Chris Willier

The Sutter brothers because I have worked with them at summer hockey camps for years and they have been such good role models for work ethic, honesty, and integrity. Also Ricki Alexander, he has been an inspiration to put things into perspective, while setting high achievable goals.

Chris Willier has a vast amount of coaching and teaching experience based on 17 years of National and International hockey. His experience includes time with the Edmonton Oilers; the Hockey Canada Coaching Mentorship Program, player evaluation with the Canadian National Junior Team; and as an Assistant Coach with the University of Calgary Dinosaurs. He has also worked as an Assistant Coach with the Augustana University Vikings and the Mount Royal College Cougars. Internationally, he was Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach of the EisHockey Club Wallisellen in Switzerland for two seasons. Having earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Physical Education, Chris studied towards a Master of Physical Education Degree in the Art and Science of Coaching and through Hockey Canada’s National Coaches Certification Program. Chris has worked at numerous summer and winter programs as Head Instructor, Head Goaltending Instructor, Dryland Instructor, Program Coordinator and Head Coach including at the Okanagan Hockey School and the Sylvan Lake Summer Hockey Camps. Chris works with programs for National Sports Development (NSD) as well as providing goaltender instruction for Between The Pipes, the Calgary Flames Hockey School and the Okanagan Hockey School. Chris is the Native Ambassador Post-secondary Initiative (NAPI) Program Coordinator for the University of Calgary’s Native Centre. This program endeavors to inspire Aboriginal youth to pursue post-secondary education by using a narrative story-telling approach to share the educational journeys of the Ambassadors. NAPI Ambassadors also facilitate Youth Leadership Training in which they deliver culturally relevant Leadership Training modules to Aboriginal Youth in urban and rural Aboriginal communities.

Consistent, Persistent, Resilient

When coaching in Switzerland, having 7 of 12 teams advance into higher leagues.

Set a high standard of expectations and help them through the steps toward that standard.

Helped them gain or sustain employment, showed them how to be leaders and set a high standard of performance in their every day life.

Every team or player that I have coached has significantly improved their performance by achieving higher statistical results than before I have worked with them. The players and team thus gain confidence which tranfers into their daily lives.