{"id":23365,"date":"2019-03-28T12:36:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T16:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23365"},"modified":"2019-04-04T19:11:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:11:17","slug":"junior-a-tigers-head-coach-to-double-as-general-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/junior-a-tigers-head-coach-to-double-as-general-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior A Tigers head coach to double as general manager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jake Courtepatte<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carousel\ncontinues to turn in junior hockey circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is the case\nevery year, the turnover of a junior hockey team is usually substantial: for\nthe Aurora Tigers, notable this year are the changes in the front office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the\nTigers were eliminated in the first round of the Ontario Junior Hockey League\nplayoffs by the Newmarket Hurricanes in early March, both GM Dermot Anderson\nand head scout Jason Maslakow stepped down from the posts to take on new\nchallenges elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team owner Jim\nThomson was quick to fill the general manager\u2019s void with a familiar face: head\ncoach Rob De Fulviis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m\nexcited to be joining the Tigers management team for the upcoming season,\u201d said\nDe Fulviis in a statement to the OJHL. \u201cI’m looking forward to building a\ncontender for years to come.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nfirst-year coach with the Tigers after a professional playing stint in the\nECHL, the 27-year old De Fulviis takes the reigns for the first time alongside\nhis former assistant coach Luke McCarthy, in what they hope will make for a\nsmooth transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nfor taking on the monumental role, De Fulviis told The Auroran it was a\n\u201cno-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nwas fortunate to be brought on as an assistant coach last season, and I was so\nhonoured to be named head coach a few months later,\u201d said De Fulviis, who took\nover from Mario Cicchillo early in the season. \u201cTo have this recognition\nthis early in my coaching career, I\u2019m so humbled and I can\u2019t say thank you\nenough to Jim and Rita Thomson\u2026for them to put the brand of their business in\nmy hands, I really can\u2019t express my gratitude enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\nspending almost the entirety of the first half of the OJHL season in first\nplace in the division, the Tigers struggled down the stretch, something De\nFulviis said he admits will need a \u201creevaluation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously\nwe fell short of our ultimate goal this past season, but I believe we have a\nlot of the right pieces in place,\u201d said De Fulviis. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great\nsummer of adding to what we have, and hopefully adding the pieces that I\u2019ve\ntargeted will set us up to be contenders for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nTigers are such a storied franchise in the OJHL, with multiple national\nchampionships, graduating players year in and year out, and I just am so\nexcited to contribute and add to the past success this franchise has seen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nfor Anderson and Maslakow, known around Toronto Maple Leafs fan circles as\n\u201cDart Guy\u201d, both have joined the newly-formed Collingwood Colts franchise,\nwhich will serve as a farm system for the OHL\u2019s Barrie Colts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\nwould like to thank the Aurora Tigers for an amazing last three years,\u201d said\nAnderson in a statement. \u201cThank you Jim and Rita Thomson for trusting me with\nyour brand, product, and hockey club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo\nall the players and coaches I have crossed paths with, you are all beauties\u2026.to\nthe Town of Aurora, you have been amazing to me. You were my second home for\nthree-plus years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maslakow\nsaid it was \u201cwith a heavy heart\u201d that he was stepping down from his post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis\nwas not an easy decision as the Tigers are a first-class organization that\nbelieved in me, took a chance on me\u2026I want to thank all the fans and the Town\nof Aurora, you embraced me from day one and always made me feel like part of\nthe city and culture in Aurora and I will never forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De\nFulviis said he was \u201cvery excited\u201d for the two as they take on the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\nare two incredibly hard-working people.  Dermot and I spent a lot of time\ntogether this past season. We were always bouncing ideas off of one another,\nand he had an answer for any question I had for him throughout the year.\n He was a great help to me, and we established a pretty good friendship as\nwell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nfor Thomson, De Fulviis, and the rest of the staff, the show goes on: spring\ndevelopment camp is fast approaching in early May. More info can be found at\nwww.auroratigers.pointstreaksites.com.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The carousel continues to turn in junior hockey circles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-64R","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 08:27:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}