Sports

Doolittle to Lead Hockey Club Mite Division [VIDEO]

Former "Coach of the Year" excited to return to coaching youth ice hockey.

The Kinnelon Hockey Club mite division got a new coach this summer when Craig Doolittle was appointed in early August.

Doolittle comes to the Hockey Club after serving as varsity team head coach for the Westford Academy women's ice hockey team from 1999 to 2009. With his leadership, the team won the Massachusetts public high school Division II state championship in 2003-2004 and was a runner-up in 2004-2005. In 2003, Doolittle was named "Coach of the Year" by the Boston Globe and in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 was named "Coach of the Year" by the Lowell Sun. In 2003-2004, he was also named "Coach of the Year" by Hockey Night in Boston (HNIB).

“The Colts are very excited to announce Coach Craig Doolittle will be part of the 2011/12 coaching staff," said Tom Bishop, president of the Kinnelon Hockey Club. "Coach Doolittle is very well-respected for the program he coached in Massachusetts for the last decade. His enthusiasm and love of the game is contagious and is clearly evident to the players that play for him, and we are very fortunate to have him in Kinnelon as part of our coaching staff for the upcoming season.”

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Doolittle is not new to New Jersey. He moved to Bergen County with his family when he was a boy and grew up in the state. Now his family has a home in Green Pond. Doolittle and his wife have two children, Joshua, 28, who still plays hockey, and Kaitlyn, 23, who also played hockey.

For work, Doolittle is an environmental engineer and does environmental occupational health and safety consulting throughout the state.

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Though he's been a coach since the 1980s, Doolittle has spent some time on the ice himself.

"I have always played hockey but never in a high-level program," he said. "I've just always loved the game."

Doolittle found out the Kinnelon program was looking for a coach from a friend who lives in Kinnelon. He said he is eager to coach the "little guys."

As for the future of the team, Doolittle said he would love to have more girls join the club.

"Girls can come out too and I would be thrilled to get more ladies out on the ice," he said.


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