Dan Church is entering his ninth season as head coach of the Lions women’s hockey program and has made tremendous strides with the team in his time at the helm.

In each of his first six seasons the Lions improved their regular-season record from the year before and in 2009 climbed as high as No. 7 in the CIS national rankings. They advanced to the OUA semifinals for the first time in 2012.

In addition to his work with the Lions, Church has extensive national and international experience with Canadian women’s teams at a number of different age levels. Most recently, he was the head coach for the senior national women’s team at the world championships, leading the squad to a gold medal, the country’s first since 2007, with a 5-4 overtime victory over the United States.

He was also the head coach of the senior women’s national team for the 12 Nations Tournament in Vierumaki, Finland, in August 2011 and the 4 Nations Cup in Sweden. In April 2011 he was an assistant coach with the Canadian senior women’s team that won the silver medal at the world championships in Switzerland.

In 2010, he served as head coach of the Canadian national women’s under-18 team that won the gold medal at the world championships, Canada’s first women’s world title in that age group.

In 2009, he served as the head coach of the Canadian team at the 24^th FISU Winter Universiade in Harbin, China and led the squad to the gold medal in the inaugural event. He also oversaw a selection camp for the team in the summer of 2008 at York University.

Church was also head coach of the Canadian national under-22 women’s team. That squad went 7-0 with Church at the helm, sweeping a series against the United States before winning the European Air Canada Cup in Germany. In August of 2006 he served as an assistant coach at Hockey Canada’s under-22 national team evaluation camp. That team went on to win a gold medal at the Air Canada Cup in Germany in January 2007.

Church is an NCCP fully certified Level 4 Master Coach and a Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC) with Coaches of Canada. Before coming to York, he served as an assistant with the University of Toronto women’s hockey program for seven years. During that time, the Varsity Blues won four OUA titles and captured the CIS national championship in 2001.

Church also serves as academic service co-ordinator at York, where he assists in providing academic resources for interuniversity athletes.

Stacey Colarossi is the lead assistant under head coach Dan Church and is now in her ninth season with the Lions.

At the end of the 2010-11 season Colarossi was named an assistant coach for the Canadian team at the FISU Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey. The squad went on to win the gold medal, its second in a row at the event. She also served as an assistant coach for the silver-medal winning Team Ontario Red at the Canada Winter Games.

A fully certified NCCP high performance Level 1 coach who has nearly completed her Level 2, she is a lead instructor at the Shooting Stars Hockey School and works with various teams throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

In 2010, she was a camp coach for the under-22 national team and last year she was an assistant coach with the gold-medal winning Team Ontario Red at the 2009 national women’s under-18 championships. She was an assistant for Team Ontario Blue the previous year and previously participated as a player. In 1993 she won a bronze medal with the same Team Ontario Blue squad. She also played junior hockey in Brampton, Ont. before her playing career was cut short due to injury.

Colarossi is also an equipment services attendant for Sport & Recreation at York.

Jessica Turi joins the Lions coaching staff in 2011 after previously playing for the team from 2005-09, serving as the captain for one season and an assistant captain for two.

She has been an assistant coach with the Mississauga Jr. Chiefs in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for three seasons and is also the founder and director of Strides Hockey. An NCCP high performance Level 1 coach, she has been a camp coach for the Team Ontario selection camp for four years.

In addition to coaching hockey, Turi is also a certified teacher.

Dino Caggiula comes to York with 17 years of experience coaching women’s hockey, including eight years in the PWHL with the Durham Lightning. He has won eight medals at the OWHA provincial championships, including five golds, two silvers and three bronzes.

Caggiula also spent eight years as a volunteer head coach at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School, winning six medals at the OFSAA championships, including two titles. He is a two-time  assistant coach with Team Ontario Blue, winning a silver medal in 2009, and in 2006 received the City of Pickering Civic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Amateur Athletics.

Rob Heholt is in his fifth year as the goaltender coach for the Lions. A former football player at York, he is an instructor for McGuire Goaltending in Toronto and a head coach in the North York Knights minor hockey club. Heholt is also an assistant coach with the standing amputee national team and won a gold medal with the squad at the 2010 world championships in Montreal.