PITTSBURGH YETIS & PHA ICEMEN
Coach Levi Rodgers grew up in the local area and was a member of the Butler Valley Dawgs for over seven years.
Over the last ten years, Levi has provided Power Skating and Skills Instruction at Frozen Pond Arena, as well as serving as the ADM director and Skills Development coach for Butler Valley Dawgs.
Under his tutelage he has helped thousands of kids reach their potential through private lessons and camps.
Last year eight of his prior students represented Pennsylvania in the prestigious international Brick Tournament, and had a former pupil break onto the NHL scouting report and commit to playing NCAA DIV 1 hockey for Brown University.
His diverse coaching experiences range from working with first time novice skaters through AAA level players, with ages spanning from 3-18 years old. Coach Levi has ran the Little Pens program at Frozen Pond Arena for the last 3 years.
IG: coachlevipgh
“As a skills development coach, obviously one of my main focuses is to help kids excel while on the ice, but to me, its most important to help raise each player’s love and passion for the game, while instilling fundamental life lessons that will transfer to their off-ice success.”
Dean has provided private Power Skating and Skills instruction and for various Youth Hockey Programs for over 10 years.
Coach Dean's love for the game of hockey began at an early age growing up in Toronto, Canada. Dean played amateur hockey from Mite to Junior there, including 5 years in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) at the AA/AAA levels.
Dean has also coached amateur hockey teams from Mite through U18 for the past 17 years, and currently serves as the Head Coach of the PHA U14 (08) Birth Year team - The Pittsburgh Icemen. Dean has also coached Freshman, JV & Varsity at the high school level for Pine Richland, and was a major contributor in forming the Pine Richland Development Hockey Program. He has coached players that have moved onto Junior, Prep School, NCAA, and ACHA programs. Dean has served as the Director of Hockey Operations for over 13 years. During his tenure, several of Dean's initiatives included the formation, development and oversight of western PA's first ADM program, the re-design, implementation and oversight of the tryout process, coaching development as well as the development of in-season player evaluations to name a few.
Coach Dean is also part of the ownership of the Frozen Pond Arena where he serves as VP Operations, President - PHA Icemen and Director of Hockey Operation - Pittsburgh Yetis.
Coach and his wife Ellen currently reside in Pine Township with their two dogs Pita and Yuki.
Dave is a Class of 2008 Graduate of Slippery Rock University where played for four seasons on the men’s ACHA Division 1 team. Since graduating from SRU, Dave worked at both the University of Pitt and RMU in their Sports Performance and Strength and Conditioning groups working with collegiate athletes and coaching staffs. In 2016, Dave returned to SRU and served as a member of the SRU Men’s Hockey Team Coaching Staff. In 2017, Dave was named Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, roles he held from 2017 – 2020.
Coach Dave is the Head Coach for the U18 PHA Icemen.
Dave is also a former officer in the United States Army, and lives in Sewickley with his wife and two children.
Parker has 16 years of experience playing ice hockey. Coach Parker played varsity at Seneca Valley in 2014 & 2015 and played two years at Penn State Behrend after graduating from high school. Parker made his coaching debut as an assistant on the Seneca Valley Middle school team, then made the jump to head coach. Coach Faix is currently the head coach of one of Seneca Valley's Junior Varsity teams and head coach of the PHA Icemen U15 (06) team.
Brian Gierczynski is a Pittsburgh native and a USA Hockey Level 4 coach. He grew up playing in the Pittsburgh Hornets organization before lacing up for Baldwin High School, where he was a 4 year Varsity letterman and a 2 time SHIHL AAA All Star. He has played hockey all over North America as well as a stint in Omsk, Russia.
Brian enters his seventh season in the Icemen organization. For the past three seasons he has been the Head Coach of PHA’s 2007 AAA Icemen team. He has previously coached at the U14/U16/U18 levels of both AA & AAA hockey. He has coached players that have moved onto Junior, Prep School, NCAA, and ACHA programs.
Brian is co-founder of International Dryland Academy, which is a non-profit organization concentrating on off-ice hockey training where he specializes in Russian dryland training. International Dryland Academy serves as the off-ice trainers of all PHA Icemen teams and is based out of Frozen Pond Arena.
He resides in Allison Park with his wife Anastasiya, son Alexander, puppy Lucy, and kitty Lilly.
Luke currently serves as Assistant Coach on the U18 PHA Icemen.
Coach Luke grew up in the area playing high school hockey for Shaler, where he was a 2013 and 2014 PIHL All-Star. While in Highschool he also played AAA hockey.
After Highschool, Luke spent the next three years in the NA3HL with the Southern Tier Xpress where he captained the team for two seasons.
Coach Luke won the 2015 NA3HL Community Service Award was aa 2016 NA3HL Top Prospect.
After playing in the NA3HL, he played three seasons at Slippery Rock University, ACHA D1. He was also Vice President and President of the club during his tenure there.
Coach Mavrik Goepfert, born and raised in Butler, PA, found his love for hockey at an early age. Mav started playing dek hockey at the age of three, and eventually moved on to play ice hockey. Mav grew up playing amateur hockey in Western PA and suiting up for his Butler High School team, where he was a PIHL AAA All Star his senior year. Following high school, Coach Mav moved on to play two seasons with the Pittsburgh Jr Penguins. During his time with the Jr Penguins, they went on to the USA Junior Nationals twice. Mav concluded his hockey playing career with four years of ACHA Div 1 Hockey at Slippery Rock University. In his freshman and sophomore season, the team qualified and participated in nationals, and in his sophomore season they won their conference championship. During his time at Slippery Rock he gained valuable experience while providing private lessons. Coach has coached Butler High School Varsity as well as experience at Middle School, Junior Varsity, U16 and U18 levels at the AA & AAA level.
Mav resides in Butler with his girlfriend Kaitlynn and their dog - Kovey.
Coach Mike Fritz played amateur hockey in New Jersey from mite through midget, as well as being named First Team All-State as an eleventh grader playing for Seton Hall Prepatory High School where he scored over 100 points in 25 games. In 1988, Mike left NJ and headed to the New England Prep school ranks attending Trinity Pawling School for two years. While there, Mike captained both Varsity hockey and baseball teams as a senior. Mike was later recruited to play for the Ephmen of Williams College by coach Bill Kangas, where Mike eclipsed the 100 point milestone. Mike finished his playing career after 4 seasons of NCAA hockey for the Ephs.
For the past 17 years, Mike has coached youth hockey teams from Mite through Midget, and currently serves as Head Coach of the PHA ICEMEN 2010BY team. Mike's teams have won over 30 tournaments including the 2017 Mid Am District 14U T2 Tourney. Mike's team also finished ranked #1 in the US MyHockeyRankings Tier II division for the 2015/2016 season.
Mike is also part of the ownership group of the newly renovated Frozen Pond Arena, and serves as President of Frozen Pond Management Inc.
"My passion for the game is immeasurable. In a lot of ways, hockey has given me so much....this is a chance for me and Dean to give something back. I enjoy the thrill and challenge of helping young hockey players become better players, but more importantly, better people."
Mike lives in Richland Township with his wife Tanya and their three children, Elli, Mikey and Isabella and their dog - Gus.