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USHL Des Moines Buccaneers

Buccaneers Announce 2023-24 Staffing Changes

September 1, 2023 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Des Moines Buccaneers News Release


The Des Moines Buccaneers announce the hockey operations and front office staff for the 2023-24 hockey season.

Matt Curley will lead the Buccaneers as head coach and general manager in his third season with Des Moines. Jake Toporowski continues alongside as an assistant coach and director of hockey operations.

New additions to the coaching staff are Zach Stepan and Hank Johnson, both assistant coaches for the Buccaneers.

Zach Stepan spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach in the North American Hockey League, most recently with the Aberdeen Wings beginning in 2021, and for the Chippewa Steel in 2018-19. Stepan has two years experience as head coach with the New Ulm Steel in the NA3HL.

Stepan played high school hockey at Shattuck St. Mary's, where he scored 129 points in 104 games and won back-to-back National Championships his junior and senior years. He played one season in the USHL for Waterloo, posting 78 points in 56 games during the 2012-13 season. The Hastings, Minnesota native played his college hockey in his home state at Minnesota State-Mankato. After college, Stepan played one season in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears before he retired and began his coaching career.

In international play, Stepan was the leading scorer for the gold-medal winning USA U17 team at the 2010 Five Nations Tournament in Switzerland. Stepan was also a member of the USA U19 team that won gold in the World Junior A Championship in 2012, and a member of the U20 USA World Junior team in 2013. He was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 4th round, 112th overall, in the 2012 draft.

"It is exciting to bring in a coach with as much ambition and work ethic as Zach has," said Curley. "After a distinguished playing career, he has worked to establish himself as one of the best young up and coming coaches in our game. He has a keen understanding of what it takes to be successful as both a player and a coach and will be a great influence on our team and staff. It is great to have Zach joining us for the season!"

Henry "Hank" Johnson is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota and will fill the role of assistant coach and goalie coach for the Bucs.

Johnson played college hockey at Bemidji State (2017-20) and Mercyhurst University (2020-22), earning both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees during that time, also earning a certificate in Hockey Analytics. Johnson was the Team MVP for Mercyhurst in 2021. Following his collegiate career, Johnson was a goaltender in the SPHL, wrapping up the 2022-23 season with the Pensacola Ice Flyers.

Johnson's coaching experience includes working as a goalie coach for Minneapolis High School as well as Impact Hockey in Minnetonka, Legend Elite Goalie Camp, and was a Skill Development Coach at The Base in New Hope, Minn.

"In looking for someone to come in and work with our team, particularly our goaltenders, we found our guy in Hank," said Curley. "He comes highly recommended by those he has been around and as a young coach, I see both the immediate impact and continued growth he can have while working with our team. He is a welcome addition to our staff!"

The Buccaneers have also promoted Zack Thompson to Director of Scouting. Thompson has been serving in the role as the team's Eastern and Midwest scout.

"It would be difficult to quantify the number of hours Zack has spent in the rink looking to find our future Buccaneers," remarked Curley. "His efforts and the work of our scouting staff have helped build our pipeline for both the present and future. I am pleased to have him as our Director of Scouting for this upcoming season. I look forward to our continued work with Zack and our scouting staff this year!"

The remainder of the Bucs scouting staff remains unchanged, and includes Dusten Braaksma as Wisconsin and Midwest Scout, and Jake Searles as a Minnesota Scout.

Luke Hunter will continue in his role as the team's equipment manager and is set to begin his second season with the club.

Robin Benkufsky maintains her role as the team's billet coordinator.

The team's new athletic trainer is Nick Peyton, with Select Physical Therapy. The Buccaneers are proud to continue this partnership with Select PT and welcome Nick to the staff.

Des Moines also begins a new partnership with ETS Performance, for the team's strength and condition training needs. The Buccaneers will work with Austin Fest and ETS throughout the 2023-24 season and look forward to this new partnership.

The team will continue to utilize Power Life Fitness for team yoga and thank them for their continued partnership.

Finally, the Des Moines Buccaneers front office staff is led by President Nate Teut. Ashley Chase is the team's Director of Communications and Broadcasting.

New to the staff is Director of Tickets Sarah Rivera, who comes to the Buccaneers from a similar role with Cedar Rapids the past two seasons. Sarah can be reached in the Box Office, at 515-278-2827 or by email at sarah@bucshockey.com

The Buccaneers 2023-24 regular season begins with the home opener on Saturday, Sept. 30th against Sioux Falls at 6:00 p.m. at Buccaneer Arena, the Madhouse on Hickman. Season tickets are on sale now at tickets.bucshockey.com and single-game tickets will be available on Tuesday, Sept. 5. at 9:00 a.m.

Check out the Des Moines Buccaneers Statistics



United States Hockey League Stories from September 1, 2023


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