Niagara announced Sunday, July 21st that former goaltender and Niagara graduate, Cory Leonard has been promoted to Assistant Coach. In his previous role with the team, Cory was responsible for constructing the Purps' offseason workout regimens as well as reporting individual training metrics to the coaching staff. Although he will remain the primary overseer of all Niagara Hockey physical fitness, the 2019-2020 season will mark his first year behind the bench. Below, head coach Larry Brzeczkowski provided his sentiments on their newest coaching addition:

"We have extremely high hopes for Lenny as a member of our staff, moving forward. He is the type of individual that doesn't like to pursue a new endeavor unless he's 100% committed. As a former 4-year player, he has a favorable amount of familiarity with how we run our program, how we want to play and what Tom and I expect from all of our assistants. He's done a tremendous job as our strength & conditioning coach over the past few years and now we're excited to add his hockey mind into the mix. I think we knew that he would inevitably be joining our group of bench bosses at some point, we just wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with the workload he was given, initially."

Cory is the first of 2 new assistant coaches that will be named by head coach Larry Brzeczkowski and associate head coach, Tom Mooradian this summer. His professional title is currently listed as - Lead Personal Trainer at Crunch Fitness in Niagara Falls, NY. He obtained his CPT from the National Counsel of Sports & Fitness and is currently In the process of acquiring his CSCS from the National Strength & Conditioning Association. He resides in Buffalo, NY with his girlfriend, Miranda and enjoys staying active both in the gym and outdoors.

Stay tuned for the latest announcements regarding the team and the next addition to their coaching staff!