volunteering his time as webmaster to these associations. In June 2005, John attended the Masters
Level 5 symposium in Grand Rapids Michigan furthering his coaching education. At every level, John has made a commitment to teaching not only the game of hockey, but also the valuable life lessons that are the bigger part of being associated with a first class organization.

Assistant Coach: Jason Knox
	Jason played his youth hockey in home town of Williams Lake, BC Canada until the age of 15. He played his Junior A hockey in the WHL & BCJHL until earning a tryout with the LA Kings in 1991. Jason was a member of Team Canada in 1992 and competed in an exhibition series against Team Japan, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks. Following his stint with Team Canada, Coach Knox attended Mount
Royal College in Calgary from 92-96 majoring in Criminology. While in college he continued his hockey career as well earning the following honors: 2 time National Champion 3 time 1st team all star 3 time Academic All Canadian Team Team MVP in 95-96 and named Student Athlete of the Year for college Captain or Assistant Captain for 4 years After graduating from Mount Royal College, Jason began a professional hockey career that spanned 6 years. From 1996 to 2002 he played professionally in the WCHL, ECHL & IHL earning Defenseman of the year honors for the Fresno Falcons for the 1998-99 season. Jason also played professional roller hockey in the RHI from 94-99. Coach Knox is entering his 5th season coaching youth hockey and first with the Miners organization. He has been a head coach at the Bantam AA and Midget AA levels over the past 4 seasons. Jason and his wife Jennifer live in Colorado Springs with their 2 year old twins Reese and Ava.

Mission Statement

The Pikes Peak Miners are the flagship program under the umbrella of Colorado Springs Amateur Hockey Association. The Miners organization prides itself on not only developing hockey players, but also capable students and determined young men. It is our goal to provide AAA caliber U16 hockey players with excellent coaching, rigorous practice, and a competitive game schedule all within a supportive environment which places emphasis on the academic, social, and mental development of all participants. It is our responsibility to facilitate the development of elite U16 hockey players and prepare them for advancement to Midget Major AAA hockey and beyond. The U16 Miners will play to win; and we will do it with class, with character, and as a team.

Upcoming Events

Date:	Sunday, November 23, 2008
Time:	16:00
Event:	Game
Venue:	Sertich
Opp:	Littleton MJAA