Hockey: Two former Ducks stars coach club team
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The two most famous coaches at JSerra aren’t even working at the varsity level.
Guy Hebert and David Karpa, two longtime stars of the Anaheim Ducks, are coaching the Ice Lions club team during its second season. Karpa serves as the head coach and Hebert coaches the goalies.
JSerra partnered with the Ducks last year to become the first team in the Orange County high school ice hockey league. The team competed in tournaments as far away as Canada, Ohio and Chicago. It also competed against other Southern Claifornia Amateur Hockey Assn. teams.
This year, Trinity League rival Santa Margarita has joined the O.C. league. The Ice Lions will also compete in a Thanksgiving tournament in Chicago and travel to Florida to play defending state champion North Broward High on Sunday.
‘My hope is that I can help teach the scholar-athletes not only to be a better player on the ice but to be a better person on the ice,’ said Hebert, the former Ducks goalie who retired in 2001 and still holds many franchise records. ‘Many challenges that athletes face in competition help mold their character.’
Karpa and Hebert are hardly the only high-profile coaches at JSerra. Two-time Olympian Julie Swail-Ertel coaches the girls’ water polo team and Joedy Gardner, a private trainer to several NBA players, has been hired as boys’ basketball coach.
--Ben Bolch