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Jeff DeFrancesca and Mike Kautz Reunite to Coach Glenview Stars Squirt 3 Team

By Glenview Stars Staff, 07/31/09, 12:14PM CDT

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The Glenview Stars are proud to announce that accomplished Stars alumni Jeff DeFrancesca and Mike Kautz are joining forces to coach the 2009-2010 Squirt 3 team.


Jeff DeFrancesca

Jeff DeFrancesca grew up playing for the Glenview Stars and collected six state championships, three regional championships and appeared in three national tournaments. Jeff was a captain on the Stars 1998 national championship team and went on to play junior hockey in the Eastern Junior Hockey League for the Lowell Junior Lock Monsters.

After Juniors, Jeff played for the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he was a four-time Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) All-Academic team member and helped lead the team to first place in the NCHA, resulting in an appearance in the NCAA national tournament.

Jeff was a 2008 finalist for the NCAA’s Hockey Humanitarian Award, awarded annually to college hockey’s finest citizens who give back to their community in true humanitarian spirit.


Mike Kautz

Mike Kautz began his hockey career with the Glenview Stars at age five where he played under respected coaches Steve Richmond, Ken Rzpecki and Tom Koziol. During his years with the Stars, Mike was teammates with present-day fellow coach Jeff DeFrancesca for four seasons, going on to win four state championships and making two appearances in the national tournament.

Mike later played AAA hockey for Team Illinois, where he won three state championships and went to the national tournament twice.

His hockey career continued with two seasons with the Chicago Steel in the USHL, two years with Lake Superior State University of the CCHA and two years with the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

At UW-Stout, Mike was named All-Conference, All-Academic and All-Americam and, with teammate Jeff DeFrancesca, led the team to its first appearance in the NCHA playoffs.

After college, Mike played for the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL and the Chicago Hounds of the UHL.

Mike looks forward to working with Stars players and everyone in the organization to share his knowledge of the game and further the Stars’ winning tradition.