DYHA/ICE CATS Hockey Office Leadership Team

The Darien Youth Hockey Association (DYHA) board is excited to announce the formation of a new leadership team to build upon our success and enhance our programs for future generations. 

Coming together as the Hockey Office to lead DYHA/Ice Cats are:

Pat, Mike, Pete, Kendall & John will work in collaboration to deliver strategic guidance for the future direction of the program, while establishing ongoing curriculums focused on hockey skills and athletic development for DYHA/Ice Cats players and goalies. All five will report to the DYHA Board of Directors.

Many of these individuals have long ties to DYHA and are known to us all. Pat and Mike both started as players as young kids within the program. All have distinguished playing and coaching careers with the Association, impacting the lives of thousands of kids, and they bring great passion to our program.

The formation of the “Hockey Office” is the culmination of a multi-month search process for paid hockey directors for DYHA/Ice Cats. The search garnered significant interest from internal and external candidates, from as far as Canada, Colorado to Florida, a testament to the history, strength and prominence of the DYHA/Ice Cats program. The board thanks all that showed interest in taking on these new roles, especially our current coaches.

We strongly believe this new leadership team will help DYHA/Ice Cats strengthen our commitment to striking the right balance between striving to be among the most competitive program in our respective leagues, attracting the strongest coaches and retaining our strongest players, while remaining true to our commitment of being a closed program with a long-term commitment to our kids. 

Pat Gore, Director of Hockey Operations, first joined DYHA as a player in 1993 and went onto play for Fairfield Prep. Pat began coaching for DYHA teams while still in high school, and has coached youth players from ages 3-18 for 20+ years. Pat is formerly the head coach for New Canaan High School ice hockey team, and is currently the Associate Head Coach for Darien High School’s hockey team. Pat is a fixture within the youth hockey community, and has extensive knowledge about the youth hockey landscape.

As Director of Hockey Operations, Pat will be responsible for being DYHA’s representative for CHC, AHF and any future leagues. He will help manage, recruit and create a coaching evaluation process, provide training, Convey Program objectives and expectations to our coaching staff. Pats extensive knowledge of the surrounding programs and Hockey Landscape will help DYHA stay ahead of the ever-changing Hockey environment. Pat is a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach.

Mike Bruno, Director of Player Development, started his youth playing career at DYHA, went on to play for Darien High School, Club College Hockey at Endicott College and joined DYHA as a coach in 2021. In addition to coaching for DYHA, Mike currently works at Chelsea Piers as its Mite League Director. 

As Director of Player Development, Mike will be responsible for establishing an ongoing ice hockey curriculum focused on skills and Hockey IQ for DYHA players tailored to each age level, be a resource for DYHA coaches, and will create and maintain an evaluation process for players. This development process will be shared with players and parents, and Mike and coaches will provide feedback to players throughout the season to help develop our kids on a one-on-one level. Mike is a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach.

Peter Alfano, Director of Goalie Development, joined DYHA five years ago and also has ties back to the program when his son first started as a goalie within DYHA. Pete is a former goaltender for Canisius College, Notre Dame West Haven High School, and West Haven Youth Hockey. Pete is currently a teacher in the Westport Public School System.

Pete oversees DYHA/Ice Cats goaltending development program. He is also responsible for overseeing DYHA’s relationship with ProCrease. Pete and ProCrease have revamped the upcoming offering for DYHA/Ice Cats goalies to include specific ProCrease goalie coaches and curriculum for each level, improved clinic offering with a greater emphasis on volume of technique reps and check-ins with our goalies. Pete is a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach.

John Miserendino, Mite Development Coordinator began coaching hockey during his HS senior season and over the last decade has established himself as one of the premier youth coaches in Connecticut. John has successfully coached at all levels of youth hockey from 8U-18U as well as High School, coaching Wilton High School to their most successful seasons since their inception. John has professionally served as Director of Hockey Operations for several local rinks including Danbury Ice Arena, Sono Ice House, and currently for Stamford Twin Rinks. John is also the Director and coach for Twin Rinks Clinics, Summer Camps, and Connecticut’s premier Spring Hockey Program, the CT Breakers. John is a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach.

In this role, John oversees the development of DYHA’s youngest stars across Mites, Might Mites & Mini Mites.

Kendall Cornine, Ice Cats Hockey Director, attended Morristown-Beard School where she set the New Jersey high school all-time scoring record and was named the New Jersey High School Player of the Year in 2015. She was also named the New Jersey Devils High School Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Cornine went on to play collegiate hockey at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she captained the team her junior and senior seasons and holds RIT’s all-time leading scorer title at the Division I era.

Her career continued at the professional level - after her senior season, Cornine was the second-round draft pick by the Metropolitan Riveters of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL/PHF), where she played for four seasons.

Her coaching career started with the New Jersey Colonials organization where she served as the Director of the Tier 1 Girls program and coached across the U8 through U16 level (2019-2021). She also coached the boys and girl’s varsity hockey teams at the Morristown-Beard School (2019-2021). She is a level 4 certified USA Hockey Coach. Cornine is also a Physical Education Teacher and Coach at New Canaan Country School.

As Ice Cats Hockey Director, Kendall oversees all player development and coaching for the Ice Cats program, and will develop and implement long-term goals for the program including participant retention, and overall program improvement and progression.