Turcotte joins Abitibi Eskimos

Darren Turcotte seen here coaching a Midget AAA team from Nashville is now coaching a lot closer to home. Photo courtesy RinkratTV.

The Abitibi Eskimos website is reporting that former North Bay Centennial and North Bay native Darren Turcotte has been named the new assistant coach of the NOJHL franchise.

Turcotte’s NHL career started in 1988 with the New York Rangers and ended in 1999 with the Nashville Predators. During that time the speedy forward scored 195 goals playing for 6 different teams.

Injuries cut the former NHL all-star's career short but soon after hanging up his skates Turcotte got involved in youth hockey in Nashville and became the founder and head coach of Nashville’s first ever Midget Triple A program.

“I started working in the high school league,” Turcotte told RinkratTV at an exhibition game in 2002 where his Nashville team played the North Bay Trappers.

“I worked as a commissioner down there and I realized that there were some players that were better than a lot of the players in the area, basically I started the program was so that I could give these better players an opportunity to at least an opportunity to get to the next level, whether it be collegiate, or at least the junior level.”

Turcotte will have a chance to coach against the junior club from his hometown this week as the Abitibi Eskimos host the North Bay Skyhawks on Thursday, February 16th.