One of the first big decisions a newly-hired head coach has to make is who will assist them in aiding their team’s success and Women’s Ice Hockey Head Coach Rob Morgan announced a diverse slate to do just that in early August.
Senior CJ Vinas was tapped to be the team’s operations manager, but the moment is bittersweet for her.
“In a perfect world, I would be playing but freshman year … I was diagnosed with epilepsy and had a really gnarly concussion when I had my first seizure,” Vinas said.
Vinas said playing both ice hockey and rugby took a toll on her physically and ultimately kept her out of the rink, but said her new role would bring some of the excitement of the sport back into her life.
“This is kind of my way of staying involved and I’m really excited to see the logistics behind organizing travel and practices and really being able to pick out certain things while we’re playing certain teams and see how we can improve,” Vinas said.
One of the key obstacles Keene State had previously encountered in adding varsity ice hockey was the inability to field a women’s team, a requirement under Title IX regulations.
The Equinox previously reported on the tumultuous past few years the club women’s ice hockey team has had in terms of maintaining a full roster, with canceled seasons, COVID-19 and conflicting rink schedules contributing to difficulties.
Vinas, who briefly played on the club women’s ice hockey team before they disbanded in 2021, said the addition of the sport in this capacity is important.
“I’m really excited for [ice hockey] to be coming to campus on a more official level than just a club team, and I really hope that we’re able to just bring a culture that’s really supportive of each other,” Vinas said.
Ainsley King, one of two assistant coaches and a recent graduate of Stevenson University in Maryland, spoke about her experience playing ice hockey on the DIII level, as well as her passion for the sport.
“The biggest reason why I love hockey is because when you’re on the ice, nothing else really matters. It’s just the game or practice or whatever you’re on the ice for that matters in that moment,” King said.
Though she had been on the ice since age four, King did not think she would end up coaching the sport until much later, when she attended USA Hockey’s Girls National 16/17 camp in July of this year.
“I got to meet a lot of experienced coaches who taught me a lot of stuff. I also got to be on the bench for their games during that tournament and during that I realized that coaching is something that I wanted to pursue,” King said.
Shortly after the camp, she contacted Morgan and landed the assistant role on the team.
King says she hopes to grow in the role and help in recruitment, reviewing videos and generally adapting to the coach mindset versus that of a player.
Jared Petitto, the other assistant coach, comes to the team with a multitude of experience from across the country.
Petitto graduated from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and secured his master’s from Cleveland State University a year after that, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Additionally, he held instructor/coaching level roles at Prince William Ice Center, Bridgerton Academy, Boston Hockey Academy and the Utah Outliers following his graduation.
Petitto said his career path in coaching was made with the hopes of making it to the NHL as a player one day.
“Growing up from Virginia, hockey wasn’t that popular or as competitive and I just told myself ‘Well, what’s the next best opportunity, next pathway that I can possibly make it to the NHL or with a major professional team?’ and I thought coaching was the best,” Petitto said.
Petitto said his coaching philosophy is a mix of hard work and good team culture.
“Always keep pushing yourself every day, no matter what presents itself,” Petitto said. “I’m just excited for this season to get started.”
The team’s inaugural season is slated to begin on the first of November, with the preseason starting in about two weeks.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
