Lake Superior State Hires Doug Holewa as Assistant Coach

Lake Superior announced the hiring of assistant coach Doug Holewa via press released on Tuesday. He replaces assistant coach Peter Aubry, who left the Lakers earlier this summer for a job with the Chicago Blackhawks organization.

Holewa comes to Sault Ste Marie after three seasons as an assistant coach for the New York Islanders AHL affiliate the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. His duties with the Sound Tigers included a lot of game preparation work and amateur scouting, which should both be critical skills in his new position.

While Holewa's hockey resume is not large, he does come with some impressive qualifications. He served four years as an officer in the US Marine Corps and has a master's degree in social studies from Columbia University.

Lake Superior head coach Damon Whitten mentioned that military experience in his press release announcing the hiring:

"During our process of talking with Doug, we weren’t just talking hockey," said Whitten, who was equally impressed by Holewa’s military and coaching backgrounds. "He continuously preached the importance of forming good habits and he talked about wanting to join the Marines to see if he was a person who could handle that pressure. The habits and discipline that he learned is something he wants to help instill into our guys, and I think it’s important to have those characteristics before you can become a professional hockey player."

In addition to the hiring of Holewa, Lake Superior also announced that Terry Barbeau would be returning to the school as the team's volunteer assistant goalie coach, taking over duties that were handled by Aubry last season.