Winter Hawks bench boss lands with Falcons

Dan Fitzgerald, who guided the Cambridge Winter Hawks to a 35-point improvement in the standings in his second season as the junior B hockey team’s bench boss, is the new head coach of the St. Catharines Falcons. Fitzgerald, since 2011 a teacher with the Niagara Catholic District School Board, was the 2016-17 coach of the year in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Midwestern Conference after the Winter Hawks finished the regular season in fifth place with a 29-19-0-2 record, only one point behind the Waterloo Siskins and four behind the Kitchener Dutchmen. In Fitzgerald’s first season in Cambridge the Winterhawks missed the playoffs and placed last in the nine-team conference and compiled a 10-35-1-4 record in league play. Before going to Cambridge Fitzgerald led the Dundas Blues to the final and was selected as coach of the year in the then Niagara District Junior C Hockey League. Fitzgerald also owns and operates Fitzgerald Hockey, which specializes in on-ice development as well as spring and showcase tournament teams. He succeeds Chris Johnstone who led St. Catharines to second in the Golden Horseshoe Conference - and to second overall in the league - with a 40-7-0-3 record. Fitzgerald becomes the second new head coach in the conference since the end of the season. Former Falcons head coach Mark Barrick is returning to junior B as Scott Barnes’ successor with the Pelham Panthers.