Staff Profile: Mike Ellis – Director of Hockey Operations
Mike Ellis is the Director of Hockey Operations at Victus Academy and the Director of Skill Development for the Tampa Bay Lighting. Mike believes that
“Victus is the perfect place for the student athlete to grow both on and off the ice as we put forward a curriculum on the ice that covers all their basic fundamental movements so that they become better at moving with and without the puck and off ice a lot of the skills they are learning are key core skills that they have for the dressing room and how they interact in a group and how to handle peer pressure, it’s all here every day and they’re learning lessons to get better at those skills.”
His philosophy is pretty simple: he helps players start off moving better from a structural standpoint. Both flexion and rotation are big keys on how a player moves. From there he adds situational play and tactics into those foundational movements and merge the two together creating a player that’s got knowledge of the game and is very easily coachable as well.
He grew up in the Burlington area as a kid playing minor hockey in Flamborough as a AA player. He then went to play Junior B hockey in Burlington and Junior C hockey in Flamborough. Mike didn’t start to
evolve as a player until his 20s when he went over to Britain and played in the British National League, where he really grew as a hockey player. He played on the British National Team for 12 years and earned a silver and a bronze medal in World Championships. He then got into coaching at the age of 29 when he became a player assistant coach, then a player head coach, and finally a head coach on the bench in England where he was very fortunate to win many championships.
Coming back to Canada with the skill set he had, earned him a spot as the skating coach for half a season for the Nashville Predators which was his first NHL opportunity. From there, he got an opportunity to work with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a Player Development Consultant and worked there for six seasons until 2019. He then started his current role as Director of Skill Development for the Tampa Bay Lightning this past season. With everything from his past coming together, he was very fortunate to be a part of winning the Stanley Cup.
Mike Ellis has been the Director of Hockey Operations at Victus Academy since September, 2018. President Matthew Schmidt believes that
“Mike and his team train our athletes with tremendous detail and we are seeing the successes each year. His mantra of 1% better every day really resonates with our student-athletes. Since our athletes train approximately 140 days each year, just getting a small bit better every day will pay dividends in the long run. We are very proud to have Mike Ellis as our Director of Hockey Operations and we congratulate him on his Stanley Cup Championship!”