We are thrilled to announce
Darryl Giancola as our U15AA Head Coach for the 2026-27 season.
Darryl has been the Assistant Coach of the Canadettes U13AA team for the past two years but before that served 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 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 of course, #1 NHL overall pick 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. 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 25 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. (U22) Head coach for the Toronto Aeros Girls Hockey Association where he won 3 Provincial Championships and numerous league titles. He has coached many D1 NCAA athletes and Olympians, including Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey and Erin Ambrose, as well as current Princeton Head Coach Courtney Kessel 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 for 8 years and since 2015, 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. There, Darryl has worked mentoring coaches and athletes and was instrumental in the Oakville Hornets success at the High Performance level coaching players like Emma Malthais and Sarah Fillier.
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 on them. Darryl is a Certified Meditation Instructor as well and often practices mindfulness with his players.
Congratulations Darryl! We look forward to working with you!