We are thrilled to announce that Chris Stewart will be joining the Canadettes organization, leading our U13AA team in the upcoming 24/25 season. Chris looks forward to his 5th year coaching girls rep hockey, and is excited to contribute to and share in the continued success of the Canadettes program.
Contact info: 416-602-3033, email:
[email protected]Chris is a multi-sport athlete, having won provincial and national championships in hockey and lacrosse. Chris played AAA and Junior hockey in Pickering, ON and later went on to be an All-Canadian CIS lacrosse player and captain at the University of Guelph. He finished his athletic career playing professional lacrosse in the NLL for the Rochester Knighthawks and the Toronto Rock.
Chris is most proud of raising his two wonderful daughters with his wife Simone, helping them and their peers continue to develop as athletes and have fun in sport. Through his coaching, Chris strives to instill in the girls a love for the game, a strong sense of teamwork, and a foundation for them to develop into confident young leaders in their community.
Chris would like to acknowledge the unwavering support and dedication of his staff and the parent volunteers who make each moment on the ice with the girls a true joy and privilege. Chris and his family are thankful for this opportunity.
Kelly Jackson - Assistant Coach
Kelly is excited to be a part of the coaching the Canadettes this season, this will be her 6th season on the bench as an assistant coach in girls rep hockey. She is a mom of two and has been involved in competitive sports for most of her life. Kelly was a competitive figure skater for 16 years, eventually competing at the highest level possible in the sport and is a quadruple gold test holder in, dance, free skate, patch, and skills. As a multi-sport athlete, she was also a rep softball player, winning provincial championships and representing her university in both figure skating and rugby at the varsity level.
Kelly's love of sports led her to pursue a degree in Sports Management and since graduating, has spent 15 years of her career working within the sport sector, specifically in high performance sport at the International, professional, collegiate and national levels. Kelly is looking forward to working with the girls this season.
Darryl Giancola - Assistant Coach
Darryl is a High Performance certified coach and an OWHA Development 1 Field Evaluator. He has just finished as the Head Coach of the Halton Hurricanes 2007 AAA team since 2016 where he led the team to an SCTA title 5 times and led the team to a bronze medal, two silver medals and a gold medal at the OMHA Championships. He has taken the team to the OHF Championships twice and has coached the team to an OHL Cup appearance in the 2023 year which saw 12 of his players drafted in the OHL including Kingston first rounder Tyler Hopkins, Clarkson University commit Cristian Giancola and, first overall pick to the Erie Otters, Matthew Schaefer.
Darryl grew up playing hockey at the AAA and Jr. A level in the GTA and then went on to play NCAA hockey for New England College where he captained the team in his Senior year. As a certified teacher with a M.Ed., Darryl stayed in New Hampshire for three years teaching local high school and coaching the high school team, while also serving as a graduate Assistant Coach with his former college team that won the ECAC D.III hockey title in 2000/01.
He returned to Toronto in 2002 and immediately began coaching minor hockey at the High Performance levels. As a teacher at St. Michael's College School for 20 years, Darryl has coached the U14 hockey team to numerous Independent School championships, coaching many NCAA and future NHL players. From 2002 - 2010, Darryl was the Midget and then Jr. Head coach for the Toronto Aeros Girls Hockey Association where he won 3 Provincial Championships and numerous league titles. He has coached many D.I NCAA athletes and Olympians like Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, Courtney Kessel and Erin Ambrose to name a few. In 2008, he coached Team Ontario's U18 girls team that captured the Canadian National gold medal.
Darryl has served as the Mentor Coach and Director of High Performance for the Oakville Girls Hockey Association since 2015 and works currently with the Jr. Oakville Hornets as a member of their coaching staff on player and coach development.
He has run his own student-athlete mentoring program called Game Plan: Teen Coaching where he works with High Performance student athletes in goal setting, mindfulness and player development.
Darryl prides himself on player development above everything else. As a teacher and experienced coach, he uses goal setting, player assessments like video review to work on individual and conceptual player skills. On ice, Darryl is known for his creative and offensive skill development practices where he breaks down each player's skill sets to improve them. Darryl is a Certified Meditation Instructor as well and often practices mindfulness with his players.
Kelly Smith (Law) - Assistant Coach
Kelly has been an Assistant Coach with the North Halton Twisters for the past two seasons. Most recently she was on Chris Stewart’s staff of the highly decorated U11A team.
Kelly transitioned to coaching after a notable hockey career. This included playing AAA boys hockey, playing Junior with the Toronto Aeros, winning a gold medal at the Canada Winter Games with Team Ontario, and playing NCAA D1 with The University of Maine. During her tenure at Maine, she was Team Captain, was a Hockey East First Team All-Star, New England Sport Writer All-Star and played against Team USA as they prepared for the Winter Olympic Games (where she scored the first goal of the game).
Kelly enjoys working with and developing the next generation of high-performing hockey players and giving back to a sport that afforded her so much.
Kelly resides in Milton with her husband Eric and their two daughters; Peyton and Brooke.