Longtime Ontario Junior Hockey League assistant coach TJ Hill has been promoted to head coach of the Stouffville Spirit. (Photo by Christian Bender of OJHL Images)

TJ Hill has been named head coach of the Stouffville Spirit.

An assistant coach with the franchise the past 18 months, Hill replaces Scott Donato who resigned Nov. 1, citing “family and business reasons.”

A junior A and minor hockey coach for almost 20 years, Hill was on OJHL coaching staffs in Ajax, Newmarket and Pickering before Stouffville

The Aurora resident was a AAA head coach with the Ajax Pickering Raiders and South Central Coyotes organizations.

“I love doing this,” Hill, 43, said. “I wanted the opportunity and I was very excited to get it. I felt ready.”

A school teacher by day, Hill sees parallels between his day and night jobs.

“Big time,” he said. “It plays out in how I communicate with the players, how I structure my practices. A lot comes from my education background, including how to break things down and long-range planning. And I was a coach before I was a teacher, so I use a lot of things I learned in coaching in the classroom, too.”

As for this year’s team, which sports a 10-13-1-4 record

“There’s lots to like about this group,” Hill said. “They’re young and I don’t think we have reached our potential, which is normal. It usually takes a few months for a young group to settle into the league. 

“We’re working on being consistent and playing 60 minutes every night.

We’re also learning the game and how to play together. We have a lot of talent and we have a good group character-wise. They get along. We just have to fine-tune a couple of things.”

THE SKED

The Spirit is home to the St. Michael’s Buzzers Thursday, Dec. 1. 

They visit the red-hot Wellington Dukes Friday, Dec. 2.

Both are 7:30 p.m. starts.

NOTEBOOK

Look for the Spirit in the Stouffville Santa Claus Parade Saturday night. Beginning at 6 p.m., the parade route travels along Main Street from Ninth Line to Park Drive…assistant coach Joe Trentadue resigned from the club last weekend.

Spirit This Week is sponsored by Farmer Jack’s in Stouffville and Sharon