Spencer Svoboda (Head Coach) – Coaching Philosophy & Bio

Hockey is not supposed to be easy, but it is supposed to be fun. This team is going to work extremely hard and have fun. Today’s game is built on speed and skill, which is exactly what we are going to work on every day. Hockey has taught me many lessons, both in life and hockey.

My goal is to share these lessons with these young men and help shape them into young leaders.

I grew up playing forward at the AAA level in Pittsburgh, for the Junior Penguins and the Pittsburgh Predators. I continued my youth hockey career by moving to Boston and playing for the Junior Rangers where signed a tender with the Texas Tornado of the NAHL. Eventually I went to Penn State and played for the ACHA D2 Ice Lions as a defenseman.

I started coaching in 2016 for the Tampa Bay Junior Lightning Bantam AA team and then returned to me Pittsburgh and coached 14U with the Steel City Ice Renegades and the U16 Pittsburgh Predators since 2020.

Sean Riffle (Assistant Coach) – Coaching Philosophy and Bio

Sean’s coaching philosophies start mainly on the mental aspects of the game. As a player, he was far from the fastest or most skilled, but prided himself on trying to be one of the most intelligent players on the ice. His preaching of taking care of the little things and focusing on the game away from the puck will be evident with the players he coaches. Implementing fine details into young players’ games to get them to the next level.

Sean Riffle has been coaching for ten years. His first six years were coaching his alma mater in Johnstown, PA. The importance of every player having a role and making an impact was a main focus as he lead the smallest public school in Pennsylvania to field a hockey team to a league championship. Sean’s personal career relocated him to the Pittsburgh area. His first coaching experience in the area resulted in a PAHL 14U A Major Championship with the Steel City Ice Renegades. The last two seasons, Sean has been a coach with the 16U AA Pittsburgh Predators.

As alluded before, Sean is a native of Johnstown, PA where he grew up playing for the Johnstown Warriors, Somerset Chill, & high school hockey with Ferndale Area.  He was a two-time PIHL all-star. Sean finished his hockey career playing four years at the collegiate level with IUP.