Dominic DeRenzis
[email protected]
(289) 242-1942
I have 20+ years of coaching experience, taking teams for a minimum 3 year-span of development, with the past 11 straight years occurring in Oakville with the Rangers. While I have many years experience, I surround myself with staff members who are in their 20's and 30's and can relate with the younger players - my 2 sons, a former pro hockey player, and a former NCAA D3 player who is now a school teacher.
Most recently, our staff completed a 6-year process with the 2008 AAA Oakville Rangers from U11 to U16. That process with the 2008's resulted in the team capturing the OHL Cup Championship to end U16, 12 players being drafted to the OHL, including the 1st overall pick, 2 NCAA Division 1 commitments (Boston College & Yale), and 2 players representing Team Canada (Youth Olympics and U17 World Championship Gold Medalists).
We are looking to follow the same blueprint with the 2013's, where I take the team for the first 3 years and then my oldest son, Mike, takes the team over at U14 to U16. On top of coaching, I have had both of my boys go through the AAA minor hockey process (and higher), which I believe is very beneficial as a coach, as it allows me to view things from a parent point of view, understand what you're going through, and give you my feedback as a parent and coach from my many of years experience in the minor hockey world.
What are we looking for?
On the ice, we are looking for different puzzle pieces - a combination of players that compliment each other and bring something different to help the team. Along with that, we want players who are competitive and coachable, and have the ability to think the game and implement what we are teaching. Off the ice, we want players who are quality human beings - they must be respectful, we expect them to bring maturity, and count on them to be responsible, even at their young age of U13. We are looking to develop our players on the ice as hockey players and off the ice as human beings every time they come to the rink. Lastly, we are looking for quality parents who are going to trust our guidance and long-term development plan, and cheer for other players to be as successful as their own child and put the TEAM first. We will develop all players, and with team success comes individual success, and team culture plays a big component in achieving those successes, which our 2008's player and parent culture proved.
Balance Individual Player Development and Team Winning
This is the toughest thing to do and the toughest thing for parents to identify/understand. We will not go into every single game thinking "this is a must-win game", there will be some games where we determine it's important for us to try and do everything we can to win this game, and some games where we determine the long-term individual development plan of every player (and the team overall) is more important than to win at all costs that day. Minor Hockey is a marathon, not a sprint - there is a balance between trying to win at U13 along with the long-term development plan to win come U16 with this 2013 group, the same way we did with the 2008's. We can't promise the results will be the same, but we promise that our commitment and effort-level will be the same (a ton of credit for the 2008's success goes to the player group for all the extra development they did outside of the team and the parent group for buying-in, believing in the staff, and building what was necessary amongst the team in Oakville instead of leaving to go elsewhere).
Season Schedule
We plan to run a 2-week training camp the last 2 weeks of August (Monday to Thursday each week, half-day camp). We have always practiced 4 days/week (usually 6.5 hours per week), assuming everything works out like normal with the schedule that would be the expected plan again this season. We'll attend an away tournament in Windsor in September (hopeful the Spitfires will be at home so the players can meet our former player, Ethan Belchetz), local tournaments in October and November, Christmas break off, and then the Oakville Winter Classic in January. Please expect to practice and play games during March Break. Minimum 1 video session will occur per week. Aim to have 1 Team Bonding Event per month. There will be 3 Individual Parent/Player Meetings that will occur throughout the course of the season.
The Oakville Rangers Elite Performance Program (OREPP) is a high-performance development program that elevates individual skills, team systems, and off-ice conditioning. Initially focused on our AAA teams (U10-U16) and top Red AA teams (U14-U16), this program provides the highest level of training available to Oakville Rangers players. Phase 1 runs from April 26 to June 26, featuring 2-3 off-ice training sessions and 1-2 on-ice skill development sessions per week, with most sessions scheduled Monday to Thursday to keep weekends free.
For more information, please visit https://oakvillerangers.ca/Pages/37229/Elite_Performance_Program/.