Dave Siciliano

Dave Siciliano (born July 1946) is a Canadian former ice hockey coach and player.

Dave Siciliano was born in July 1946, in Fort William, Ontario, in a family of Italian Canadians.

He began playing minor ice hockey at age 13, then attended Westgate Collegiate & Vocational Institute where he played hockey, baseball and Canadian football.

He was a right-handed centreman, and played junior ice hockey with the Fort William Canadiens.

He played university hockey for the Lakehead Nor'Westers, and led them to the International Collegiate Hockey Association championship as the most valuable player in the 1966–67 season.

In university, Siciliano played three seasons for the Lakehead Nor'Westers from 1966 to 1969, and served as the team captain.

He was coached by Hank Akervall and played on the same forward line with Dwight Stirrett and Murray Smith each season, which became known as the "S-line".

The 1966–67 Lakehead team won the International Collegiate Hockey Association (ICHA) championship, and Siciliano led the association in points scored.

In three seasons playing for Lakehead, Siciliano scored 54 goals and 102 assists.

He was twice named to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American hockey team.

Siciliano graduated from Lakehead University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969, then played senior ice hockey for the Fort William Beavers during the 1969–70 season.

He later completed his Master of Physical Education degree from Northern Michigan University, while playing the 1970–71 season with the Marquette Iron Rangers as a graduate student.

His master thesis was, "The Relationship of Battery of Hockey Skills Test to Hockey Playing Ability".

Siciliano stated that the tests were best suited to determining the skill level and eventual skill level of younger players.

Siciliano was a player-coach for HIFK Hockey in Finland in during the 1971–72 SM-sarja season.

He led the team to a third-place finish with 18 wins in 32 games, winning the league's bronze medal.

He returned to Canada for the 1972–73 season, and played for the Thunder Bay Twins coached by Lee Fogolin Sr. The Twins placed first overall during the United States Hockey League (USHL) regular season.

Siciliano returned to coaching full-time with the Thunder Bay Hurricanes during the 1973–74 season in the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League.

His team completed the regular season in first place with 45 wins in 60 games.

In the 1974 Centennial Cup playoffs, the Hurricanes defeated the Wexford Raiders four games to three in the first round, then were defeated four games to three by the Smiths Falls Bears in the second round.

In the 1974–75 season, Siciliano served as a player-coach for the Thunder Bay Twins in the USHL.

He led the team to 36 wins in 48 games, and a second-place finish in the Northern Division.

He felt that goaltending would make a difference in the playoffs, and that his team played best against the stronger teams in the USHL.

The Twins defeated the first-place Green Bay Bobcats two games to none in a best-of-three series in the first round of the playoffs.

Siciliano credited his team's defensive and positional play for winning the series.

The Twins won the final round of the playoffs with three consecutive wins versus Waterloo Black Hawks in a best-of-five series for the USHL championship.

As the player-coach for the Thunder Bay Twins, his team won both the United States Hockey League (USHL) playoffs and the 1975 Allan Cup as the Canadian senior champions.

The Twins had chosen not to participate in the 1975 Allan Cup playoffs for the Canadian senior hockey championship due to scheduling conflicts with the USHL playoffs.

After the St. Boniface Mohawks appealed for reconsideration, the Twins entered the Allan Cup playoffs upon the conclusion of the USHL playoffs, then won the series versus the Mohawks.

In the Western Canada finals, the Twins won the best-of-five series with three consecutive victories versus the Spokane Flyers.

The Twins scored five goals in the last 25 minutes of the decisive third game, including the winning goal scored with six seconds remaining.

In a best-of-seven series for the national championship, Siciliano and the Twins won the Allan Cup by defeating the defending champion Barrie Flyers four games to two.

He served as head coach of the Thunder Bay Flyers from 1986 to 1993, where he won four regular season titles, and two playoffs championships, and two Centennial Cups as Canadian junior champions.

He was a coach for the Canada men's under-18 team at the Phoenix Cup in 1987 and 1991, and for the Canada men's junior team which won gold at the 1993 World Juniors.

The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association named him the recipient of the Gordon Juckes Award in 1987, for contributions to amateur hockey in Canada.

He was twice inducted into the Wall of Fame at Lakehead University, and was inducted into the builder category of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Siciliano was the first coach of the Edmonton Ice when the team was established for the 1996–97 Western Hockey League season, then was coach and general manager of the Owen Sound Platers in the Ontario Hockey League from 1997 to 2000.

He returned to the USHL as coach and general manager of the Sioux City Musketeers from 2000 to 2008.

He led them to a playoffs championship in 2002, and had the second most career victories for a coach in the USHL when he retired.

He was named Coach of the Year in three USHL seasons, and received the league's Distinguished Service Award in 2009.