Hockey players often treasure moments from the game when passion for hockey was at its simplest stages. Feeling the cold air on your face as you learned to skate. Famously, some players shot pucks into old dryers in their basement. Summer ball hockey with friends on the block.
For U10 ‘A’ Erindale Spitfires coach Rob Morrell, some water had pooled in front of his childhood home, which sparked his passion.
“My first hockey memory was skating or trying to skate on a puddle in front of my house,” Morrell shared.
Morrell has been coaching for over twenty years – work that has included 25 teams and five associations throughout the Greater Toronto Hockey League and Mississauga Hockey League (MHL). Growing up in Quispamsis, New Brunswick, hockey fuelled the town. Residing just outside Saint John, New Brunswick, the game was a part of the town’s heartbeat. If you lived in and around Quispiscam, you would likely find yourself at a Saint John Vito’s men’s senior league game on Friday nights.
“That’s where everyone would be,” Morrell said. “Hockey was a hub unlike anything else [in Quispiscam].”
A few years after graduating from the puddle to organized hockey, Morrell played for travel teams –these teams were spread across the province compared to the density of teams in the Greater Toronto Area.
“We got lots of opportunities to travel because in New Brunswick, unlike Mississauga, there aren’t eight teams within 20 minutes [of each other],” Morrell recalled. “You’re driving all over the place. It was an absolute blast.”
As he entered his late teen years, Morrell’s extra-curriculars started to build as he prepared to enroll in post-secondary education. He got away from the game for no particular reason. Morrell attended the University of New Brunswick for his undergraduate and shortly after that, he started his career. Through the accomplishments and accolades he collected throughout his professional career, hockey stayed on his mind from the moment he stopped playing.
“There was a lingering feeling to get back into the game,” Morrell shared. “I’ve always had a lot more fun playing than watching.”
Morrell later moved to Mississauga in his early twenties, where he started a family – this would evolve into a pathway back to the game. In 2004, his six-year-old son started hockey with the Erindale Hockey Association. His son’s team needed two more coaches during the second week of the season. As a parent who had previously played the game, Morrell seemed like an ideal fit to get back on to the ice.
“When I put the skates back on, I rediscovered the game.”
From that point on, Morrell’s commitment to creating positive experiences for youth hockey players has been exemplary. He’s had an inkling to work on his coaching from the start, and he has continuously strived to improve in all facets of the game. Ted Varty – the current General Manager of the MHL – was the coach who initially recruited Morrell.
“One of the biggest lessons I took from Ted and the Erindale [Hockey] Association is how to connect with young kids and making things age relevant,” Morrell explained.
Another Erindale Hockey Association coach was John McCleath, who taught Morrell how to break down fundamental hockey skills.
“John was the guy you’d bring on the ice for the first day of the initiation program,” Morrell said. “He would be brought out to [show] the new coaches how to teach kids to skate. It’s one thing to skate; it’s an entirely different thing to be able to break it down into the steps that are required.”
Some of the best advice he received about working with children, however, was from his wife, Kaitlyn. She developed her own formula that she shared with Morrell early in his coaching years, when he was still grappling with how to teach kids on the ice.
“Challenge plus success plus fun, equals a happy learner,” shared Morrell.
With the help of many coaches, family members, and friends along his path as a coach, Morrell was recognized at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season for his long-term commitment to grassroots hockey and community spirit, winning the Rob Silc Community Coaching Award at the 2025 GTHL Awards presented by Nothers The Award Store.
“I want every kid to have more passion for the game of hockey in the last game of the season as they did in the first,” Morrell explained. “One thing that I try to do every single game, every single practice, is try to make every kid feel like a star.”
Morrell’s path in coaching has been partially guided by where his kids have played and where they are playing now. Along with house league and Select, Morrell has also coached at the competitive level, including currently at the ‘A’.
Morrell still believes, though, that the community heartbeat lives at the house league level.
“Everyone starts in house [league],” Morrell said. “Some people progress further than others, but they all get to experience the lessons, the love, and the passion that hockey gives [in house league]”.
Over twenty years of coaching will often be a guide to many different communities, arenas, and locations. Now, Morrell’s positive, encouraging, and energetic personality has swept through most GTA arenas. Morrell cites that travelling to different arenas is one of the special parts about being a coach.
“Being a coach in the GTA and seeing all the venues that have so much hockey history has really shown me how deep hockey runs in this city.”
In his time coaching, Morrell realizes the influence all coaches have on kids – a coach. must appreciate the opportunity, handle relationships carefully, and have fun doing it.
“Coaching has shown me time and time again just how much impact we can have on young people,” Morrell reflected. “It takes a lot of little moments to build someone up, but only one to tear them down. That’s why I try to be intentional and positive, so at the end of our ice time, I have kids in my dressing room who feel like they are capable of greatness.”
