Darnell, Leone join NTDP coaching staff

By @MichaelCaples –

The USA Hockey National Team Development Program has added a pair of Michigan natives to its coaching staff for the 2019-2020 hockey season.

Brent Darnell and Mike Leone will be the NTDP’s two intern assistant coaches for the Under-18 Team and Under-17 Team, respectively.

Darnell, a Canton native, is no stranger to USA Hockey Arena, having worked out of the building as the director of education for College Hockey Inc. since 2016. He is also a Detroit Catholic Central alum, having played for the Shamrocks in 2007-08.

A graduate of Michigan State University, Darnell played for the Spartans from 2011-15.

Leone, a Dearborn native, is already in the midst of his own coaching career, after working as an assistant coach for Bowling Green last season and the ECHL’s Quad City Mallards the year before.

A three-year letterwinner at Western Michigan, Leone played four seasons of professional hockey with stops in the ECHL (Kalamazoo Wings and Toledo Walleye) and France (Villard-de-Lans).