Rob Broderick
GM of the Mercer Chiefs
NCDC Head Coach
Rob Broderick is the General Manager of the Mercer Chiefs hockey program and Ice Land Arena. He is the Head Coach for our NCDC team. For the past 3 years, he was the Head Coach for our U16 National and U18 Premier teams. Prior to his role with the Chiefs, Rob had served as President of the New Jersey Rockets, Managing Director of the Midget Program and Head Coach of U18 team for 14 years. Rob is the Head Scout for the Maryland Black Bears in the NAHL, and Northeast scout for Youngstown in the USHL. He was the U.S. Scout for Ottawa Junior Senators in the CCHL for last 8 years.
Rob was drafted by and played for the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL and he was captain of his ECAC hockey team his junior and senior years at SUNY Potsdam. Over the past sixteen seasons, his teams have averaged forty five wins per regular season and have made the District playoffs every season in the AYHL and USPHL. Prior to joining the NJ Rockets, Rob was the head coach of Team Carolina, with that team being the first in the organization’s history to win the AAA Regionals.
Rob Colton
U16 Premier + U18 Premier Head Coach
Rob graduated from Hobart College in 2017 where he was a member of the club team for four years while serving as the President and Captain for his last two. Colton also graduated from Princeton Day School in 2013 where he helped lead the team to two Prep State Championships and was named First Team All-State and Prep Player of the Year in 2012.
Rob and his younger brother Ross played a majority of their youth careers with the Chiefs and played together at PDS. Ross was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lighting in the 4th round of the 2016 NHL Draft and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2021.
Rob was the Assistant Coach to Rob Broderick for the last 4 years with our U16 National and U18 Premier Teams. In 2021, Rob was named the Head Coach of Villanova University’s hockey team and he was named the ECHA Coach of the Year!
Email Coach Rob at rjcolton17@gmail.com
Mike Durelli
U16 Prep + U18 Prep Head Coach
Mike Durelli played seven years of Tier 1 hockey, three of which were with The Mercer Chiefs, before attending The New Hampton School in New Hampshire. As a post-graduate and Captain at New Hampton, the team were finalists in the Small School New England Prep championship. There he received the Friends of Hockey award, the same award Mercer Chiefs Coach, Chris Barcless, won during his time at the school. Mike attended Southern New Hampshire University and played four seasons on the NCAA Division 3 hockey team. The team tied the school record for single season wins and captured their first Northeast 10 Conference Championship.
Upon graduating with a degree in accounting, Mike returned to the Mercer Chiefs to begin coaching in the fall of 2015. With the Chiefs, Mike captured five AYHL Championships (three as a player and two as a coach) and made one appearance at USA Hockey Nationals in 2018. Mike brings 21 years of hockey experience to the upcoming season.
Mike currently resides in Haddon Heights, NJ, with his wife and daughter.
JT Tarantino
15 Pure (2009) + 2010 Premier Head Coach
Coach Tarantino joined the Mercer Chiefs NCDC coaching staff this season after leading Saint Joseph’s University to its best season in the past 20 years. He took over as Head Coach of the program last March, and in year one led a group that had missed playoffs in 2022 to become 2023 ACCHL Regular Season Champions. He was also the Head Coach of the Philadelphia Little Flyers 2009 team, which moved up a division in the AYHL and made a run to the Bantam Minor championship game.
This year with the NCDC team, JT runs the defensive side of the bench. He also is in charge of special teams and the teams’ daily video sessions. He owns and operates Between The Bucket Hockey Academy, which puts together AAA spring and summer tournament teams while running one on one video sessions and hosting weekly skills sessions.
JT played for the NJ Titans and NJ Rockets Tier 1 and Junior Programs, acting as a captain of several of his nationally ranked teams. Following a successful youth/junior playing career, JT played for Saint Joseph’s University where he was a two-year captain and ACCHL All First Team, posting 135 points in 94 career games.
