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Larry Cockrell Hired as Steel Ice Hockey Director

By Webmaster, 03/26/21, 9:00AM EDT

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The Steel Ice Center and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Youth are excited to announce the hiring of Larry Cockrell to serve as the new Hockey Director at Steel Ice effective May 5.  In addition to his role as Hockey Director,  Larry will be serving on the Phantoms Youth Hockey Operations team as the organization's Player Development Coordinator and will also be head coaching the Phantoms Youth U15 Team with long-time Lehigh Valley coach Keith Krem serving as his assistant. 

Larry brings an extensive professional coaching background to the job and will be a huge resource to the Lehigh Valley hockey community.   His hiring is a major step forward in the partnership between Steel Ice Center and the Phantoms Youth to grow the game of hockey.

 Steel Ice Center General Manager, Angela Roesch-Davis, views Larry's hiring as "an investment in the hockey community that will make hockey stronger in all areas. Not just the players but coaches as well."  Larry's background in the youth, prep school, and college levels make him uniquely qualified to ensure that players of all skill levels can receive quality instruction, programming, and advisement from a highly experienced professional.  Phantoms Youth President, Angela Krem, is thrilled to have Larry involved in the program.  "Working with Steel Ice to bring Larry back to his coaching roots here in the Lehigh Valley is a major step forward for the Phantoms Youth.  Having a coach with his background serving as hockey director and coach in our program is an opportunity we couldn't pass up and I am thrilled to see our organization improve with the experience he brings."

Welcome back to the Lehigh Valley Coach Cockrell!

Larry Cockrell brings over 20 years of coaching experience with him. This past season he was an Assistant Coach with the Division I Men’s hockey team, the University of Maine Black Bears.  In that capacity, he was responsible for opponent video pre-scout using the XOS/Catapult video system, in addition to, in-game coaching; analytics; video analysis; team skill and power skating sessions; defensemen-specific skill work; and game-day dynamic warm-up and post-game regen for away games.  In preparing for the season, he developed the team’s tactical approach for 3v3 OT, and its off-ice conditioning and preseason training sessions.

Prior to joining the Black Bears, Larry was a head coach in the New England Prep School Hockey League for 16 years, coaching at the Kents Hill School and The Governor’s Academy.  In this time, he recruited and developed players, both domestically and internationally, who have gone on to compete at the NCAA Division I, II, and III levels as well as play professional hockey.  Larry has built hockey programs from the ground up in one of the strongest high school leagues in the United States, programs that experienced multiple postseason appearances including a New England Prep School Championship in 2008 and runners-up in 2013. He is also highly involved with USA Hockey as a Level Five certified coach, an evaluator of the Southeast District National Tryout Camp, and coach and evaluator for Maine in the New England District.  

Larry’s coaching career began at North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine.  He ran the JV program as well as coached penalty kill, face-off tactics, and forward skill development for the Varsity team.

While at NYA, the team qualified for the state tournament every year and made it to the state semifinals two of the three years.  Additionally, Larry organized and ran the in-season conditioning program and game video break-down.  For two years Larry and his family lived in Allentown, PA, where he coached his son’s Pee-Wee team for the Lehigh Valley Comets, winning the DVHL tournament and finishing second in the Atlantic District. 

Along with coaching, Larry has also been a lead-on-ice instructor for the Minnesota Hockey Camps, Hockey Academy Prep Camp, Gunga Prep Camp, and for the Maine Gladiators Youth organization.  He also created and developed the Kents Hill Hockey Camp, worked extensively with individuals or small groups focusing on individual and tactical skills that are transferable to the game.

Other positions Larry has held while working in private schools include Athletic Director, Director of Financial Aid, Associate Director of Admissions, Associate Director of Advancement, math teacher, head boys’ and girls’ varsity lacrosse coach, dorm parent, and student advisor.

Growing up in Edmonton, Larry started playing the game at the age of three and has been fortunate to experience success at every level, winning a city championship in Edmonton, competing in the junior national championships, and participating in the NCAA Division III National Championship his freshman year of college. 

Larry is a 1990 graduate of Norwich University where he played hockey and lacrosse.  Upon graduation, he went on to serve 20 years in the United States Navy as an officer and naval aviator. Larry is married to Tiffany Cockrell and they have three children, Jake, Thaney, and Jared, all of whom played hockey and graduated from the Kents Hill School.