Dave Siciliano
As the player-coach for the Thunder Bay Twins, his team won both the United States Hockey League (USHL) playoffs and the 1975 Allan Cup as the Canadian senior champions.
He served as head coach of the Thunder Bay Flyers from 1986 to 1993, where he won four regular season titles, and two playoffs championships, and two Centennial Cups as Canadian junior champions.
[3] During high school, he won the 1963 juvenile championship as a pitcher in the Lakehead Baseball Association,[4] and was a right-handed centreman playing junior ice hockey with the Fort William Canadiens.
[9] He was coached by Hank Akervall and played on the same forward line with Dwight Stirrett and Murray Smith each season, which became known as the "S-line".
[15] He later completed his Master of Physical Education degree from Northern Michigan University,[16] while playing the 1970–71 season with the Marquette Iron Rangers as a graduate student.
[27] The Twins won the final round of the playoffs with three consecutive wins versus Waterloo Black Hawks in a best-of-five series for the USHL championship.
[30] In a best-of-seven series for the national championship, Siciliano and the Twins won the Allan Cup by defeating the defending champion Barrie Flyers four games to two.
[29] The Twins then withdrew from the USHL due to travel costs and schedule commitments to represent Canada on a European tour in the 1975–76 season.
[31] Siciliano's USHL player rights were drafted by the Traverse City Bays, but he chose to retire from playing to coach full-time.
[3][34] He coached the Nor'Westers to the GPAC championship finals during the 1977–78 season, but lost the best-of-three series versus the Regina Cougars by two games to one.
[48] The Flyers then participated in the Dudley Hewitt Cup playoffs to determine the Central Canada "Junior A" champion, and lost to the Pembroke Lumber Kings in four consecutive games in the final series.
[41] The Flyers began the Canadian playoffs undefeated in eight games with series victories versus the Sudbury Cubs and the Pembroke Lumber Kings to give Siciliano his first Dudley Hewitt Cup.
[41][53] Siciliano recalled that the Flyers were not given respect in advance of the 1989 Centennial Cup, and said that "the host Summerside team commented at the coaches press conference that Thunder Bay couldn't be very strong since they played in an American-based league".
[53] During the round-robin stage of the tournament, the Flyers earned wins versus the Vernon Lakers and Moncton Hawks, and lost to the Summerside Western Capitals.
[57] During the summer in 1990, Siciliano spent several weeks in Bressanone with the Italy men's national team, organizing practices and inter-squad games.
[63] Despite missing four players including their goaltender due to suspensions,[63] the Flyers defeated Sudbury by a 5–1 score to give Siciliano his second Dudley Hewitt Cup championship.
[41] Siciliano recalled in a 2021 interview that, Winkler was "a bigger and more physical team and wanted to wear their black sweaters" as an intimidation tactic.
[72][73] The Flyers placed sixth overall in the 1993–94 season,[74] lost in the first round of the USHL playoffs in six games to the Omaha Lancers,[75] and were runners-up to the Chateauguay Elites in the Dudley Hewitt Cup finals.
He signed a two-year contract, and had previously declined offers from the Red Deer Rebels, and the Michigan Tech Huskies team.
[80] Siciliano and team owner Ed Chynoweth, were committed to building a relationship between the Edmonton Ice and the local minor hockey program.
[81] When the team began the 1997–98 season with nine losses and one tie, Siciliano was fired on October 24, 1997, and replaced by assistant coach Ryan McGill.
[3] The Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL named Siciliano as head coach and general manager to succeed Dave Hakstol on June 26, 2000.
[72] Sioux City radio station KOOL 99.5 broadcast The Dave Siciliano Show on Mondays during the season, which included interviews with the coach and the team's players.
[24] At the start of the season, Siciliano had not expected to reach the finals nor win the cup, but credited the team for being tight-knit and "just great quality kids" who handled adversity.
[8] The Musketeers placed third in the West Division with 36 wins during the 2002–03 season,[98] and lost to the River City Lancers three games to one in the first round of the playoffs.
[103] Each of Siciliano's three Clark Cups as of 2005 had been won by a victory in the opposing team's rink, and he attempted to win a fourth on the road in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
[109] Siciliano withdrew his name from consideration to coach the men's hockey team at Lakehead University, and returned to the Musketeers for the 2007–08 season.
[73] He led the team to 32 wins and a fourth-place finish in the West Division,[110] then lost to the Omaha Lancers three games to one in the first round of the playoffs.
[5] The CAHA named Siciliano the recipient of the Gordon Juckes Award in 1987, in recognition of contributions to development of amateur hockey at the national level in Canada.
In the 1980–81 season, he coached the Thunder Bay Andrews bantam-A team who were the regional Silver Stick Tournament champions, and won a bronze medal at the Ontario championships.
