ELEV802 DENVER Staff

Owner & Director of Hockey Operations

Tim Hirsch

thirsch@elev802.com

303-819-8246

Tim grew up playing youth hockey on Long Island and played in the ACHA for Stony Brook University. He has coached youth hockey in Colorado for the past decade and has a passion for hockey skill development. Tim is USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach and he enjoys helping kids grow on and off the ice. Tim is exited to parter with ELEV802 to bring the globally recognized brand, training philosophy and unique facility to Colorado!

Tim has worked in primary care and emergency medicine as a Physician Assistant for the past 15 years and is married with 5 kids.

Head Skills Coach & Director of Skills Programming

Mario Puskarich

mpuskarich@elev802.com

ELEV802 Denver is proud to welcome Coach Mario Puskarich to the ELEV802 family in his role as Head Skills Coach and Director of Skills Programing!  Mario brings unrivaled experience from his career as a professional player, Tier 1 head coach and many years of skills instruction.

Born in Pittsburgh, Coach Mario grew up playing hockey in Florida until moving to Chicago at the age of 15 to play for the Chicago Young Americans (Tier 1 Elite/MWEHL). After two seasons at CYA, Puskarich went on to play two seasons for the Tri City Storm in the USHL, followed by two seasons in the BCHL for The Langley Riverman. In his second season in the BCHL, Puskarich won the Brett Hull Trophy awarded to the regular season scoring champion, while also serving as team Captain.

Following his junior career, Puskarich accepted a D1 scholarship at the University of Vermont and played under the guidance of ELEV802 President Kevin Sneddon. In his freshman season, Puskarich earned Rookie of The Year (Hockey East) and guided the Catamounts to NCAA tournament, ultimately losing to the eventual champion (Union) in the first round. Coach Mario’s leadership on and off the ice lead to him being named assistant captain in his sophomore and junior seasons and captain senior year. Four seasons at Vermont saw Puskarich score 52 goals, 65 assists totaling 117 points, becoming the first UVM player in over 20 years to hit the 50 goal & 100 point mark.

After Mario’s senior season at UVM, he signed a professional contract with the Manchester Monarchs of the (ECHL).  Puskarich found success right away and helped the Monarchs to the conference finals, ultimately losing in game 7. The next two seasons saw Puskarich make the move to Europe, playing for Medvescak Zagreb in the (EBEL).  After two seasons in Croatia, Puskarich joined the Manchester Storm in the (EIHL) playing out of Manchester, England.

After the 2020-2021 EIHL season was canceled due to the covid pandemic, Puskarich moved to Colorado and joined the staff of the Colorado Rampage as the Director of 365 Hockey Performance Academy, Director of Hockey Personnel, Enrichment Coordinator, and Associate Coach of 15U/16U/18U AAA in the Tier 1 Elite League.  During the 2023-2024 season, Coach Mario continued to lead the Rampage 365 Hockey Performance Academy, was Director of Recruiting and was the Head coach of the 13U AAA team.

Hannah Westbrook

Skills Instructor

Hannah joins ELEV802 Denver as a skills instructor! Hannah’s impressive resume makes her a great addition to the team and an asset to our players.

Playing Career

• Professional stints in Australia, Finland, and Sweden

• NCAA Division 1 player at the University of Vermont

• USA National Camp and Rocky Mountain District Camp attendee

Coaching and Management Experience

• 2022-Present: Colorado Avalanche Female Hockey Ambassador

• 2021-Present: Hockey Director, Colorado 14ers, Littleton, CO

• 2021-Present: Owner, NA3HL Wausau Cyclones, Wausau, WI

• 2020-2021: Hockey Director, Colorado Select Girls Hockey Association, Littleton, CO

• 2019-2020: Assistant General Manager & Head Skills Coach, LA Junior Kings, Beijing, China

• 2016-2019: Assistant Hockey Director & U19AAA Head Coach, North American Hockey Academy

• 2015-2016: Head Coach, Team Colorado 14AAA & Colorado Select 14AA

• 2013-2014: Assistant Coach, Australia U18 National Team

Jared Fiegl

Skills Instructor and Hockey Advisor

Jared is excited to join ELEV802 Denver as a skills instructor and hockey advisor. With over 20 years of playing and 7 years of coaching, he’s an excellent resource to use regardless of your skill level or age. He brings a tremendous amount of passion and enthusiasm when it comes to helping kids develop on and off the ice. 

As a native of Colorado, Jared began his hockey journey at Family Sports playing house & travel hockey for the Arapahoe Warriors. At the age of 14 he took the leap to play up for the Colorado Rampage U16 AAA. After playing two years of AAA, he earned a spot on the National Team Development Team (NTDP) at 16 years old. Some notable names of teammates include Jack Eichel, Dylan Larkin, Alex Tuch, Auston Matthews, Noah Hanifin, and Zach Werenski. At the age of 18, he won a gold medal at the 2014 U18 IIHF World Championships, committed to play for Cornell University in the fall, and was drafted into the NHL in the 7th round by the Arizona Coyotes. 

His four years playing at Cornell were hands down some of the memorable years of hockey of his life. He played in over 120 games, served as an assistant captain, and enjoyed playing the style of hockey that rarely shows up on the stat sheet. This includes killing penalties, blocking shots, finishing every hit and being matched against their top line to keep them from scoring. The lifelong friendships, playing college hockey and having the opportunity to get an Ivy League education were all things that made his experience one of a kind.  

After his college career he had the opportunity to play professional hockey in the ECHL for the Manchester Monarchs. It was here that he met and played with head skills coach Mario Puskarich. Ultimately the ups and downs mentally & physically of playing professional hockey as well as a knee surgery led him to retire from playing. He immediately started his coaching career as a player development coach for the Colorado Rampage. Most recently he was the U18 head coach for the Seattle Jr Kraken where he helped them win a NAPHL Championship in their first year as an organization.