UConn men's hockey assistant Mike Pereira leaving to become head coach at Choate

UConn men’s hockey assistant Mike Pereira is leaving the program to become the head coach of the boy’s hockey team at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. He spent the last two seasons with the Huskies following a five-year stint at Avon Old Farms, a different prep school in Connecticut.

“I’m really happy for Mike,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh told the UConn Hockey Hub on Tuesday. “It's always important that you're trying to advance your assistants and anytime you can go from an assistant coach and get a head coaching job, I think that's a great move for him. He's going to be right down the road so hopefully he can help us with some players.”

Pereira replaced his older brother, Joe, who worked on Cavanaugh’s staff in Storrs from 2013-22 before he became the associate head coach at his alma mater, Boston University.

UConn hopes to have a new assistant in place by June 1. While Cavanaugh didn’t name any candidates, the upcoming American Hockey Coaches Associate Convention this weekend in Florida will give him an opportunity to flesh out the options.

“We're still looking. I'm still trying to evaluate and see how I want to structure that spot and what we're looking for to complement our staff,” he said. “So we'll have the convention next week, I'll meet with some people down there.”

With Pereira gone, the Huskies’ staff currently features associate head coach Tyler Helton and assistant coach Vince Stalletti.

Helton has been in the program longer than anyone — he joined the team as a freshman in 2012, transitioned to a student assistant role in 2013 until he earned an undergraduate degree in 2016, worked as a graduate assistant from 2016-18 then became a full assistant in 2018. Cavanaugh promoted him to associate head coach ahead of this past season.

Stalletti started with the Huskies as a volunteer assistant in 2020 before he joined full-time last summer thanks to an NCAA rule change that allowed hockey programs to hire a third assistant coach last summer.