The Greater Sudbury Cubs Jr. A Hockey club has announced that Vagelli Sakellaris has stepped-down as head coach after two seasons with the NOJHL organization.
Sakellaris, 42, cited the challenge of balancing his full-time job as a secondary school teacher with the demands of being a head coach of the Cubs, during two Covid-plagued seasons.
“It has been a challenging two seasons to say the least with the cancellations, stops and goes, and I feel that it is time for me to take a step back and focus more of my time coaching my son’s team and spending more time with family,” he said in a news release. “I would sincerely like to thank owner Mark Burgess and GM Jeff Forsyth for giving me the opportunity to be a head coach of the Sudbury Cubs organization in their inaugural season.”
Forsyth praised the job Sakellaris did with the team.
“Vagelli did a great job leading our team to a third-place finish in a very competitive west division and many of our players enjoyed outstanding results thanks to his leadership behind the bench,” said Forsyth in the news release.
“Vagelli is a professional through and through, and he is highly respected by everyone in our organization. Our door will always be open for Vagelli to return to our team when he is ready and
able to do so.”
With Sakellaris’ announcement, Cubs management moved quickly to hire former OHL Sudbury Wolves longtime associate coach Darryl Moxam as the new head coach for the 2022-2023 season.
Moxam, 45, will be joined behind the Cubs bench by associate coach Dave Clancy and assistant coach Kerry MacLennan.
Moxam was recently hired as director of the newly announced Northern Hockey Academy in Sudbury. Moxam welcomes the additional challenge of serving as a head coach with the local Jr. A franchise.
“Burgie, Smitty and I have worked together in the past and we enjoyed lots of success winning an NOJHL championship with the Sudbury Northern Wolves (2006),” said Moxam. “I look forward to rekindling our success with the Cubs next season and build on the solid foundation of player development that Vagelli and his coaching staff achieved this season with their young players.”
“We are very fortunate that a head coach of Darryl’s calibre became available for us at this time” said Forsyth. “Mox brings tremendous experience and player development knowledge from the OHL level, the CIS level and the Jr. A level, and we are looking forward to having him lead our young team next season as we continue to build towards a championship for the hockey fans of Greater Sudbury.”
