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Former Ducks Guy Hebert, David Karpa to coach at JSerra High

By Helene Elliott
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Former Ducks goaltender Guy Hebert, one of the franchise’s most popular players in its early years, and former Duck defenseman David Karpa will be teammates of a sort again.

The two Newport Beach residents were hired to work with the hockey team at JSerra Highin San Juan Capistrano, Karpa as coach and Hebert as a goalie coach.

It’s an interesting venture. There’s no shortage of excellent athletes here and plenty of roller and ice hockey talent, but kids who wanted to advance their hockey careers have always had to leave Southern California to play at the prep or junior levels to get top-notch coaching and competition. The Canadian junior leagues -- especially the Western Hockey League -- actively recruit kids from this area. It’s good for those kids to now have an alternative that’s close to home and still provides instruction from former NHL players.

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In what organizers say will be the first high school hockey game between two Orange County teams, JSerra will face Rancho Santa Margarita at 5 p.m. Saturday at Anaheim Ice.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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