Zone 4 Coaches of the Year, PCI Trojans Hockey Mark Essay(left) and Andrew Cherkas(right)

The head coaches of the PCI Trojans hockey team are the Zone 4 High School Hockey League Coaches of the Year for the 2011-2012 season.  Trojans Co-Coaches Andrew Cherkas and Mark Essay received the honour and both agree it was a bit of a surprise.

Co-Head Coach Mark Essay says the team's improvement from last year to this one is what he believes helped swing the decision in their favour.  He says their season record improved fifteen points from last year with the manily the same core players as the previous year.  Essay says he's very honored their efforts and the improvement of the team were recognized by other coaches in the Zone 4 High School Hockey League.

Coach Essay adds after looking over the past year, the coaching staff is really happy with what they accomplished and the quality of program they are running.  Essay and Cherkas have been co-coaching the team for the past two years and both feel they compliment each other well.  Coach Cherkas says the secret to their success has been to implement a simple system the players can bring to the rink every night.  Cherkas adds their program is all about developing players saying they don't know how the grade 10 and 11 players will proceed next season.  He says if they want to go tryout for AAA, the coaches won't hold the players back as he feels the more players who can move up to that level will reflect well on the continued efforts of their high school hockey program.

Both Essay and Cherkas have confirmed they will be returning as co-head coaches of the PCI Trojans for the 2012-2013 season in the Zone 4 High School Hockey League.