Larry P. Courville (born April 2, 1975) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach and former player. Over the course of his career, Courville spent parts of three seasons in the

National Hockey League 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 ...

(NHL). From 2009 to 2017, he served as head coach of the

Reading Royals The Reading Royals are a professional ice hockey team that currently plays in the ECHL. The team participates in the North Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. The Royals play their home games at the Santander Arena located in downtown Re ...

of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

. Born in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Courville was originally drafted by the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

in the fifth round (119th overall) of the

1993 NHL Entry Draft The 1993 NHL Entry Draft was the 31st NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City, Quebec. First overall pick Alexandre Daigle is widely regarded today as one of the all-time greatest draft busts ...

. He had an excellent final

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

season in 1994–95 in which he scored 73 points and was a key component of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 1995 World Junior Championships, but was unable to come to contract terms with Winnipeg. As a result, he re-entered the draft and was selected 61st overall by the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

in the 1995 NHL draft. Courville had a fine first professional season the following year with Vancouver AHL affiliate in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, scoring 49 points and earning a 3-game call-up to the Canucks, where he scored his first NHL goal. Over the next two seasons, he would continue to be a frequent call-up, seeing 30 more games in the NHL with Vancouver. However, he struggled to produce recording just 2 assists. After spending four seasons in the Canuck organization, Courville was released in 1999 and signed with the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

. Courville's grit and leadership proved a valuable asset to the Sharks' farm team in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, but he failed to see any action with the Sharks in two seasons with the organization. Since leaving the San Jose organization, Courville has played in the minor leagues. He was possibly the biggest name player in the short-lived

North Eastern Hockey League The North Eastern Hockey League was a semi-professional ice hockey league from 2003 until 2008. It was created by entrepreneur Jim Cashman, who served as league president. The NEHL was built to focus on giving players that were not quite ready ...

, playing for the York IceCats in the 2003–04 season. After spending three seasons with the Reading Royals, Courville retired. He was named interim head coach for the Royals on January 6, 2009, replacing Jason Nobili and returned as head coach for the 2009–10 season. During the 2016–17 season, he announced he would be stepping down from his position with the Royals. However, after qualifying for the playoffs, the Royals fired Courville on April 3, 2017. He is now the hockey director of the Lancaster Firebirds youth hockey.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Courville, Larry 1975 births Living people Canadian ice hockey left wingers Cincinnati Mighty Ducks players Cornwall Royals (OHL) players Franco-Ontarian people Hershey Bears players Ice hockey people from Ontario Johnstown Chiefs players Kentucky Thoroughblades players Moncton Hawks players Newmarket Royals players Oshawa Generals players Reading Royals players Sarnia Sting players Sportspeople from Timmins Syracuse Crunch players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vancouver Canucks players York IceCats players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States