John Olver (born August 3, 1958) is a Canadian ice hockey player and coach known for his league championship teams in the West Coast Hockey League and ECHL.

Personal life

His eldest son

Darin Olver Darin Olver (born March 5, 1985) is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey left winger. He is currently playing for Schwenninger Wild Wings of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Playing career Olver played high school hockey at Eastview ...

played at Northern Michigan University while he coached there. Darin now plays for the ERC Ingolstadt of the DEL. Darin was drafted 36th overall in the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout, ...

. His younger son,

Mark Olver Mark Olver (born January 1, 1988) is a Canadian-German professional ice hockey centre currently playing under contract to Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He previously played in the National Hockey League with the Colorado Ava ...

, also played hockey at Northern Michigan and most recently plays for Eisbären Berlin in Germany. His son Mark was also drafted to the NHL. He was drafted 144th overall in the

2008 NHL Entry Draft The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was the 46th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, but because of ...

to the Colorado Avalanche and played 74 NHL games in total, amassing 22 points.

Playing career

A right wing, from 1975 to 1977 Olver was a member of the junior league Kelowna Buckaroos. He played college hockey at the University of Michigan for two seasons, quitting the team in November 1979 for lack of playing time. Although he was drafted in the 8th round of the 1978

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Amateur Draft by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

, he never played at the professional level.Internet Hockey Database - John Olver
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Coaching career

Olver began his coaching career in 1981 as an assistant with the

New Westminster Royals The New Westminster Royals was the name of several professional ice hockey teams based in New Westminster, British Columbia, first established in 1911 for the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). Though nominally based in New Westminster, ...

. He took his first head coaching job in 1984 with the junior league Langley Eagles (now Westside Warriors). Olver's first professional head coaching job came in 1995 with the West Coast Hockey League Fresno Falcons. In 1997, Olver took the head coaching position with the expansion WCHL Tacoma Sabercats. Olver led the Sabercats to the league finals in both his seasons with the team, winning the WCHL championship in 1998-99. After a year away from coaching, in 2000 Olver became head coach of his third WCHL team, the Idaho Steelheads. Olver remained with the Steelheads for five seasons, leading them to the WCHL finals in 2000-01 and 2001-02. Olver remained with the team when it moved from the WCHL to the ECHL in 2003. He coached Idaho to the ECHL

Kelly Cup The Patrick J. Kelly Cup goes to the playoff champion of the ECHL. The Kelly Cup has been awarded to teams since 1997. Prior to 1997, the playoff winner was awarded the Riley Cup, named after former American Hockey League president Jack Riley. Th ...

championship in 2004. Since leaving the Steelheads in 2005, Olver has served as an assistant coach at Northern Michigan University, a head coach and general manager with the Bakersfield Condors' organization in the ECHL, and the head coach and general manager of the Idaho Jr. Steelheads/IceCats in the

Western States Hockey League The Western States Hockey League (WSHL) was a junior ice hockey league established in 1993. It was sanctioned by the United Hockey Union, the junior hockey branch of the Amateur Athletic Union. Previously, it was sanctioned by USA Hockey from 199 ...

References

1958 births Living people Kelowna Buckaroos players Ice hockey people from British Columbia Canadian ice hockey right wingers Colorado Rockies (NHL) draft picks ECHL coaches Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players Tri-City Americans coaches Canadian ice hockey coaches {{canada-icehockey-winger-1950s-stub