The Sudbury Wolves have selected Gary Ricciardi as the team’s new assistant coach. He’ll be joining Head Coach Craig Duncanson and Associate Coach Zack Stortini behind the bench for the 2022-2023 OHL season.
The team made the announcement on July 26.
“We are very excited to add Gary to our coaching staff,” said Wolves VP and GM Rob Papineau in a news release. “As an owner of Core Hockey Elite Training Camps, he has helped elite junior and professional players improve their skills and better understand the patterns of the game.
“The list of players he has worked with includes former Wolves Marc Staal and Taylor Pyatt along with their brothers, Patrick Sharp and Robert Bortuzzo to name a few.”
Ricciardi has also been part of the Pack’s scouting staff over the past couple of seasons and “was instrumental in the early identification and our decisions to select both Quentin Musty and Matthew Mania as one of our U.S. scouts.”
Ricciardi is the brother of Wolves HNO scout Jeff Ricciardi. A native of Thunder Bay, the Wolves said Ricciardi has helped build key hockey programs in both Chicago and St. Louis. As a player, her was team captain at Ferris State in his senior year and played 222 professional games in the UHL, ECHL and in Italy “before injuries ended his playing career prematurely.”
Ricciardi said he is excited to get to work.
“I can’t wait to get to Sudbury to start coaching this ultra talented group of young players,” Ricciardi said in the same release. “I have scouted many of them over the years, so it will be great to get the opportunity to work with them on a daily basis. One of the many wonderful parts of coaching is developing relationships and mentoring young athletes and I am very excited to get the upcoming season underway.”
Ricciardi will be behind the bend when the Wolves training camp opens on Aug. 29.
