Reynolds to coach Chargers

It's Jason Reynolds' turn to carry the torch for the Livonia Churchill boys hockey program.

The 31-year-old Reynolds, who served as an assistant last year under Gerry Vento at Plymouth and the previous three seasons at his alma mater Livonia Stevenson, was named Monday to replace Pete Mazzoni.

?It's a tremendous honor to be part of a such a rich history of high school hockey,'' Reynolds said. ?It's amazing that such a great program that's just been around for over 40 years already - I'm very proud and humbled to be a part of the program.''

Mazzoni, who spent 12 seasons at Churchill, stepped down last month to take an assistant principal position at Stevenson - his alma mater as well.

Mazzoni's 2011-12 squad finished 21-7 overall and captured a regional title for the second straight season before being ousted in the MHSAA Division 1 quarterfinals Grosse Pointe North, 3-0. In his 14 years of coaching high school hockey, including two seasons at Redford Union, Mazzoni went 233-97-47.

Reynolds said he had several conversations with Mazzoni during the interview process and met briefly Tuesday night with the returning Churchill players.

?My plan is to challenge the players with a very high tempo style of play,'' said Reynolds, a 2002 Michigan State University grad who works as a retail marketing manager for Warrior Sports, Inc. ?My goal is to carry on the foundation that coach Mazzoni has left behind as well as bringing some new and fresh ideas to table and continue to carry on the excellence.

?I'll be communicating to all the families involved in the Churchill program the next couple of days. It's been a whirlwind 24 hours needless to say. We're just getting our feet wet.''

Reynolds played forward for Stevenson from 1996-98 and also spent time coaching in both the Canton Amateur and Livonia Hockey Association youth programs before becoming an assistant under at Stevenson under David Mitchell during the 2007-08 season.

Churchill athletic director Marc Hage said 11 applied for the vacant hockey position and four were interviewed.

?He's very enthusiastic, he's got some LHA (Livonia Hockey Association) ties, he's been a board member, which will be nice for that relationship,'' Hage said of Reynolds. ?He wants to keep a lot of stuff that Pete had in place, a lot of his principles and core values. In a nutshell, I see him as a young Pete Mazzoni when we hired him 12 years ago, a guy who has a lot of the same teachings and thinkings, along with ideas he can bring to Churchill.

?He's a Livonia guy, a Stevenson guy and I'm always appreciative of someone who is from our school system and wants to apply. It's nice to have that extra connection.''

bemons@hometownlife.com (313) 222-6851

Source: http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20120715/SPORTS03/207150498/1060/rss45

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