Port Coquitlam's new junior hockey team set to play its inaugural season in the fall has found its head coach.
Greg Ross is set to be the bench boss of the still unnamed PoCo squad for the 2023-24 season of the Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL).
He'll be the first head coach since Bayne Koen in 2006 when the old Buckeroos' moved to Port Moody.
Ross has spent the last four seasons as the head coach of the Port Coquitlam Pirates under-15 A1 team.
The purple and black claimed bronze at the 2022 B.C. tier 2 championship with a record of 2-2-1 at the tournament in Vernon, which was the association's first-ever provincials medal in that division.
The successful campaign also led to a pair of awards for Ross and his assistant coaches — PoCo Minor Hockey's and PoCo Sports Alliance's 2022 staff of the year.
"Greg's vision is to develop players to the next level, while creating an environment and culture that can one day lead to a league championship," reads a PoCo Junior Hockey social media post about the hire.
"Greg is a demanding but caring coach and pushes his players to be their best, and his team can expect the same from him."
During his time with the minors, Ross was also the assistant coach of the PoCo Pirates' U18 A1 squad.
He'll be reunited with the head coach of that team, Ryan Ross, who's been tapped to take the helm of the junior 'B' club as its first general manager.
"Port Coquitlam has been really welcoming to me and I'm excited to help build a team the city of PoCo can be proud of on and off the ice," Ryan said in a separate post.
He came over to Port Coquitlam in 2020 to take over U18 coaching duties after several seasons in Cloverdale, Surrey and Burnaby.
Both Ross' will be leading a spring prospects camp in April, at the Port Coquitlam Community Centre (PCCC), which will help solidify the junior 'B' team's first 25-person roster.
The new PoCo team is set to play out of the PCCC's Jon Baillie Arena, which can seat up to 850 spectators.
Ownership is also seeking public input on naming the new team through its Instagram account.
