April 18, 2022, Mississauga, ON – ….  The Ontario Junior Hockey League has named Rob Pearson of the Pickering Panthers its Coach of the Year for 2021-22, the league announced today. The award was voted on by league general managers and a panel of media members.

Pearson, 51, has led the Panthers to OJHL North Division regular-season championship during both his seasons in Pickering. This season, the Panthers (39-11-0-4) had the second-best record in the 21-team league.

Pearson was named head coach and general manager in Pickering two games into the 2019-20 season

The retired NHL player had come off a two-year stint with Durham rival the Whitby Fury (now the Haliburton County Huskies) where his teams had a 51-49-5-3 regular season record and 7-6 playoff record.

The Oshawa product was a first-round draft pick (12th overall) by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1989 NHL Draft. He played 10 seasons professionally, including NHL stints with Toronto, Washington and St. Louis.

When a new ownership and management team took over the Whitby franchise in the OJHL, Pearson was content to walk away from the bench.

“It was a great start for me coming into the OJ coming with the Fury,” Pearson said earlier today. “(After the ownership change), I was going to take a step back and take a few months off to regroup and think about where I wanted to go. (Pickering team owner) Richard Pilosof called me right away and I just knew Pickering was going to be a great fit.”

 “And it’s been nothing but first class here. Richard has done an amazing job and I’m pretty proud to have been part of this organization and see how well it’s gone in the last three years. Even through the ups and downs of COVID, It’s still been fantastic.”

Pearson said he knew and respected the Panthers organization before coming onboard. He is Business Elite Manager with the Boyer Auto Group, which is the title sponsor of the Panthers.

Pearson loves coaching Jr. A hockey.

“There's a lot of things you can do for kids at this level,” he said. “There are kids who have been dropped down from the OHL who have had great OHL careers. How do you guide them? By saying, ‘It’s not over. This is just a step in your career.’ We’ve got great Canadian universities where most of them are going to now.”

“And the younger ones that are coming  up. Maybe they’re just one step behind or are late bloomers, as they say in the hockey world. You have to teach them about patience and time and figuring out their own path.”

“It’s more than just the game on the ice. Kids are so smart these days. They know so much about the game. It’s now about working with them mentally off the ice so they can bring their A game onto the ice.”

“They’ll go through large bumps through the season and you have to help guide them through those issues. I know, I had a lot of issues through my playing time. You have to take the good and bad from them and tell them to keep striving: ‘It’s not anyone else’s goal, it’s your goal. And see if you can reach it’.”

Dan Del Monte of the Milton Menace was runner-up to Pearson in voting. He led the Menace to a record of 36-11-1-6 during the regular season. Their 79 points tied the North York Rangers for fourth highest in the 21-team league.

Del Monte, 46, first joined the Menace as General Manager in April of 2019, the year the franchise moved from Newmarket. He added the Milton head coaching job to his resume six months later.

Prior to joining the Menace, the Mississauga native spent eight seasons as head coach with the Toronto Young Nationals of the GTHL, posting a 235-64-36 record. (*5 seasons recorded)

Del Monte spent 15 years playing professional hockey in Europe, where he recorded more than 1,000 points and won five championships. 

Before that, Del Monte spent two seasons in the OHL playing for the Peterborough Petes and Sarnia Sting. He also spent two seasons with the Oakville Blades of the OJHL, where he won rookie of the year and led his team in scoring, compiling 182 points (67G – 115A) in 84 games.

Pearson and the other OJHL award recipients will be honoured during a ceremony before Game 1 of the OJHL Nutrafarms Championship Series in early May. The OJHL is announcing its 2021-22 award winners throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs.