The Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club takes great pride in its educational philosophy. The organization firmly believes that with effort and dedication its players can combine a successful academic and hockey career.

Our players have a unique opportunity! They can hone their hockey skills in the premier development league to the NHL while obtaining an equally valuable education at some of the finest educational institutions in Canada.

In both hockey and education the Kitchener Rangers senior management leads by example having combined their hockey skills with a dedicated focus on education.

Steve Bienkowski, our Chief Operating Officer is a Chartered Accountant who is an alumni of both the Rangers and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Brad Sparkes, our Director of Marketing also played for the Rangers before graduating from Wilfrid Laurier University and subsequently Ohio University with his Masters Degree.

Our coaching staff are also successful university graduates.

Head Coach and General Manager Peter DeBoer played with the Windsor Spitfires before obtaining his law degree from the University of Windsor and University of Detroit.

Our Associate Coach and Assistant General Manager, Steve Spott graduated from Colgate University and obtained his teaching degree before working on a full time basis in the OHL.

Troy Smith, our Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development is a graduate of the Plymouth Whalers and St. Francis Xavier University.

All of the educational institutions that are available to our players from high school to post secondary are less than 15 minutes from our arena.

Universities:

University of Waterloo: http://www.uwaterloo.ca
Wilfrid Laurier University: http://www.wlu.ca

College:

Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning: http://www.conestogac.on.ca/

High School:

Eastwood Collegiate: http://eci.wrdsb.on.ca

Daily monitoring of academic performance and attendance through electronic communication with the schools helps to maintain the players` focus. Regular performance reports (including notebooks checks), tutor availability, and a dedicated computer lab for school work make for a positive and supportive academic environment. As well, academic success is regularly celebrated through not only league awards, but also monthly Ranger "Academic Player of the Month Awards", presented at home games.

Our players also have access to our Educational Consultant, Dave Tennant. Dave currently teaches high school and provides continual assistance to our players in designing programs best suited to their educational needs, registration, long term planning, regular reporting to our players` families and any other educational requirements they may have.

Academic excellence and athletic excellence go hand in hand. The Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club is proud to offer and deliver on its promise to provide young hockey players the opportunity to pursue both.