The Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League have named a former Stanley Cup champion as their new head coach.
Cory Stillman was officially announced as the team’s 18th head coach at a news conference on Thursday.
“I’m very excited,” said Stillman, who appeared via Zoom from Tempe, Ariz., for his introductory news conference.
“When you are out of the game for a little bit, you know how much you miss it.”
This will be Stillman’s second head coaching stint in the OHL, having previously spent three seasons in Sudbury from 2017 to 2020, accumulating a 94-89-16 record.
The 50-year-old Peterborough native said one of the things he learned in his stint in Sudbury was that you have to be more of a teacher than a coach.
“You can’t expect a player to know everything, they’re young kids,” he said. “I think the biggest thing for me is to come back and teach the right way to play, teach the fundamentals of the game, and if we can do that, we can become successful.”
Stillman said one of his aspirations is to be a head coach in the National Hockey League, following in the footsteps of Peter DeBoer, Kris Knoblauch and Andre Tourigny, who had Stillman as an assistant coach the last two seasons in Arizona.
“I went up to the NHL to get more experience, learn from some good coaches,” said Stillman, who left Sudbury to go to Arizona after the 2019-20 season.
“I learned more about the game and wanted to be head coach again. I think this is the right step going back (to junior hockey) and going to a great organization in Guelph.”
Stillman was a former first-round pick of the Calgary Flames in 1992. He spent 16 seasons in the NHL and was part of Stanley Cup-winning teams in Tampa Bay in 2003-04 and Carolina in 2005-06.
Stillman played three seasons in the OHL with the Windsor Spitfires, where he was named rookie of the year in 1991, and his hometown Petes, where he was part of the J. Ross Robertson Cup-winning team in 1993.
Storm general manager George Burnett explained the importance of having the qualities that Stillman brings to the team.
“I think with our group that is returning this year, having a mentor, a teacher, it was very important,” Burnett said.
Stillman replaces Chad Wiseman, who was let go after the Storm were eliminated by the Soo Greyhounds in the first round of the OHL playoffs in April.