Rochester Americans General Manager Randy Sexton announced today two new staff additions to the team’s hockey operations department. Michael Dhesse has been named the new Head Athletic Trainer while Kris Young has joined the organization as the Amerks’ Video Coach and Team Services.
Michael Dhesse
Dhesse joins the Amerks after spending five years as the assistant athletic trainer at the University of Alaska Anchorage (NCAA), where he was the primary athletic trainer for hockey with the Seawolves. He was also the medical coordinator for the Anchorage Mayor’s Marathon & Half Marathon, the largest marathon in the state of Alaska.
While in Alaska, he was active in the Alaska Athletic Trainers’ Association, serving as their public relations chairman and sitting on the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Dhesse, a Peru, IL. native, earned his Bachelor of Science degree in athletic training at Northern Illinois University (NCAA). While with the Huskies, he was an athletic training student covering football for two and a half years, which included a Mid-American Conference Championship game and the Orange Bowl and Poinsettia Bowl.
In addition to his athletic training duties, Dhesse conducted research for the creation and implementation of emergency action plans in the secondary school setting on a national level and was awarded first place at the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association meeting in 2014 and was presented at the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Symposium that same year.
In his final semester of school, Dhesse interned with the University of Washington’s football team, and prior to leaving NIU, was awarded the American Kinesiology Award.
Dhesse is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and Professional Hockey Athletic Trainers’ Society.
Kris Young
Young joins the Amerks after spending the previous three years as the video coach for the Ottawa Senators (NHL), which followed one season with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League.
In his new role, Young will also oversee all aspects of team travel and video operations.
A native of South Porcupine, ONT., Young has represented Canada at numerous international events, most recently winning gold as Team Canada’s video coach at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Young was also the recipient of a silver medal at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Ottawa before adding his second gold medal that same year while serving on Team Canada’s staff at the U18 Women’s World Championship in Finland.
Additionally, he previously served as the video coach for Hockey Canada’s Women’s National Team in 2011.
Before working with Hockey Canada, Young was the video coach for the American Hockey League’s version of the Bulldogs from 2006 to 2010, helping Hamilton win the Calder Cup in 2007.