Bill McCreary is in his first season as Jr. Hat Tricks head coach. A native of Southampton, Ontario, McCreary is a 9-year (2006-2015) Minor League Hockey veteran as both a player & coach.
Bill’s playing resume includes time spent with the Trenton Titans (ECHL), Huntsville Havoc (SPHL), New Mexico Scorpions (CHL) and the New Jersey Outlaws (FHL). He was part of championship teams in both Hunstville (2010) and New Jersey (2012), where he served a dual role as player-coach. Collegiately, McCreary played for Providence College (Hockey East) and Curry College (ECAC-NE).
Most recently, Bill served as the Hockey Director for the New Jersey Colonials youth program out of Mennen Arena. Bill’s other coaching stops include the Watertown Wolves (FHL), East Coast Selects-Q, Portland Junior Pirates (USPHL), North Jersey Avalanche, Seacoast Spartans and the ISS Kings.
At the youth level, Bill won National, State and International Championships. He played for Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep in Minnesota where he was linemates with current Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise. He played junior hockey for the Texas Tornado (NAHL) and amassed 45 goals and 71 assists in 98 games. He was named to the All-Rookie team and a First Team All-Star that season.
McCreary has a long family history of hockey players, coaches, and General Managers. His grandfather Bill McCreary Sr., great uncle Keith McCreary, father Bill McCreary Jr. and relatives Ron and Bob Attwell played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is also related to Bill McCreary, a Hall of Fame inductee as an on-ice official in the NHL, as well as his son Mike McCreary, who officiates minor league hockey.
As an added note, Bill has also been named Hockey & Coaching Director of the Western Colonials Youth Hockey program.
Matt Voity comes to the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks as one of the best goaltending coaches in the industry. Voity is well acclimated to Danbury Arena; he served as Goaltending Coach for the Danbury Hat Tricks (FPHL) in 2019-20 and was previously the Goaltending Coach for the Danbury Mad Hatters (EPHL) for the 2008-2009 season.
Voity coached for the NCAA Division-I AIC Yellow Jackets from 2011-2014, and again from 2016-2019. He also worked with the University of Massachusetts from 2014–2016.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Western Connecticut State University in 2003, where he was a goaltender for the school’s club hockey team.
Vince Malts is in his first season as Culture/Mindset coach of the Jr. Hat Tricks. Prior to joining Danbury, Malts served as the Mental Performance Coach of the Indy Fuel (ECHL).
Malts has had a long, successful career in hockey. A 7th-round draft pick by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Malts played junior hockey for the Hull Olympiques in the QMJHL before graduating to the ECHL for five seasons. He also played two seasons with the Rockford IceHogs in the United Hockey League, battling against the likes of the Danbury Trashers.
Since his retirement from playing, Malts has been a scout for the Victoriaville Tigres in the QMJHL as well as the owner of Bloodline Hockey, a mental training program designed to foster emotional intelligence, life and leadership skills amongst young athletes.
Josh Starr is the Director of Communications and Play-By-Play broadcaster for the Danbury Hat Tricks. He spent the last four years broadcasting Penn State hockey games for the student radio station, CommRadio.
Josh called Play-By-Play for multiple Penn State postseason games as well as their trip to Wells Fargo Center in 2018. With CommRadio, Josh served as general manager of the station for two years. He hails from Broomall, Pennsylvania.
