Leon Hayward recently completed his fourth year as an assistant coach for the Colorado College hockey program after his hiring on July 13, 2017.
Hayward was an assistant coach with the Bloomington Thunder of the United States Hockey League prior to joining the Tiger staff.
Before joining the Thunder, Hayward spent three years as an assistant hockey coach at Avon Old Farms School, a prep school located in Avon, Connecticut. He also served as the Dean of Enrollment at Avon Old Farms during that time.
During his tenure at Avon, he recruited and coached two NHL draft picks and five players that represented Team USA at the Ivan Hlinka and 5 Nations tournaments. He also recruited three players that participated in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program last season.
The Seattle, Wash., native brought both Division I and professional playing experience to his role with the Tigers.
Hayward played four seasons as a forward at Northeastern University from 1998-2002, scoring 30 points (15g,15a) in 132 career games. He then spent six years playing professionally, including four in the American Hockey League, collecting 85 goals and 88 assists for 173 points.
One of the crowning achievements of his professional career came in 2004-05 when he led the Trenton Titans, coached by CC head coach Mike Haviland, to the East Coast Hockey League’s Kelly Cup Championship. Hayward was named the Finals MVP and had 11 points in 20 playoff games that season. Â
From 2011-14, Hayward served as head hockey coach at The Governor’s Academy, a prep school in Newbury, Mass. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at the Taft School for three seasons before taking the top job at The Governor’s Academy and also has coaching experience outside of hockey in both lacrosse and football.
Hayward graduated from the D’Amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University with a concentration in entrepreneurship and earned a master’s degree in leadership with a concentration in nonprofit management from Northeastern in 2014.
Hayward and his wife, Jessica, have two sons, Ellison and Harlan.
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