Green Bay Notre Dame hockey coach Silverio Mirao hasn’t coached his first game as the Tritons’ new leader, but the longtime assistant already has notched a big win.
Mirao welcomed former NHL player and Notre Dame star Max McCormick to his staff this summer, a short time after the 5-foot-11, 188-pound forward announced his retirement in June.
The De Pere native and his wife, Alexis, have decided to make the Green Bay area their home. The couple has two young daughters.
“I just reached out to him and asked him if he planned on retiring, and he shared that he was going to retire,” Mirao said. “I asked if he was interested in helping out at NDA, and without hesitation, he said yes.
“Knowing Max, and knowing how important it is to him to give back and work with kids, he just has a passion for it. I wasn’t surprised that we got a quick yes.”
McCormick, 34, has run the McCormick Hockey School for more than a decade, helping kids improve their skills along with focusing on leadership and work ethic qualities.
This is just another chance to keep doing what he did throughout his playing career.
“I was excited about the opportunity,” McCormick said. “I just had a conversation with my wife about it, and it was sort of the perfect opportunity at the right time. It’s a way for me to come back and get involved with the program and stay in the game, which is something I definitely wanted to do.”
McCormick’s role will include working with the forwards and the power play.
“It brings us a level of credibility right from the beginning,” Mirao said about McCormick’s addition. “Definitely some energy and excitement. We have been fortunate for a long time to have young men that really want to see where they can take their craft.
“To be able to have someone who has gone through the process that they would like to go through, it just brings another level of development that you just are not going to get everywhere.”
Max McCormick enjoys successful professional career
McCormick’s time at Notre Dame was a preview of bigger things to come in his hockey career.
He developed into a star during his last three seasons with the Tritons, going from a 5-foot-6, 130-pound kid to an almost 6-foot, 175-pound force.
The 2010 graduate led the Tritons to their first WIAA state tournament as a senior, scoring six goals in regional and sectional play. The total included a hat trick against Neenah/Hortonville in a regional championship.
He added one goal in a state quarterfinal win over Madison Edgewood and a hat trick in a semifinal loss to eventual state champion University School of Milwaukee.
McCormick won Wisconsin’s Mr. Hockey award as the state’s top player with 38 goals and 37 assists. He was drafted by the Sioux City Musketeers in the first round of the United States Hockey League entry draft later that year while earning a scholarship to Ohio State.
“The one thing we learned really early with Max, is that when Max sets his mind to something, he’s got to be one of the most mentally tough individuals I’ve ever met,” said Mirao, who has been a part of the Notre Dame program since it returned to the ice in 2006. “This was a young man that when he was 14, 15, was told he wasn’t good enough. He didn’t make Team Wisconsin then. There were other kids in his birth year that everyone was pointing at, as they were the ones that were going to move on.
“He basically said no.”
McCormick was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the sixth round of the NHL entry draft in 2011.
He played for Ohio State for three seasons before signing a two-year contract with Ottawa in May 2014.
McCormick’s first NHL goal was in his 10th career game in January 2016, coming against future Hall of Fame keeper Robert Luongo.
He still has the puck and stick from that contest, not to mention the memory of the standing ovation he received from the home crowd after it was announced it was his first goal.
McCormick played parts of seven seasons in the NHL for Ottawa, the Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken from 2015 to 2024, scoring eight goals in 94 games.
His debut with the expansion Kraken in October 2021 was a noteworthy day in Notre Dame history.
McCormick was recalled by the team from the Charlotte Checkers after the Kraken placed former Notre Dame standout Mason Appleton on the injured list.
One former Tritons star replaced another.
Although the two never were on the same team in high school, Appleton played with McCormick’s younger brother, Sam, as a dynamic forward duo with the Tritons.
McCormick also had a noteworthy run in the American Hockey League, finishing with 159 goals and 178 assists in 540 games.
His run in the AHL included becoming one of the best players in the young history of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, an affiliate for the Kraken.
McCormick retired as the organization’s all-time leader in goals with 67, was second with 140 points and third with 158 games played.
He also holds the single-season team records with 32 goals and 67 points and led the Firebirds to two straight appearances in the Calder Cup Final in 2023 and 2024.
McCormick missed the 2025-26 season after undergoing surgery on his right hip.
He decided afterward to call it a career. It was a difficult decision, but his body told him it was time.
“It’s a strange feeling,” McCormick said. “I think, at first, it took a little while to hit me. There was a period where I kind of struggled with it and was really missing the game and was considering getting surgery on my other hip and trying to make a comeback.
“It’s hard. You do something you love, and you worked towards your entire life and it’s all you have ever known. It’s your identity. Unfortunately, you can’t play forever. I think that’s why it’s important that I’m going to be coaching. I’m still going to be in the locker room. I’m still going to be on the ice. I’m still going to be involved around the game. I think that’s going to make the transition a little bit easier.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Former NHL player Max McCormick joins Green Bay Notre Dame hockey staff
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
