John Olver (coach)

John Olver (born August 3, 1958) is a Canadian ice hockey player and coach known for his league championship teams in the West Coast Hockey League and ECHL.

A right wing, from 1975 to 1977 Olver was a member of the junior league Kelowna Buckaroos. He played college hockey at the University of Michigan. Although he was drafted in the 8th round of the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft by the Colorado Rockies, he never played at the professional level.^[1]

Olver began his coaching career in 1981 as an assistant with the New Westminster Royals. He took his first head coaching job in 1984 with the junior league Langley Eagles (now Westside Warriors).

Olver's first professional head coaching job came in 1995 with the West Coast Hockey League Fresno Falcons, but he left the team after only one season. In 1997 Olver took the head coaching position with the expansion WCHL Tacoma Sabercats. Olver led the Sabercats to the league finals in both his seasons with the team, winning the WCHL championship in 1998-99.

After a year away from coaching, in 2000 Olver became head coach of his third WCHL team, the Idaho Steelheads. Olver remained with the Steelheads for five seasons, leading them to the WCHL finals in 2000-01 and 2001-02. Olver remained with the team when it moved from the WCHL to the ECHL in 2003. He coached Idaho to the ECHL Kelly Cup championship in 2004.

Since leaving the Steelheads in 2005 Olver has served as an assistant coach at Northern Michigan University.

He is currently the coach for the Idaho Jr. Steelheads Hockey team in the Western States Hockey League.

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