Coaches

COACH MIKE MURPHY

Hockey Director / Varsity Head Coach

This is Coach Mike Murphy’s second season with our club. He has over 20 years of experience coaching at every level of hockey, eight years of officiating and two years as a D3 college player in the NCHA. Before taking on the role of Hockey Director and Head Varsity Coach for OPRF in 2022, he spent two years as the Junior Varsity Head Coach of BG/H/W (Buffalo Grove/ Hersey/ Wheeling).

Coach Murphy has a degree in Communications from Benedictine University as well as some additional post graduate work at Adler School of Psychology which was always his passion. During his senior year of undergrad, his college hockey coach (and now Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame inductee), Michael “Rhodie” Rohdenburg, both inspired and mentored him to be the team building and character focused coach that he is today.

Coach Murphy has a passion for relationship-based coaching. His focus is to create and nurture an environment in which players can fully realize their playing potential as well as their living potential through hockey. Under his leadership the program has a strong focus on the combination of confidence and unity, culminating in players both individually and collectively performing with a level of energy and enthusiasm they never had before. He believes that development should be clearly visible, and the question will be how good can we get?

Coach Murphy is a “Culture” coach. Every time he walks into an ice rink he feels an immediate burst of energy, gratitude and happiness, and he wants to share that experience. Most important to Coach Murphy is that there is a collective belief and enthusiasm being shared by “ALL” who are a part of the program. Everyone needs to be conscious of their responsibility to positively contribute. As he will simply put it, it’s time for us all to have fun like Sports Should Be! 

MIKE O’ROURKE

Coach Mike O’Rourke has been coaching and playing hockey in Illinois for over 20 years. Mike grew up playing hockey in the south suburbs of Chicago playing for travel programs at the AA and AAA levels. As a player, Mike was a key contributor that led the Downers Grove Huskies to win the State and Regional Championships at the Pee Wee AA level. Mike’s competitive nature and leadership skills resulted in him being named varsity captain for Lincoln-Way East High School where he was selected to the SHICA League All-Star team. Mike’s passion for the game has led him into coaching. Mike began coaching 6 years ago and had been heavily involved with supporting the local Oak Park Ice Bears community.

Mike believes that the game of hockey is one of teamwork amongst players, parents and coaches all striving towards the same goals. As a coach, he holds himself accountable to empower players with the knowledge, skill, and belief that they can accomplish their goals in service of growth.

Mike previously served as our Varsity Assistant Coach during the 2020/2021 season before taking some time off to focus on family. We are very excited to welcome him back to the Huskies.

BEN OSTLER

Coach Ostler grew up in the Oak Park hockey community starting with the Huskies youth program and eventually becoming a four-year Varsity goalie at OPRF from 2014-2017. He was selected to the 2017 Illinois All-State team, Illinois West All Star team, and Illinois Showcase team. Coach Ostler was the recipient of the 2017 Bolin-Cooper Scholarship.

Coach Ostler's coaching career started at the Park District of Oak Park while still in high school. After high school, he attended the University of Kansas where he majored in Sports Management and currently calls the Chicago Blackhawks his “real” employer.

After working alongside Select Goaltending during the 2022-23 season, we are excited that Coach Ostler has fully taken over our goaltender training and will be conducting goalie clinics as well as providing his support on the bench during games.

NENAD RAKOVIC

Nenad Rakovic boasts an impressive and multifaceted career in hockey, both on and off the ice. He played for the Serbian national team on 14 IIHF World Championships, served as captain for both the U18 and U20 Serbian National team, participated in three Olympic qualification tournaments, and held the position of assistant captain for the Serbian Men's national team. He played for clubs such as Red Star Belgrade, Maribor Lisjaki (Slovenia), Partizan Belgrade and the Melbourne Mustangs. As a player, he won two IHL (International Hockey League) titles. After his playing career, he worked as a General Manager with Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade (IHL). He served as a coach for the Kingsville Kings (Jr. A) and Windsor Aces (Jr. A). He joined the OPRFHC coaching staff in the spring of 2024. Nenad’s deep-seated passion for hockey, coupled with his diverse experience, underscores his commitment to advancing the OPRFHC and driving the club toward excellence.