About Us

The Mississippi Junior Sea Wolves inaugural season was from 2022-2023. Prior to the Mississippi Sea Wolves, the youth hockey program was known as the Gulf Coast Aces. With the addition of the of the expansion team in Biloxi, the Mississippi Sea Wolves, the youth hockey program joined in affiliation. Credit for the transition goes to board members Kory DuMond, Tessa Dvorak, Matt Felder and DJ Kutch.

The Gulf Coast Aces Hockey (GCAH) organization was founded in 2018 by Paul Aston, Daniel “DJ” Kutch, and Jason MacDonald.

The Junior Sea Wolves youth hockey program is a Mississippi non-profit organization that is dedicated to the promotion and formation of ice hockey teams for youth, age 18 and younger. The organization seeks to educate, train and cultivate new players, spectators and fans in the sport of ice hockey, with an emphasis on building skills, sportsmanship, self-esteem, camaraderie , friendships, diversity and respect for one’s self and others both on and off the ice.

One might be surprised to learn that there is a long tradition of youth ice hockey in Mississippi and along the Gulf Coast.

Starting in 1996, the Mississippi Sea Wolves, a professional team based in Biloxi, MS playing in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), established the tradition of hockey on the Coast. The team played successfully for 10 seasons, reaching the ECHL playoffs in 5 of their first 7 years and celebrating a league championship in 1999 when they won the Kelly Cup. With a successful professional program established, the Sea Wolves also ran an extensive youth program that was well attended throughout their time playing at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

The success of the Sea Wolves, and the associated youth program, was only interrupted by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The MS Coast Coliseum experienced extensive damage as did the team’s ice making and equipment. The team returned to play in 2006, but suspended operations in 2009.

However, pro hockey continued to be played on the Gulf Coast when the Mississippi Surge was formed in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL). The Surge played successfully from 2009 through 2014, being awarded the Coffey trophy (Commissioner’s Cup) twice as regular season champions as well as the President’s cup as league playoff champion.

Youth hockey continued to flourish throughout the tenure of the Surge as as well, but when the Surge folded on 2014 and relocated to Roanoke, VA to become the Rail Yard Dawgs, youth hockey was left to continue without the funding and momentum of a local professional team to guide and promote it.

Fortunately, through the efforts of Bo Lindsay, one of Surge’s co-founders, and Rod Davidson, most recently the head coach of the Danville Dashers, along with many others, the youth hockey program on the Gulf Coast persisted and grew tenaciously into what is now the GCAH program.

The fact that youth hockey continues to grow and evolve on the Gulf Coast, despite the presence of a pro team, is a testament to the passion, dedication, commitment, diligence and love for the game of hockey that our members, volunteers and players bring to the game every season.

There is, in fact, an avid group of supporters of ice hockey on the Gulf Coast and in Mississippi. An adult pickup league thrives on the Coast, playing regular games in Biloxi, as well as a range tournaments in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Both Ole Miss and Mississippi State have club hockey teams. A Mississippi native, Marvin C. Powell II, currently plays pro for the Columbus, GA River Dragons. Following close on his heels are two alumni from our program on the Coast, Bobby Lindsay and Noah MacDonald, who have signed to play with the Lafayette, LA Drillers junior program. Indeed, ice hockey is an important enough thread in the tapestry of sports in Mississippi that an exhibit is dedicated to its history at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum in Jackson, MS.

It is this collective spirt for the game of ice hockey that inspires our motto “Fortes et Veloces” – the Strong & Swift.

We hope our program inspires you to learn more and to participate in our program. Come and watch a game or practice. Enroll your son or daughter. Play in the adult league. Whether you are just starting out or are an accomplished player, we’d love to welcome you into our community. Ice hockey is game you can play from age 9 to 90 (seriously!). Come experience why ice in South Mississippi means so much more than something to cool your tea or to fill your Yeti.