The Southern Tier Admirals are proud to announce that Marcus Quinlin will be returning to the Bench to Coach the U16 team. Along side Marcus will be Assistant coaches Don Herrington (forward Coach) Noah Desmarais (Defence-man Coach) and Dan Girardi (coach at-large)
Coaching/Skill Development Experience:
Marcus is entering his 8th year of coaching AAA minor hockey. He started as a Head Coach with the 2006 age group for Southern Tier AAA and coached that group in U14, U15, U16; and U18. From those teams, many players are still playing Jr hockey right now in the OHL, BCHL, AJHL, OJHL, GOHL, and PJHL. During this period, Marcus also helped with the Fort Erie Meteors in the GOHL at practice and development camp.
In 2023, Marcus was hired to work full-time with Ottawa Senators in a Player Development Role as a Head Hockey Instructor for the Ottawa Senators Hockey Programs. In this role with the Sens, Marcus taught hockey skills full-time to many players of all ages and calibres from the Ottawa-Gatineau region and helped lead weekly skills sessions for every AAA team with Ottawa Myers Automotive AAA and Eastern Ontario Wild AAA. From those Myers and Wild teams, Marcus did yearly skill work for 10 players from the 2008 age group that were drafted in the 2024 OHL Draft and 12 players from the 2009 age that were drafted in the 2025 OHL Draft. In addition to this role, Marcus also coached U14 and U15 Ottawa Myers Automotive AAA for with the 2010 age group.
In 2025, Marcus returned to Southern Tier AAA to be the U16 Head Coach for the 2010 age group as well as Head of Hockey Development for Southern Tier where he runs the Skill Development throughout the season for every Southern Tier AAA team from U10-U18.
He is also a Hockey Canada Certified Skills Coach and has led skills sessions for Hockey Canada’s Program of Excellence (POE) programs across the country such as the Cross Border Challenge which featured the top U14, U15, and U16 players from Hockey Eastern Ontario (HEO) and Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) against Hockey Quebec. Marcus bases his skills sessions on attacking the skills deficiencies for each age group as determined by Hockey Canada.
Playing Experience:
Marcus grew up playing AAA minor hockey in Niagara Falls and Welland. Marcus was drafted to the Windsor Spitfires in the 2007 OHL Draft and played 5 years of Jr Hockey in the OJHL (Jr A) for the Collingwood Blues and GOJHL (Jr B, now called GOHL) for the Fort Erie Meteors, Port Colborne Pirates, and Niagara Falls Canucks. After Jr hockey, Marcus went on to play four seasons in USports (formerly CIS) for the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). At RMC, Marcus was a three-time Academic All-Canadian Athlete and graduated from RMC in 2017 with B.A in Joint Honours Economics and Business Administration.
Coaching Philosophy
Marcus believes in cultivating a team first culture where the Admirals Logo supersedes everyone and everything is earned based on merit and high compete level.
Marcus wants the rink to be a hard-working positive environment where:
- Everyone is accountable and buys into the team
- Everyone strives to get better each day
- Everyone pushes each other to get better each day
- Everyone has each other’s back through thick and thin
Marcus is keen on developing all around players that can play both sides of the puck as well as teaching his players high-performance habits/skills that will help prepare them for Junior hockey. More importantly, Marcus takes pride in teaching his players leadership and life skills that he learned from being an Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces as he believes a minor hockey coach’s job is to also help prepare players for their future in life.
2026/27 STA U16 Coaching Staff
Don Herrington (Forwards Coach)
Don is a Hockey Canada High Performance 1 certified coach as well as a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach with almost 40 years of coaching experience at the AAA and Jr hockey level.
Don owned and operated High Performance Hockey (HPH) School, which was dedicated to developing Professional, OHL and NCAA calibre players. Many players from that school went on to play Pro, Major Jr, NCAA, and even at the USNDTP program. Alumni include Patrick Kane, Cam Talbot, Carter Verhaeghe as well as Matt Ellis and Ben Vanderklok who are both currently on National Hockey League coaching staffs.
Noah Desmarais (Defencemen Coach)
Noah has over 7 years of coaching experience and has been an Assistant Coach with the Southern Tier Admirals for three seasons with our 2014 age group. Noah was on the Southern Tier coaching staff last season when the 2014’s won the OMHA AAA Championship. On top of this, Noah has also assisted with the Fort Erie Meteors of the GOHL in their practice for the last few seasons.
Before getting involved in coaching, Noah played Jr Hockey with the Fort Erie Meteors of the GOHL (Jr B).
Dan Girardi (Assistant Coach at Large)
Dan played over 13 years in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Shortly after retiring, Dan became an Assistant Coach and Player Development Coach for the Buffalo Sabres. Dan is currently the Director of Hockey Operations for the Southern Tier Admirals and will now provide additional coaching and development in selected team practices or film sessions.