Coach Bios

Head of Coaching

Coach Dave is a lifelong resident of South Windsor. He played 4 years of Club Hockey at Springfield College in Massachusetts. Coach Dave has been both Head and Assistant coach at all levels from Learn to skate through Bantams. He is presently the Head of Coaching for South Windsor Youth Hockey. Coach Dave can still be found lacing up the skates on Thursday nights at South Windsor Arena.

Director of Goaltender Development 

The 2019-2020 season was my first year as a Goaltending Coach for the South Windsor Youth Hockey Association (SWYHA). The 2021-2022 season was my first year as the Director of Goaltending.

One of my primary responsibilities as the Director of Goaltending at SWYHA is to improve the quality of the goaltending experience (at all levels). This is accomplished by utilizing educational tools from inside the SWYHA, Pro Crease Goaltending (Jared Waimon, 2X Stanley Cup Champion Goalie Scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning) and directly from USA Hockey. 

At the SWYHA, we have increased the number of resources available to netminders, parents and coaches to grow the number of goaltending participants. At the SWYHA, we provide progressive on-ice instructional programs, access to clinics and materials. We have also produced and implemented a full-season, goaltending specific curriculum, providing our goaltenders a best-in-class educational environment - unmatched in Connecticut. 

In 2019-2020 Season, our Pee Wee B Team won a State Championship. During the 2022-2023 Season, our Bantam A Team peaked at #2 in the State Rankings, while finishing 5th overall. The Bantam A Team regular season record was 24-5-3, including 11 shutouts and a Goals Against Average of 1.78. The Bantam A Team won the CAN/AM Tournament Championship in Lake Placid, New York, going undefeated in Tournament play, while not surrendering a single goal in all four (4) games.

In March of 2021, I was recognized by USA Hockey as a Goaltending Development Leader (GDL) for the New England Region. 

On the National level, I have a Level 5 USA Hockey Certification. I have completed the USA Hockey Goaltending Module and have been accredited with USA Hockey Goaltending Bronze and Silver Certifications. I will be acquiring my Goaltending Gold Certification in 2024. On the Local level, I have also completed the CIAC 45-Clock Hour Coaching Course and will be acquiring my Connecticut Coaching License in the Summer of 2023.

I became a goalie coach because of my passion for the goaltending position. I have enjoyed coaching my students over the last few years.

Head Coach - Learn-to-Skate/Learn-to-Play 

Edward Love is currently the Head of The Development Program for South Windsor Youth Hockey. Prior to the Development Program, Edward coached at Nonotuck Knights Youth Hockey located in Western Mass, the JR Falcons program, and Westchester Express in NY, and most recently at South Windsor Youth Hockey as an assistant coach for the last 3 seasons. He is USA Hockey Level 4 Certified.

Edward has a love for the game of hockey and wants to pass it on to the beginner hockey players. He wants to make it fun and exciting, and that every child will leave the ice with a smile on their face.

Edward grew up in Enfield, playing for the Enfield Youth Hockey Association, and continued on to play High School Hockey for Tri-Town Terrorcats, a high school cooperative that consists of the towns- Somers, Ellington, and East Windsor  Edward still laces the skates up once or twice a week to play with his pals.

Head Coach – Mite A

Karl Norton will serve as the Head Coach of the Mite Travel Team for the upcoming 2022/23 season, his 38th year coaching. This will also be his 14th season coaching at SWYHA. He is a USA Hockey Level 4 Coach, and has attended coaching seminars hosted by Way of Champions and Changing the Game (Jerry Lynch & John O’Sullivan), Bloodline Hockey (Vince Malts), and most recently Be Higher Brain (Greg Poss).

Karl has dedicated himself to improving as a coach believing that the youth hockey experience should be filled with learning, hard work, and fun for the players and parents. He has a passion for the game, and the people who play it, and is always seeking to learn how to be a more effective coach. He loves encouraging young people to overcome challenges so that they develop the confidence that comes from improving and being part of a team, and has developed many meaningful and caring relationships over a lifetime of coaching.

He began his ice hockey journey playing pond hockey with his friends in the Rockville area. Inspired by the success of the Boston Bruins in the 1960’s, he joined Eastern CT Hockey, the precursor of ECHO, so that he could emulate his NHL heroes. He was a member of Rockville’s first High School hockey team in 1971-72, playing his home games at South Windsor Arena. While attending school at Syracuse University to study Architecture, he started coaching as an assistant, in the Camillus NY Youth Hockey Association. Upon returning to Connecticut, he continued coaching at ECHO, now playing out of Bolton, coaching Squirts through Bantams for 18 seasons. He coached teams representing the Northeast during the first three years of the Nutmeg games, coached HS players with the CT Valley Hockey Club, and coached two tournaments with Team Connecticut. After a total of 24 seasons, he took a 13-year break, returning to help coach in SWYHA. Since then, he has coached Squirt though Bantam, many of those seasons working with two teams. Currently residing in South Glastonbury, Karl hopes to continue coaching for many more seasons!

Co-Head Coach Mite A

Mike Wolf is currently the Co-Head Coach for the Mite A Team. In addition to coaching for South Windsor, Mike is going on his 5th season as the Assistant Coach for Kingswood Oxford’s Boys Varsity Hockey Program. Mike is a level 4 coach who has several years of experience coaching all ages from Learn to Skate thru High School. Mike spent 3 seasons as a Head Coach at South Windsor, 2 in squirts and 1 season of Pee Wees, before transitioning his daughter and himself to the all-girls program at the Northern Lights, where he spent the last 3 years coaching U12 and U14 girls, while coaching the High School Boys at the same time. Coach Wolf’s 1st year as a Head Coach lead his team to a State Championship, and his 1st year coaching with the girls finished 2nd in the state, qualifying for Regionals and in the same season won the CGHL.

