meet the coaches
casey rooney
Casey Rooney began his hockey playing career in White Bear Lake, Minnesota and went on to play for Hill-Murray High School as a forward. After graduation, Casey moved on to play Junior Hockey for the Lakers and was fortunate enough to win a National Championship. In 2008, Casey began working with ProHybrid as a goalie instructor and shooter for elite goalie prospects. Studying and teaching the intricacies of the goalie position has given Casey a deeper understanding of the game and helped him become a better overall coach.
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Today, Casey possesses a very unique skill set having logged more than 10,000 hours training both skaters and goalies. He is currently the Director of Player Skills Development for the Minnesota Icemen AAA program. He was an assistant coach for the Forest Lake Lakers, a Tier III Jr. A hockey team located in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Additionally, Casey has trained players and goalies of all ages in Alaska, Seattle, Chicago, Notre Dame, Denver, Ontario, and Michigan.
Other unique facts about Casey that are worth mentioning. He was a skating double in the movie Mighty Ducks 3. This movie’s commercial success ultimately paved the way for the creation of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, (now the Anaheim Ducks) NHL team. In 2012 Casey competed in the Red Bull Crashed Ice, one of the world's most breathtaking winter sports events where riders hurtle down courses up to 600 meters long in groups of four, shoulder to shoulder, as they fight it out for victory.
casey rooney
AJ Bucchino
A.J. is currently the Director of Operations for ReadReact Hockey. Pror, he was the VP of Athletics and Director of Hockey Operations for Breakaway Academy. He has spent four years with the Minnesota Magicians in the North American Hockey League. During his time with the Magicians, he served two years as Head Coach and General Manager and two years as President and General Manager. Before the Magicians, A.J. was the Head Coach at Lakeville South High School in Lakeville, MN for the three seasons. During his time at Lakeville South, the team earned an opportunity to participate in the Minnesota State High School Tournament in 2017. He has also owned several hockey programs over the past 15 years.
Before A.J. began his coaching career, he played four seasons of professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League, Central Hockey League, and Southern Professional Hockey League. Born in White Plains, New York, he began his playing career attending Tilton and Avon Old Farms Prep School. A.J. then finished high school in the USHL with the Des Moines Buccaneers. After a season at the University of New Hampshire, A.J. transferred to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he was a two-time NCAA All-American helping his team win two WIAC Championships (2006 and 2007) and one NCHA Championship (2007).
AJ graduated with a B.S. in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and has a Masters of Arts in Sports Management. He currently resides in Prescott, WI with his wife, Danielle and children, Rocco, Reyna and Rose.
Emilie Brigham
Emilie Brigham is a recent graduate of the University of Maine where she played four years of NCAA Division I hockey as a Black Bear. She captained the team in her junior and senior seasons and was a three time UMaine Scholar Athlete and Hockey East All-Academic team member.
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Before Maine, Emilie played at Anoka High School where she was captain and earned a Hobey Baker Award in her senior season. Emilie has spent time coaching youth hockey players for several years across Minnesota and Maine. Most recently, Emilie was the head coach for the St. Francis/North Branch Girls’ High School team in the 2017-2018 season.
sam nelson
Zak Lambrecht
I started playing hockey at the age of 4. I played high school hockey for two years at Chisago Lakes High School, making a state appearance in 2014. After that I played a year of AAA in the NAPHL for the Minnesota Revolution before moving onto junior hockey for two years, including a year in the NOJHL for the Blind River Beavers in Ontario. I am currently going into my junior year of college and playing at Hamline University
Wyatt Thole
Wyatt grew up in Hanover MN and played youth hockey for the Buffalo Association. He went on to play highschool for Mounds View. After graduating from Mounds View, Jack went on to play a year of midget AAA for the Milwaukee Admirals. Wyatt then played junior hockey all across America and Canada until 2020. Wyatt has worked with ReadReact hockey for over a year doing private lessons, coaching our AAA teams and working with surrounding highschool and youth teams. His main focus is on having fun and development! Wyatt wants the kids to have a great time and look forward to coming to the rink utilizing lots of focus on high detail skill work along with applying that skill into a real game situation. Ultimately, he wants to teach kids things that he was not taught at a young age to help give them the best opportunity to play the game as long as they can.
jack Senden
Jack Senden played high school hockey for Hill-Murray where he made two state tournament appearances. Following high school, Jack played junior hockey with the Granite City Lumberjacks in the NA3HL. He began coaching with ReadReact in the summer of 2022. As a coach, Jack focuses on building self-confidence as well as fine tuning the specific details of skating, stick handling, shooting, and game situations.