2025/26 Eastern Ontario Wild Head Coaches
The Executive Committee of the E. O. Wild, together with the HEO Technical Director has approved the following Head Coaches for the 2025-26 season. Thank you to our board executives and the independent interviewers that spent numerous hours helping us achieve this.
U12 – Marc Lamothe
The Eastern Ontario Wild is pleased to announce Marc Lamothe as the U12 head coach. Marc is a former goaltender of 17 pro seasons, including stops in the NHL, AHL, IHL, KHL/RSL (Russia), Liiga (Finland) and DEL (Germany). During his playing days, Marc had the privilege of being coached by multiple Stanley Cup winning coaches. Since hanging up the pads, Marc has shared his knowledge and passion for the game of hockey as head coach at the AA level and as assistant coach for the U13 and U14 AAA Wild. Marc strives to create a safe, respectful, and fun yet competitive environment where players feel confident to challenge themselves and grow. His coaching focuses on pushing athletes to reach their full potential while fostering teamwork, discipline and a love for the game.
U13 - Francis Wathier
The Eastern Ontario Wild is pleased to announce the return of Francis Wathier, a former NHL, AHL, and ECHL player as our U13 Head Coach again for the 2025-2026 season. During his 10-year pro career, coach Wathier honed his coaching skills. A former QMJHL Gatineau Olympiques assistant coach, and owner/operator of Francis Wathier Hockey Academy, coach Wathier will lead our U13 team bringing together players from our 4 associations. Married and father of three amazing kids, he is passionate about outdoor living, and he is looking forward to developing future elite hockey players in Ottawa.
U14 - Ben Gillis
We are proud to announce the return of Ben Gillis as the head coach of the U14 Eastern Ontario Wild. Ben brings over a decade of coaching experience, working 3 years as an assistant coach with the Navan Grads Jr. A team, as well as extensive experience in hockey analytics and video analysis. Most recently, Ben coached the U15 Wild during the 2024-2025 season. Throughout his coaching career, Ben has worked with high-performance programs, achieving notable success, including capturing a championship title with the 2007 Ottawa Myers AAA team during the 2018-19 season, and during his tenure, contributing to the success of Navan's program. Ben is known for his strong commitment to player development, having played a pivotal role in advancing numerous players to higher levels in their hockey careers. His passion for the game and expertise have left a lasting impact on the teams and players he has worked with, reflecting his unwavering dedication to the sport and the growth of young athletes.
U15 - Chris Robillard
The Eastern Ontario Wild is pleased to announce Chris Robillard as the U15 Head coach. He has been involved in minor hockey for the past 19 years, 17 of which are at the AAA level. His coaching philosophy is about respect, communication, and compete-level. These young athletes will be challenged to compete with themselves, with and for their teammates, and against opponents at the highest level. Coach Robillard has had the privilege of learning from some incredible athletes, and he continues to look forward to learning from these young players and helping them prepare as they set their sights on possible future careers.
U16 – Steve Malette
Steve Malette will return as the U16 Coach. With more than 20 years of coaching experience within the National Capital Region, coach Malette spent 8 seasons as head coach of the very successful Ottawa Jr. Sens (OJS) U18 AAA program. He led his teams to two 1st place regular season titles and finalist in the recent 2023 Road to the Regional Telus Cup Playoff Championships. During HEO’s inaugural U18 AAA season (2015/16), Steve was a recipient of the Coach of the Year Award.
Coach Malette is no stranger to the Eastern Ontario Wild organization. He spent 2 seasons as head coach of the Wild’s U18AAA teams during the 2013/14 & 2014/15 seasons and, 2 seasons as head coach of the Wild’s Minor Bantam (2010/11) & Bantam (2011/12) teams, capturing back-2-back League Championships and semi-finalist at the 2012 All-Ontario Bantam Championships. Most recently, as the head coach for the U16 Wild during the 2024-2025 season.
Coach Steve’s coaching philosophy is to provide players with a program that instills the required commitment, structure, and development to succeed at the next level. Coach Malette’s program under the OJS banner promoted 50% of the players to ultimately reach the Jr. A level (CCHL, OHL, NCAA), and is looking to continue this success with the Wild’s U16 AAA program.
U18 – Paul Lever
We are happy to have Paul return to the Wild family as head coach of the U18AAA team.
He has over twenty years of experience in coaching at the AAA and AA levels, coach mentoring, VP of Development at the District level and one of the main contributors in writing the rules governing hockey and the HEO Branch level. Paul’s philosophy in hockey revolves around commitment, hard work, respect and finally responsibility for one’s actions.
