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Coaching Staff
Coach Al Rooney
Head Coach Al Rooney, from Deer Park, NY, is entering his first season with the Ravenwood Raptors. Prior to taking over with Ravenwood, he has coached professional hockey in Finland and Holland as well as several years coaching at the Junior A & B level in Albany, NY. While serving as Co-Head Coach for the Hudson Valley Eagles, he helped guide them to the 2004-05 Met League Championship and took 3rd place at the USA Hockey Nationals held in Minnesota in April of 2005.
The Eagles also brought home the 'Team Sportsmanship' award from USA Nationals that season as well. Over the course of 5 seasons of coaching in Albany, Rooney helped move 44 players to higher levels of Junior hockey and/or college hockey. He then moved to Europe where he briefly served as Goalie Coach for the Heerenveen Flyers before moving on to Finland taking on the role of Assistant Coach/Goalie Coach with HC Keski-Uusima in the Finnish Pro League. With 5 games left in the season, Rooney was promoted to Head Coach where he finished out the season serving in that capacity. Rooney then returned home and moved to Nashville to spend more time with his son Sylvain (Sly), who is currently in 8th grade at White House Heritage.
During his playing career, Rooney was a goaltender and started playing hockey later than most, his first season was his senior year of high school at St. John the Baptist on Long Island. He went on to play 2 years of Junior hockey in Minnesota and North Dakota. His rookie year, he helped backstop the Heartland Winterhawks to the Minnesota Junior League Finals where they fell 2 games to 1 to Duluth. While playing Junior 'A' for the Bismarck Express, he was the #1 goalie for a team that went 47-19-7, most notably making 63 saves in a 7-5 loss to the Czechoslovakian National Jr team that had 9 future NHLers on it including Radek Bonk, Radek Dvorak, Martin Straka, Marek Malik, Petr Franek.
Al then played 3 years of college hockey, 1 year in North Dakota and 2 years in Buffalo, NY before foregoing his remaining eligibility to sign a minor league contract with the NHL's Florida Panthers for the 1996-97 season. The following year he attended training camp with the NY Islanders before signing with the San Angelo Outlaws. In San Angelo, Rooney was awarded the 97-98 Fan Favorite Award and was a part of the 1998-99 Western Conference Champions who fell to the Shreveport Mudbugs in the CHL finals. In all, Rooney played 8 seasons of professional hockey from 96-04 before retiring to begin his coaching career.
Now in his position with the Raptors, Rooney looks forward to bringing his experiences, knowledge, passion and love for the game to his players here at Ravenwood. He is excited about the 2011-12 season and the chance to return Ravenwood to championship status.
Coach Mike hynes
Head Coach Al Rooney, from Deer Park, NY, is entering his first season with the Ravenwood Raptors. Prior to taking over with Ravenwood, he has coached professional hockey in Finland and Holland as well as several years coaching at the Junior A & B level in Albany, NY. While serving as Co-Head Coach for the Hudson Valley Eagles, he helped guide them to the 2004-05 Met League Championship and took 3rd place at the USA Hockey Nationals held in Minnesota in April of 2005.
The Eagles also brought home the 'Team Sportsmanship' award from USA Nationals that season as well. Over the course of 5 seasons of coaching in Albany, Rooney helped move 44 players to higher levels of Junior hockey and/or college hockey. He then moved to Europe where he briefly served as Goalie Coach for the Heerenveen Flyers before moving on to Finland taking on the role of Assistant Coach/Goalie Coach with HC Keski-Uusima in the Finnish Pro League. With 5 games left in the season, Rooney was promoted to Head Coach where he finished out the season serving in that capacity. Rooney then returned home and moved to Nashville to spend more time with his son Sylvain (Sly), who is currently in 8th grade at White House Heritage.
During his playing career, Rooney was a goaltender and started playing hockey later than most, his first season was his senior year of high school at St. John the Baptist on Long Island. He went on to play 2 years of Junior hockey in Minnesota and North Dakota. His rookie year, he helped backstop the Heartland Winterhawks to the Minnesota Junior League Finals where they fell 2 games to 1 to Duluth. While playing Junior 'A' for the Bismarck Express, he was the #1 goalie for a team that went 47-19-7, most notably making 63 saves in a 7-5 loss to the Czechoslovakian National Jr team that had 9 future NHLers on it including Radek Bonk, Radek Dvorak, Martin Straka, Marek Malik, Petr Franek.
Al then played 3 years of college hockey, 1 year in North Dakota and 2 years in Buffalo, NY before foregoing his remaining eligibility to sign a minor league contract with the NHL's Florida Panthers for the 1996-97 season. The following year he attended training camp with the NY Islanders before signing with the San Angelo Outlaws. In San Angelo, Rooney was awarded the 97-98 Fan Favorite Award and was a part of the 1998-99 Western Conference Champions who fell to the Shreveport Mudbugs in the CHL finals. In all, Rooney played 8 seasons of professional hockey from 96-04 before retiring to begin his coaching career.
Now in his position with the Raptors, Rooney looks forward to bringing his experiences, knowledge, passion and love for the game to his players here at Ravenwood. He is excited about the 2011-12 season and the chance to return Ravenwood to championship status.
Coach Mike hynes