New coaching staff will continue building women鈥檚 hockey at Dawson
It鈥檚 a new season and a new coaching staff for the Dawson Blues Div. 1 Women鈥檚 Hockey team.
Continuity, consistency and quality are the goals of the staffing changes. Joey Brandone, who has been assistant coach for the last two seasons under Kayla Tutino, is now head coach. Leslie Oles, a former Canadienne who has been involved in player development for several seasons, is the new associate head coach.
鈥淜ayla was offered a great opportunity that she couldn鈥檛 pass up. She鈥檚 been instrumental in the rebuilding of the program since her arrival in April 2020. Kayla had a tremendous impact on our student-athletes that will last a long time,鈥� said S茅bastien Rivest, head of Athletics at 成人黑料. 鈥淜ayla helped recruit the new coaching staff and she will be available to advise them. Once a Blue, always a Blue!鈥�
Meet the Head Coach聽
Head Coach Joey Brandone is well-known to Dawson鈥檚 hockey players and will be able to ensure that the progression of the team continues. Apart from his Dawson experience, Joey was very involved in the AAA level with the U15 Amazones of Laval-Montr茅al from 2018-2019 to 2020-2021 as both an assistant coach and head coach.
鈥淚鈥檓 absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work with an amazing program and I鈥檓 excited to take it to another level,鈥� said new Head Coach Joey Brandone. 鈥淚鈥檓 surrounded by a great staff and can鈥檛 wait to get things going!鈥�
鈥淭his is my 11th year behind the bench!鈥� Joey said. 鈥淚 began coaching on the men鈥檚 side and made the transition to coaching women four years ago. In 2016-2017, I was the assistant coach of the Midget team Espoir. Then I made the move to coaching women with the Amazones. In 2019, I was named head coach for the Laval team that went to the Jeux du Qu茅bec.鈥�
Associate Head Coach聽
Associate Head Coach Leslie Oles is well known as a player. Leslie represented Canada at the U18 World Championships in 2007-2008. She also played for the John Abbott Islanders, the McGill Martlets and the Montreal Canadiennes. She ended her career in 2017-2018 with EV Bomo Thun in the Switzerland Women鈥檚 Hockey League. 
Leslie鈥檚 coaching experience includes two years doing player development with U18 college-level players and coaching the Grade 9-11 Kuper Academy girls鈥� team and the Lac St-Louis Warriors U13 team.
Rounding out the staff are assistant coaches L茅a McIntyre and Luca Ciampini. The goaltending coach is George Katsaros and the strength and conditioning coach is Emmanuelle Blais, who is returning to the Dawson Blues family. Emmanuelle was on the Dawson Blues women鈥檚 hockey team from 2005-2006.
Expecting better play this season
The goal last year was to progress as the year went along, with more than 10 student-athletes who were in their first season playing CEGEP hockey. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 about wins and losses, it was about learning to compete at the D1 level. As the season went on, we were becoming more competitive,鈥� S茅bastien said.
鈥淲e feel that our new recruits will improve the overall depth of the team at every position. We expect that the level of play will be better and that we will see second-year players emerge to take on more responsibilities.鈥�
The first game will be against the John Abbott College Islanders and will take place on Friday, Sept. 2 at the Dollard Civic Centre. To see the game schedule, buy tickets (Eventbrite links will be coming soon) and get the livestream link for games, go to:
