Bill Rotheisler, who was part of Team Pacific that won a bronze medal at the 2011 U17 World hockey Championship, is the new head coach of the Comox Valley Glacier Kings.
The club hopes he will be settled in time for the tryout camp on the Aug. 17 weekend.
Rotheisler's range of playing and coaching experience includes junior, midget, bantam, female and international. He spent the past two seasons with the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy, prior to which he was at the Okanagan Hockey Academy for three seasons. During that time he was an integral part of the management and operations at the Okanagan Hockey School where he was program director/co-ordinator/writer for the International Development Tournament.
Rotheisler is the youngest coach to attend the bi-annual NCCP High Performance 2 seminar — the highest level coaching certification program in the country. He was a presenter at last year's seminar.
Previously, he had been program director for the Hockey Canada Skills Academy at Summerland Secondary School.
Before moving to Penticton, Rotheisler worked at National Sports Development in Calgary and was head coach of the Bantam AAA Bisons and Junior B Blackhawks. He won a provincial championship and consecutive city championships as a minor hockey coach. During this time Rotheisler began establishing himself as an IDT coach in the Okanagan where he would spend seven summers as an instructor, coach and eventually program director.
Rotheisler continues to have a presence in Calgary, running camps for former players now competing at the junior level.
Las season, under the leadership of Jordan Butcher, the Kings finished atop the VIJHL North Division in the regular season then lost in the opening round of playoffs.