Mike has a tremendous passion for the game of hockey and even more passion for coaching it. If you were to ask him what he likes better playing or coaching, he would hands down say coaching. The thrill in watching someone develop and improve is what drives Mike’s passion to coach. Mike believes very strongly in the following, “failure breeds success”. In-order-to achieve anything outside of the norm you need to challenge yourself, you need to know it’s ok to make mistakes, as that is how you activate creativity and that will separate talent, while allowing all kids to enjoy the game of hockey and play to the best of their ability without fear, but more importantly have fun. That builds character and develops better athletes.

Other facts about Coach Wolf is that in addition to Coaching Hockey, Mike has recently also accepted the position as the Head Varsity Golf Coach at Kingswood as well. In Mike’s off time he spends time with his wife and 3 kids and also does the Color Commentary for the majority of the East Catholic Girls HS games, while still playing hockey on Sunday nights.

Head Coach - Squirt A

Nick Gionfriddo serves as the Head Coach of the Squirt A for the 2022-2023 season. This is Nick’s 5th year coaching, 2nd year as head coach. Previously, Nick has assisted with the Mite A team and Squirt B team and is now excited to take the lead role on the Squirt B team!

Nick’s heart has been with South Windsor Hockey starting with Learn to Skate at the age of 3, all the way to Midgets where he then joined the South Windsor High School Varsity team as a freshman in 2013 and played 4 years of hockey there. Throughout those years, Nick has volunteered a significant amount of time to the association where he then showed interest in pursuing a coaching career after graduating high school in 2017.

Nick has many years of experience from the defensive position and a forward position where he understands both sides of the ice and is looking forward to sharing that knowledge and experience with our young athletes. He has been surrounded with many great coaches throughout his career where he has taken away a lot of information and can now apply it to his own way of coaching. Nick brings fun and knowledge to the ice and hopes that at the end of the day our athletes become more educated in the game and want to keep coming back!

Head Coach - 18U Midget 

Doug Hutton started coaching for South Windsor Youth Hockey in 2006. He has been a head coach and assistant coach at every level from 8U Mites through 18U Midgets and is level 4 certified with USA Hockey.

Doug has a strong love for the game of hockey and wants to share his passion for hockey and team sports in general with the players he coaches. His focus is on individual development and to create a lifelong love for the game of hockey within his players. 

Doug started playing youth hockey with ECHO and played midgets and juniors with Columbia. After high school, Doug went on to play club hockey at Colby College in Waterville, ME. Today, Doug plays 1-3 per week with local men's league hockey.

Assistant Coach – Bantam A

Gabe Hathorn is currently the Assistant Coach for the 14U Bantam A Team and the President of South Windsor Youth Hockey. Prior to taking on the role of head coach, Gabe has coached at South Windsor Youth Hockey as either an assistant coach or head coach for 10 seasons. He is USA Hockey Level 4 Certified.

Gabe has a passion for the game of hockey and wants to share that passion with the next generation of hockey players. His style is to bring a light and positive energy onto the ice and share his knowledge of the game to help develop each and every player.

South Windsor Youth Hockey has been a home for Gabe ever since he started playing hockey at the age of 4. He played his entire youth hockey and high school hockey at South Windsor. While playing for SWHS, Gabe was a two-time First Team All-State selection. After high school, he continued playing at the State University of NY at Geneseo, a Division III program in the SUNYAC Conference. At Geneseo, Gabe was a 4-year varsity player and was named captain during his Senior year. Gabe still skates once a week simply because he loves playing the game of hockey.

Assistant Coach - Bantam A 

Troy Morin will be an assistant coach for the Bantam A team for the 2021-2022 Season. Troy has been volunteering his time at South Windsor Youth Hockey for the past 2 seasons. Troy wants to share his love for the game by passing on his extensive knowledge in power skating and defensive work.

Troy’s desire to coach stems from his desire to help make a difference in how the players grow both on the ice and in their personal lives. Troy connects with players by bringing a big smile and his high energy onto the ice for every practice and game. His ultimate goal is to give the kids an environment where they can thrive and grow as athletes, not just hockey players!

Troy grew up playing his youth hockey at South Windsor Youth Hockey before moving on to play high school at East Catholic. After high school, Troy played club hockey at Sacred Heart University where he is a recent graduate. Troy considers himself a student of the game and is fascinated about strength training, conditioning, and on ice skill work.

Assistant Coach - Mite B 

Adam Swierbutowicz is currently the Assistant Coach for the 8U Mite B Team. Prior to taking on the role as head coach, Adam served as an assistant coach with several local youth hockey programs. He is USA Hockey Level 1 Certified. Adam's coaching philosophy is one of teamwork, discipline, skill development and fun. Adam's goal is to create a relaxed and enjoyable learning environment, on and off the ice. 

Adam is a native of South Windsor, CT and grew up playing his youth and high school hockey in South Windsor. He was a member of South Windsor High School's 96-97 Division II State Championship Team and a CT Division I First Team All-State selection in 1998. After graduating from South Windsor High in 1998, Adam played NCAA Division III college hockey in the ECAC Northeast, for Western New England University. Adam still skates in local adult leagues.