MEET THE COACHES

Head LT and Jr. Thrashers Coach: Dr. Samantha Menton

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Coach Sam

Coach Sam started playing hockey at the age of 9 in Chicago, Illinois. She played girls travel hockey with Team Illinois and Chicago Mission. After high school, Sam played hockey at Plattsburgh State University while earning her Bachelors degree in Nutrition. During her time at Plattsburgh State University the team advanced to the Frozen Four every year. Her junior year the team won the National Championship. During her summers, Sam worked for USA Hockey at their National Development camps. After college Sam returned home to Chicago and was the head coach for Team Illinois’ U14 girls team and an assistant coach for Lake Forest College. Sam continued to work for USA Hockey after college as a strength and conditioning coach for the National Development Camps.  She was offered an opportunity from USA hockey to help develop the first residency program in Finland that was designed to be the home for their U-18 National team in Finland. After returning home from Finland, Sam found her true calling in Chiropractic care. She moved from Chicago to Marietta, Georgia to attend Life University. While earning her doctoral degree at Life University, Sam was the only girl playing on the schools  Division II club team. Sam began helping out at Lady Thrashers half way through her chiropractic program and hopes to continue to help grow the program.

Coaching Experience:

  • USA  Hockey Team Leader Girls State, Rgional, and National Development Camp (2004-2008)
  • Head coach Team Illinois U14 Girls (2010)
  • Assistant Coach Lake Forest College Womens team (2009-2010)
  • USA Hockey Girls U18 Residency Program in Finland (2010-2011)
  • USA Hockey Girls National Development Camp U18 Strength and Conditioning Coach (2009-2012 and 2015-Present)
  • Lady Thrashers Coach (2015-Present)
  • USA Hockey Southeast Girls National Tryouts Evaluator (2016-Present)

Assistant LT and Jr. Thrashers Coach: Mr. Kevin Luebke

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Coach Kevin

Coaching Experience:

  • Lady Thrashers Coach (2012-Present)
  • Atlanta Ice Bandits (Present)

Coach Kevin and his wife Julissa run a business that organizes outdoor hockey tournaments based in Athens, GA. Check out Southern Hockey Tournaments.com!

Coach Luebke was born in St. Louis, MO., is currently living in Canton, GA., and has been playing hockey for the past 43 years. He has been coaching youth athletics for the past 24 years, bringing the last eight years of his experience to The Ice Complex in Cumming, GA. He has coached Squirt to Midget; House league, Selects/All-Stars, A and AA travel. He was part of a Midget AA team that won the league in 2012-2013 and for the past 2 years has been coaching the Squirt A travel team, who for the 2017-2018 season, won the league as well as the league Championship Tournament. For the 2018-2019 season he will be coaching Bantam Travel A.  Coach Luebke is one of the assistant coaches for the Lady Thrashers, coaches with the Weekend Warrior adult hockey camps, volunteers with the Atlanta Sparks sled hockey team, and serves on the board for the adult hockey league in Atlanta where he also plays on several of their teams.  Coach Luebke, along with his wife, runs an outdoor youth hockey tournament in Athens, GA. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, traveling, and spending time with his 3 sons, grandson and wife of 30 years. He is currently a Level 4 certified USA Hockey Coach.

Assistant Jr. Thrashers Coach: Dr. Chanelle “Nellie” Poulin

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Coach Nellie
Coach Nellie started playing hockey at the age of 10 in Maine after begging her parents to play for over a year. Through her youth and high school years, she played girls travel hockey with the Maine Selects, The Maine Moose and the Maine Stars. Before transferring to prep school, she played with the boys varsity high school team at Messalonskee High School in Oakland, ME. As a sophomore in high school, Nellie transferred to St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA with the dream of one day playing college hockey.
As her hockey career progressed, she was recruited to play both ice hockey and field hockey in college. Her passion shifted while at St. Mark’s and she opted to play Division I Field Hockey at Providence College in Providence, RI, while earning her Bachelors degree in Biology. Each season during Nellie’s time at PC, her team advanced to the Big East Tournament and was consistently ranked in the top 20 in the US. She was also named Third Team All-American as a junior, Second Team All-American as a senior, and was named Providence College’s Female Athlete of the Year for both her junior and senior year.
After college, Nellie spent a season as an assistant coach for the Colby College field hockey team in Waterville, Maine. In 2011, she enrolled in Life University and moved to Marietta, GA to become a chiropractor. Since moving to Georgia, Nellie has played hockey recreationally for the Lady Thrashers and the Atlanta Flames. She brings a unique perspective to coaching hockey as she is a multi-sport athlete, trained at an elite level. Although she opted to play field hockey in college, she maintains a strong understanding, love and respect for the sport of hockey.
LT and Jr. Thrashers Assistant Coach: Cassidy Tucker
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Coach Cassidy joined her first hockey team at age 4 in Plymouth, Michigan. Cassidy played on the first youth girl’s ice hockey team in the Plymouth-Canton area, the Canton Crush. In 2006 Cassidy started playing for Victory Honda AAA Travel and eventually finished her high school career playing for the Little Caesars AAA Travel Club. Cassidy was recruited to play DI hockey at Princeton University, where she earned her undergrad degree in Politics. Cassidy was awarded Rookie of the Year her freshman year. During her time at Princeton, the Tigers set program records, won the Ivy League, and advanced to the ECAC tournaments as well as the NCAA tournament. After University, Cassidy played professional ice hockey in Austria for the DEC Salzburg Eagles. Cassidy has always been involved in the youth hockey community, helping coach girls teams in Canton, MI and working with youth programs in Princeton, NJ. After returning from Europe, Cassidy was lucky enough to join the Lady Thrashers Program and is excited to support growing the game in Georgia.

LT and Jr. Thrashers Goalie Coach: Anthony Zilahy

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Coach Anthony

Coach Anthony has played hockey since he was 8.