The New Jersey Titans have announced today its hockey operations staff for the new NA3HL team. Titans President George Haviland will serve as the General Manager while Andrey Kapranov will be the head coach.
“We are excited about the New Jersey Titans extending our relationship with the North American Hockey League by adding a NA3HL junior team to our family of NAHL and NAPHL teams” stated Haviland, who is the Patriarch of the 21-year-old organization.
“We have an excellent tradition here at the Titans and our mission statement is to help our players complete at the higher levels of hockey whether it be a higher lever of junior, collegiate or professional. Our NA3HL players will have the same opportunities as our NAHL players. They will be playing in a state-of-the-art facility with a private locker room and a private team video room. The players will be able to utilize our sports performance lab complete with physical therapy and a rehab room. There also is a recovery room, strength and conditioning areas and a full-time equipment manager. These players will follow the path of development and advancement the same way we provide for all our players in the Titans family” said Haviland.
“I am pleased to announce that Andrey Kapranov will be the team’s head coach” stated Haviland. “I have known Andrey for a while. He is an exceptional teacher and he has a knack for helping players improve and develop their skills” concluded Haviland.
“I’m very excited” Kapranov said of being named the Titans first head coach. “To be able to start this type of program and put your stamp on it is special. The Titans have a great tradition, and I am looking forward to adding to it. We have an ownership team that is committed to taking players to the next level, and I believe in that philosophy. I’m looking forward to getting started” concluded Kapranov.
Kapranov is currently an assistant coach with the NAHL Titans as well as the skills instructor for the Titans boy’s youth program. Kapranov does have prior NA3 coaching experience when he was the head coach for the Jersey Shore Wildcats during the 2017-18 season. He has worked with a multitude of Russian-born stars, most notably Alexander Ovechin He also has helped Alexander Radulov of the Dallas Stars and Alexander Galchenyuk of the Minnesota Wild. He is a former Russian professional hockey player and coach of the Russian National Junior and Dynamo Moscow Youth teams.
The NA3 Titans inaugural season is slated to begin in September.