JT lives in Allentown with his wife Julia and 3-month-old daughter Tillie. He is excited to build the Chiefs Tier 1 program at the rink where he first put ice skates on!
“Could not be more excited. JT brings so much energy and hustle and will help push the Chiefs to being one of the top tier one organizations on the East Coast. On top of it all, he is a class act and will do things the right way. We will have great coaches, and JT will push to make the Chiefs the desired place to play for any player who wants to develop to be the best player they can be, and to have the opportunity to achieve their goals of playing college hockey”…..Mercer Chiefs GM and Head NCDC Coach Rob Broderick.
Brett Aimone
2011 Premier Head Coach
A Toms River, NJ native, Brett grew up playing as a defenseman for the NJ Rockets from youth to junior A in the AJHL. He got signed to the Detroit Red Wings Farm system where he went to camp and played games with the Port Huron Icehawks, in the IHL. He played a full season for the Battle Creek Revolution, Flint Generals and Danbury Whalers of the IHL & FHL playing over 150+ games at the A & AA professional level also going to numerous ECHL camps with Elmira, Reading, Muskegon.
Brett has 18 years coaching experience from Mites-Juniors. He coached Juniors for the Jersey Hitmen Elite in the USPHL and also helps scout for the OHL. He joined the Mercer organization in 2017.
Brett also owns the New Jersey Mayhem Spring/Summer Organization for Mites to Bantam.
Chris Barcless
Ice Land Hockey Director
2012 + 2013 Head Coach
Chris played three years of varsity hockey at New Hampton Prep School in NH. He was captain for his Senior year. While playing college hockey at Geneseo State, Chris captained his Jr and Sr years.
In 1994 he started working at Ice Land Arena. He coached 9 years at Princeton Day School winning 8 state prep championships. Chris was also named coach of the year 12 times for high school hockey. In 2000, he was named ‘Coach of the Decade.’ In 2021, Chris was named ‘Coach of the Year’ for the Atlantic District.
While coaching at Ice Land, he has been to USA Hockey Nationals 9 times between boys and girls teams. There they won 3 bronze medals and a silver at Nationals. Chris has been part of the USA Hockey Atlantic District Festival staff since 1998 and a scout for the Youngstown Phantoms USHL team and the Maryland Black Bears NAHL team.
Slava Kouroedov
2014 + 2015 Head Coach
The Chiefs and Ice Land are excited to announce the 2023-24 Head Coach for our 2014 Mercer Chiefs AAA Squirt team, Viatcheslav (Slava) Kouroedov! He will also head Ice Land’s Full Ice Mite team, the Mercer Arrows, and coach with the Mercer Selects Spring/Summer teams. With over 17 years of experience coaching youth and junior levels of hockey, Slava will be an excellent addition to our coaching staff, prioritizing skating skills and training his players the right way. Welcome Slava!
“I have a passion in developing players’ commitment to ice hockey. My emphasis on skill development, such as power skating technique, has shown vast improvements in the players I coached. In addition to my everyday coaching duties, I run skills clinics that draw many elite high school varsity and tier 1 club and junior players. As a part of this engagement, I run clinics for Princeton Day school varsity players at the PDS rink, clinics and practices at Mennen Ice Arena as well as for South Brunswick varsity high school players at ProSkate arena and many others through my VSK Wings hockey company,” said Slava.
Brian Batjer
Mites Director
Brian comes to us with 35+ years of hockey experience! Brian is the lead instructor of player development for the New York Rangers. He runs the Jr. Rangers Learn To Play and Rookies programs at various rinks, including Ice land. He has been coaching for over 10 years in and brings a wealth of ideas and concepts when it comes to developing young players and preparing them for AAA hockey.
Brian played ACHA D1 hockey at Towson University and junior hockey for the PAL Junior Islanders. His high school – Sachem High School, won the NY State Championship.
Oktay Armagan
Skills Coach – Tier 1 Mercer Chiefs and NCDC
Coach 2015 Team
Assistant Coach – Mercer Arrows
