Coaches

Dylan Butler

Dylan grew up in Thunder Bay where he played all of his minor hockey finishing his minor career where he served as an assistant captain of the Major Midget Kings.

Following his final year with the Kings Dylan went to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League where he played two seasons with the Portage Terriers and one with the Dauphin Kings. In those 3 years Dylan played a major role in his teams making it to the Junior A National Championship twice.

Following a successful junior career Dylan moved home to Thunder Bay to play for the Lakehead Thunderwolves where he served as an assistant captain for two years along with winning the teams MVP, best offensive player, and the schools “Argus Award”.

Dylan left Lakehead with a Degree in Commerce majoring in finance, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

He now works as a financial consultant with IG Wealth Management and after spending the last year coaching the Bantam AA Norwest Stars, he is extremely excited to make the jump to Junior A hockey.

Kari Rikkonenr

Kari was born in Thunder Bay and played his minor hockey with the Thunder Bay Kings AAA program. After playing one year in the SIJHL (Superior International) for the Thunder Bay Bulldogs
& high school graduation, Kari moved to St Catharines, ON to attend Brock University, majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in Sociology.

During his years in St. Catharines he played in the GOJHL (Greater Ontario) for the Welland Jr. Canadians where he earned Welland’s 3 Star Award in 2009, recognition as two time OHA
Player of the Month, as well as an MVP nomination in the Golden Horseshoe Conference. In his over-age year, Kari was traded to the Brantford Golden Eagles (now Caledonia Corvairs) where he ended his junior career.

Kari returned to school in 2018 at Texas A&M TEEX in College Station, TX to attend Fire College and now works as a career Firefighter for the City of Thunder Bay.

After graduation, Kari returned back to Thunder Bay and began working with local minor hockey goaltenders through the Thunder Bay Kings program (2017-2019), Fox School of Hockey, & Zulie’s Goalie Academy. He is currently working with Hockey Canada & the WHL in the NCCP Goaltender Coach Certification Program in hopes to work with Provincial and National High Performance teams in the future.