Hardiman with Alex Little (L) and Cameron Lemcke (R)
Photo: Lindsay Sarazin
The Powassan Voodoos associate coach Josh Hardiman is leaving the organization to become an on-ice skills coach with Relm Hockey Academy in Kingston, the club announced on Monday.
The move will allow Hardiman, who also coached Team NOJHL East and Team Canada East in the fall of 2023 with Voodoos head coach Peter Goulet, to be closer to family and his expecting girlfriend.
“For me, I think the biggest thing I will take out of these two years here with Peter and the Powassan Voodoos is the great kids we had and not only giving them back the love of the game but also what they created for us as coaches,” said Hardiman.
“At the root of it, we all started because it is a fun game – I think a lot of that gets lost at times in the sport and I think that is the number one thing I felt Pete and I brought to Powassan and it is the number one thing I am taking out of Powassan.”
Peter Goulet, Voodoos head coach, who brought Hardiman with him to Powassan as a package in the summer of 2022, will miss his longtime friend and colleague.
“Thanks for everything, 8 or 9 years together, one as a player and I did trade Josh too,” said Goulet.
“Seven years together coaching is pretty special. I can’t thank Josh enough, he is going to be a dad and now has a great new hockey job he gets to stay in the game as well which is awesome.”
Chris Dawson, Voodoos general manager, says the organization will miss him.
“Josh has hockey wisdom beyond his years,” said Dawson.
“He did a great job connecting with the players and played a key part in preparing and developing Voodoos players over the past two seasons. He has a great future in the game.”
With Hardiman’s departure, the Voodoos have added former NHLer Vitali Yachmenev as an assistant coach for the 2024-25 season while Josh Dale has left the Voodoos to take over as new head coach of the North Bay U18 AAA Trappers.
