Program History & Coaching Staff

Mike Ryan - Head Coach

Mike joined Ocean in 2011 as an assistant coach  after six seasons as head coach at Point Pleasant Boro, where his Panthers won a Southern Conference Blue Division Championship in 2007.  As an assistant under Dave Smith, Mike worked with the goaltenders, handled the day to day stats and ran the defense during games.  As head coach, he aims to continue the traditions put in place under Smith and keep developing the program while maintaining the "Once a Spartan, Always a Spartan" feeling amongst all players past and present.

Dave Smith - Assistant Coach

Dave was the first head coach in Ocean Hockey's history, coming on board after being head coach at Rumson Fair Haven and leading the Bulldogs to many successful seasons.  Following his time at RFH, he joined Wall Township as an assistant coach until 2009 when he came to the Spartans and immediately led them to success, where they appeared in the NJSIAA and Shore Conference Tournaments in their first two seasons.  Overall, under Dave, Ocean has appeared in the postseason in all but four seasons and they reached the quarterfinals twice.  Dave has won over 200 games as a high school head coach.  Prior to the 2021 season, he decided to take a step back, and stepped into the assistant coach role, but his profound knowledge of the game still remains on the bench, ready to be shared.

Nate Smolenski - Assistant Coach

Nate joined Ocean for the 2021-22 season to assist the team with practices and take over the running the defense during games.  Ocean is the first high school program he has been on the staff for, but Nate has coached youth hockey and learn to play programs in both Illinois and New Jersey prior to joining the Spartans.