Dan Cousineau remembers taking one of the first road trips with his then infant son, Duncan, back in 2011. 

Of course, for the Cousineau family, it was a hockey-related trip, with Dan traveling north to Michigan with the Ohio Blue Jackets. 

“It’s kind of a full circle thing looking at it,” Cousineau said. “I was going to be done coaching after that, had no idea where life would take me, and his first trip was going to Detroit to play against Victory Honda. We made it to nationals that year, so it’s pretty cool to now be with him.”

As Duncan grew in the hockey world, Dan was instantly drawn back into coaching, and this weekend he’ll be coaching the Ohio Blue Jackets (OH) at the 2025 Chipotle-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 13O National Championship held in Plymouth and Novi, Michigan. 

Cousineau will be retiring from coaching after this tournament, adding to that full circle moment. 

“It’s been great to see this team and work with this team as they’ve grown together, it’s been primarily the same group for more than four or five years,” he said. “Seeing them all grow together, and going into this tournament, that’s something I’m most excited about.”

Cousineau has been a fixture in the Columbus hockey community for three decades now. 

He played collegiately at Ohio State between 1994 and 1999, serving as the Buckeyes captain during his senior season, before embarking on a pro career that featured stops with the Columbus Chill, Indianapolis Ice, and San Diego Gulls. 

The Chill were the professional hockey predecessor to the Blue Jackets. While Cousineau only played a handful of games with the ECHL team before it made way for the NHL franchise, he says the Chill helped lay the groundwork for what happened in the hockey community.

“I’m always amazed of how many people I found that get excited when they hear I played for the Chill,” Cousineau said. “And it was only a couple of games for me. I signed there after college for the end of their last season, but it was always a great crowd, and the fans were crazy and passionate. It showed how great of a sports and hockey town this was, and you don’t have what they have with the NHL without the Chill.”

Despite leaving Ohio for the next steps in his pro career, Cousineau would return to Columbus in the offseason. The city naturally became his home when he started taking an expanded role in the youth hockey community, working with the Capital Amateur Hockey Association and then the Ohio Blue Jackets. 

“It was a natural thing for me. It started as being back in the summer when I was playing pro and just helping with camps and things,” he said. “From there it became more formal coaching, just getting involved and finding a way to help grow the sport in Columbus.”

For Cousineau, seeing Columbus and Central Ohio develop its own home-grown NHL players has been one of the most rewarding things. 

Remember that team he coached during the 2011-12 season? It featured Jack Roslovic, Carson Meyer, and Kole Sherwood, who all played for the Ohio Blue Jackets program before making their way to the NHL — eventually they all played together on the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2021-22 season.

“That’s the thing that really connects to our players now, and those guys have been so accessible, they are proud to be from here and have grown the sport in Columbus,” Cousineau said. “When players can see it’s a real-life example, that someone can go from where they are to the NHL someday, that means a lot and makes it very real.”

For right now, 13U AAA Ohio Blue Jackets are focused on the national tournament.

“This team really has continued to grow, more than 90% of the players have been playing together for at least three years now,” Cousineau said. “It’s a hard-working team that works for each other, and that’s something that makes this so exciting, they’ve been working on this for a long time.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.