Maine Hockey Journal

Hulst hired to coach Cheverus girls’ hockey team

Cheverus High School announced Thursday the hiring of Kent Hulst as the school’s new girls’ hockey coach.

Hulst, a former captain of the Portland Pirates, takes over the program after former head coach Amy McNally resigned last spring.

Cheverus is one of several new co-op programs for this upcoming season. The Stags will have students from Old Orchard Beach and Kennebunk on the team this season. As a standalone program last year, Cheverus finished with a 5-13 record and missed postseason play.

Hulst was drafted in 1986 by the Toronto Maple Leafs and played nearly his entire 12-year professional career in the American Hockey League. He spent eight of those years with the Pirates, appearing 473 games to become the all-time leader for most games played in franchise history.

He won a Calder Cup with the Pirates in 1993.

After Hulst retired in 2001, he settled in Maine and started coaching prep school hockey. Hulst took over the boys’ hockey program at North Yarmouth Academy as well as handling the day-to-day business of the Travis Roy Arena.

In 2010, Hulst was hired to become head coach of the Portland Junior Pirates’ Elite team in the U.S. Premier Hockey League. He later went on to coach girls’ hockey for the Junior Pirates that included his daughter, Alyssa, who was an exceptional player for Scarborough High School.

In March, the team won USA Hockey’s U19 Girls’ National Championship in Lansing, Michigan where Hulst led the 12-team round robin tournament in scoring with 17 points in four games. She currently attends Berwick Academy.

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