By Columbia Infantry Staff
The Columbia Infantry have announced two new hires for their hockey operations department, in Head Coach Darren McCormick and Senior Advisor Bill McDonald.
McCormick, born in 1993 in Buffalo, N.Y., played college hockey at SUNY-Cortland, and then began a pro hockey career in 2016-17 that lasted eight years, ending with his retirement just this past season of 2023-24 after playing with the Quad City Mallards of the Southern Professional Hockey League. In North America, he played in the SPHL and ECHL, while also playing in France and in Hungary. He got his first taste of coaching when he was both a player and Skills Coach for the Hungarian team Budapest Jégkorong Akadémia HC.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to build this team from the ground up. As someone who is huge on player development, I’m eager to find the right players that are wanting to develop and advance their careers. I want to thank Shannon and Greg Albers for this opportunity. They truly care about the organization and providing a place where players are going to want to be a part of,” said McCormick. “My wife and I are eager to get down to South Carolina and start this next chapter.”
Bill McDonald started his 31-year coaching career in 1986-87 in the OHA Senior League and enjoyed long pro hockey coaching stints in the Central Hockey League (11 cumulative years), ECHL (two years with the Dayton Bombers) as well as in Canadian collegiate hockey with Lakehead University from 2013-2018.
