The St. Michael’s Buzzers are pleased to formally announce the return of Richard Ricci as Head Coach and General Manager for the 2010-2011 season. After spending the last two seasons as the Assistant General Manager and Associate Head Coach of the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, Ricci will reassume the roles he held with the Buzzers for two seasons between 2006 and 2008.
Joining Ricci on the coaching staff will be Chris Lazary, who will serve as a video coach. Lazary coached last season with Toronto Marlboros minor midgets. In addition to his duties this season with the Buzzers, he will also work in an advanced scouting capacity with the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL.
Mario DePiero will continue in his role as Assistant Coach and Academic Advisor with the Buzzers.
Mike DePellegrin and Tony DiNunzio will remain with the organization, both taking on roles with a focus on scouting and the recruitment of players within the St. Michael’s College School community, helping to ensure the strong association between the Buzzers and St. Michael’s College School continues.
After the previous two seasons resulted in first round playoff departures, Ricci has returned with the goal of getting the team back to being a legitimate contender year in and year out.
“I’m coming back to help restore the winning tradition with the Buzzers,” said Ricci.
Prior to assuming the head coach and general manager’s portfolio in 2006, Ricci served as the Director of Hockey Operations and Associate Coach with the Buzzers for three seasons which included three consecutive Buckland Cup Finals appearances. The Buzzers captured the Buckland Cup in two of those three appearances in 2004 and 2005.
In addition to his track record for success at the Junior A level, Ricci is looking forward to bringing the experience he gained over the past two seasons coaching in the Ontario Hockey League with the Oshawa Generals back to the Buzzers.
“I think coaching at the OHL level, certainly the resources are far greater and the technical aspects of the game are far more detailed in dealing with different types of athletes,” said Ricci. “Coming back should allow me to bring some of the things I’ve learned and some of those resources back with me to prop up the Buzzers program again.”
A coach who was known for his business-like approach and one who expected a high level of accountability and commitment out of his players during his previous tenure with the Buzzers, Ricci explained that he will attempt to develop a similar culture in the locker room this time around.
“Yes, absolutely,” said Ricci, when asked if he intends to bring a similar philosophy to the team for next season. “My last two years with the Buzzers were two fairly successful years, we didn’t win a championship but the on-ice product was very good and the number of players that advanced to the next levels was very good. I think I come back as a much better coach and a much more technical coach. Certainly there have been a couple of years where the Buzzers haven’t had a lot of sustained success and hopefully we can change that. Really, I think it just starts with the culture and the expectations and from there, if you lead the right way and the players follow, then everything should fall into place.”
Looking ahead towards next season, the Buzzers expect to have a solid group of core players returning. That veteran leadership along with an emphasis on teaching and execution, Ricci hopes, will form the foundation for future success.
“There’s a good core group to start with but we have to get back to teaching and learning systems and executing on a game to game basis and hopefully with a good solid foundation, the chips will fall where they should at the end of the day and yield a significant improvement over the last couple of years.”
Ricci cautioned though about expecting too much too soon. Instead, he indicated that with the appropriate attention to detail and a committed effort from both the players and coaching staff, improvement and eventually enduring success should follow in time.
“I think as long as we’re improving day to day and the on-ice product is improving, the talent level is increasing, the effort and the attention to detail is there, that’s the way we’ll measure success in year one,” explained Ricci. “I don’t want anyone to misinterpret that we’re coming back to restore winning so it will happen quickly. Things take time and out of the gates, we have to be cautious with optimism and just make sure that we’re doing the little things correctly and improving day to day and everything should fall into place from there.”
