02/15/2018
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Youth Hockey is thrilled to announce our Skill Development Staff for the 2018/19 Season. Jan Tremer, Riley Cote, and Matt Herneisen have all agreed to join us for the upcoming season. We look forward to continued success through skill development by a Professional staff. Bio's below-
LVPY Hockey Operations
2018 – 2019 (Skills Staff)
Matt Herneisen (General Skills Coach)
Matt Herneisen has been playing and coaching hockey at the highest levels for the past 30 years. Born in Gilbertsville, PA Matt played his early youth hockey for the Valley Forge Colonials before moving onto the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. He was a member of the Philadelphia Quebec P*e Wee Team and the Atlantic District Development Program.
Matt left home for Toronto, ON at 14 to play for the prestigious Toronto Marlboros until 1998 where he would move on to play for the US National Development Team in the NAHL. After 1 season Matt was drafted to play in the prestigious OHL where he played 3 years for the Peterborough Petes and 1 year for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Matt continued his career professionally playing 8 seasons in the ECHL. Matt would eventually move back to Pennsylvania where he would finish his career with the Reading Royals, retiring as Captain in 2009.
After retiring from professional hockey, Matt became the Hockey Director at the Body Zone in Wyomissing, PA where he started the Berks Bruins Hockey Club, a club that produced several AAA, Prep, Junior, and NCAA players. In 2015 Matt was name Director of Skill Development for the Phantoms Youth Tier 1 and Girls program and is now a resident coach at the Steel Ice Center.
In addition to his work with the Phantoms Youth Matt is a partner of Recruit U Hockey. Started in 2014 Recruit U is a hockey advisement and training company located in the Steel Ice Center. The Recruit U team is responsible for all SIC Hockey programming and instructs players of all ages and skill levels. They have also been instrumental in providing Lehigh Valley players advisement and guidance in moving on to the Prep, Junior, and NCAA levels.
Riley Cote (General Skills Coach)
Undrafted after completing juniors, Cote was a walk on to the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp in fall 2002. He impressed the Leafs staff, signed a one-year contract, and was assigned to the Leafs Central Hockey League affiliate, the Memphis River Kings. While called up to the St. John's Maple Leafs, Toronto's American Hockey League affiliate, a few times during the 2002–03 season, he spent most of his rookie year with the River Kings and was with them when they won the CHL championship that season.
Not re-signed by the Leafs, Cote was signed to a two-way contract by the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL and entered the training camp for their NHL affiliate, the Columbus Blue Jackets, in fall 2003. Columbus released him and he returned to the Crunch. An eye injury caused during a pre-season scrimmage resulted in Cote being assigned to the Crunch's ECHL affiliate, the Dayton Bombers, for much of the 2003–04 season. Cote was recruited back to the River Kings for the 2004–05 season but was offered a try-out contract by the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms just before the season began. The Phantoms extended his contract twice through the season and Cote eventually spent the entire season with Philadelphia, accumulating a team-leading 280 penalty minutes in the process, and helped the Phantoms win the Calder Cup as league champions. Shortly after the season ended, the Phantoms signed him to a one-year contract.
After participating in the Philadelphia Flyers training camps in the fall of 2005 and 2006, Cote was signed to a two-way contract by the Flyers in 2006–07. Late in the season, Cote played in his first 8 NHL games with the Flyers, making his NHL debut on March 24, 2007 against the New York Islanders. Cote was recognized for his contributions to the community when the Phantoms named him as the team's 2006–07 Man of the Year. Cote was re-signed by the Flyers to a one-year contract for the 2007–08 season and made the team out of training camp.
Cote retired on August 9, 2010 and was named an assistant coach of the Adirondack Phantoms. The team would eventually move the Lehigh Valley and Cote would remain an assistant through the 2016-2017 season. Upon completion of his coaching tenure for Phantoms, Cote would decide to make the Lehigh Valley his permanent home.
Always willing to give back to the community, Cote spent the 2017-2018 season volunteering his time for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Youth as a skills coach. In addition to his work with the Phantoms Youth, Cote also was named an instructor for the Philadelphia Flyers Learn to Play Program and will be running his annual Summer Skills Camp, High Performance Hockey at rinks throughout the region.
Jan Tremer (Skating Coach)
Jan Tremer has been coaching skating since 1973 and has long established roots in the Lehigh Valley. Though she has taught 1000’s of kids how to skate over the years, Jan officially came to the Phantoms Youth in 2017 – 2018 as the skating instructor for the U8 program and is excited to work with all age levels during the 2018-2019 season.
Jan’s coaching background and include the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, The World Figure Skating Championships, Senior Grand Prix Series, The Asian Games, and The US Nationals.
Jan is Master Rated by the PSA and Hockey I & II accredited. In addition she is currently on the Board of Governors of the Professional Skaters Association, is the current Chair of the Apprentice Program, is the Former Ratings Chair, and serves on the committee for Foundations of Coaching Course.
