San Francisco Sabercats

Youth Hockey Teams

Eli Groban - Head Coach - Midget 16A

Coach Eli played AA youth hockey for the Ramapo Saints (Ramapo, NY) and attended the Atlantic District Select camps.  He played the game for 23 years and coached baseball and hockey for 12 years.  He served as the San Francisco Sabercats Bantam B coach since he moved to San Francisco in 2002 and served as the Head Coach for the Bantam A and Midget 18A summer tournament teams in 2007.  Eli grew up in New York where he attended Rye Country Day School and, subsequently, Williams College.  He moved to San Francisco to pursue a Ph.D. in Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco.  Moreover, he worked throughout college as a Professional Emergency Medical Technician servicing 911 calls for Northwest, MA and NYC, NY as well as serving as the staff EMT for the Williams College Rugby team.  In his spare time he enjoys running whenever he gets a chance and playing adult hockey with Coach Brian, Coach Greg, and Coach Aaron.


Gregory Fujita - Assistant Coach - Midget 16A

Coach Greg has been involved in the sport of ice hockey for 19 years. As a youth skater, he played at the AA and AAA level for the Banff Hockey Academy, the Arvada Hockey Association, and the Colorado Outlaws Midget Tier 1 team, for which he served as the alternate captain. Greg has played at the National and International level as well as having attended several scouting tournaments in western Canada. Greg was recruited to join the New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and play on the Tufts University Men's Ice Hockey Team. He has also spent several years as an instructor at the nationally renowned Greg Carter's European Hockey School based in Concord, Massachusetts, where he taught intermediate and advanced individual skill development with other instructors at the NCAA, Junior, and Professional levels. www.gchockey.com. He is enthusiastic to begin his second season with the San Francisco Sabercats organization! Greg enjoys spending quality time on and off the ice with the coaches and players, practicing his wrist and slap shots in his garage at home, and running stair exercises. He works professionally for a San Francisco based construction company.


Brian Gray - Head Coach - Bantam A/B

Coach Brian is the proud father of a 2 year old boy, Ethan.  He has been playing hockey since the age of 6.  He played AA hockey in Canada and attended three years of Roger Neilson's hockey school.  Brian has his level 4 coaching certificate, a non-trivial accomplishment, and is moving into his 6th year of coaching.  He has also been in charge of several day camps and hockey clinics in Berkeley.  He continues to play at a high level of hockey in the bay area and is looking forward to a new home in San Francisco.

Aaron White - Assistant Coach - Bantam A/B

Aaron grew up playing ice hockey in Colorado where he played on various travel hockey teams as a youth, played at the collegiate level for the University of Colorado, and continues to play on several teams in the Bay Area.  He began coaching for the Boulder County YMCA house program in 2000, and has since coached for the San Francisco Sabercats Travel program.  Aaron served as the Assistant Coach for the Bantam B team in 2002 and as Head Coach for the Bantams the following year.  From 2004 through 2006, he acted as Head Coach for the Sabercats Midget 16/18 teams.  During the 2006/07 season the Sabercats were unable to field a Midget team, so Aaron used this time to concentrate on finishing his business degree.  He currently works in the financial consulting field and is looking forward to coaching the Bantam team this season with Brian Gray.  In his spare time he also enjoys cooking, surfing and playing guitar.

George Caliendo - Head Coach - Pee Wee A/B

Coach George has been coaching youth hockey for almost two decades.  In New York City, he was head coach of the St. Bernard's School ice hockey team from 1988 through 1999.  During that time, he was also a coach, teacher, tutor and mentor for the Ice Hockey In Harlem community hockey program.  While living in Los Angeles, he coached in-house hockey at the LA Kings practice center.  He has been a pee-wee coach with the SF Sabercat's program since 2004. 

Coach George played for the Columbia University hockey team in college and captained the Columbia Business School hockey team while in graduate school.  He lives in Mill Valley and is a Director in Global Markets Sales & Trading at Deutsche Bank. 


Paul Switenki - Director of Coaches and Assistant Coach - Pee Wee A/B

Coach Paul is a USA Hockey Level 4 Coach and has been involved with youth hockey since he was 8.  He has been coaching for 16 seasons, 8 of those with YBISC.  He grew up playing on the frozen lakes and outdoor rinks of his native Minnesota, where he played travel hockey and often attended Herb Brooks' "Minnesota Hockey Schools" summer camps.  After playing high school hockey, he pursued his engineering education at Penn State, where he played intramurals, practiced with the National Champion PSU club team and coached learn-to-skate, inhouse and two travel teams.  He continued his coaching while attending the University of Colorado and while studying and working in the UK.  He has coached every level from Mites to Midgets...including a women's team in London, England. Although his favorite movie is "Miracle", he says it can't compare with the live version he saw as an inspired 9 year old. In his spare time Coach Paul likes to kayak, hang out with the coaches, listen to parents complain and spend time with his wife Birgit, a native San Franciscan. Paul considers himself lucky in that often he can do the latter three at once!  Coach Paul and Birgit are expecting in late December, just in time for the San Jose Holiday Tournament!

Sara Elliott - Head Coach - Mites A/B

Coach Sara has completed the Level 4 USA hockey certification and has coached travel hockey in CAHA for 13 years.   During this time she has served as the head coach for the Valencia Express, Costa Mesa Comets, and Los Angeles Bulldogs on the mite through pee wee levels.  She is also a fantastic power skating instructor and has taught in power skating camps throughout the United States and Canada.  In addition to her coaching career, Sara has dabbled in Hollywood as a skating adviser to several major movie projects including Jack Frost and the Mighty Ducks!  In her spare time one can sometimes catch her volunteering at the Celebrity All Star Hockey games anywhere from Los Angeles to Boston.

Peter Korcsinszky - Assistant Coach - Mites A/B

Coach Peter’s love for ice hockey originates from his father, who is true fanatic of the sport.  Growing up watching his father, who has been an active member of the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation and the President of the local hockey club over the past 20 years, left no chance for him to avoid his fate: becoming a hockey player.

He got his first pair of skates at the age of 5 and since then has never abandoned them.  He played youth travel hockey up to his teenage years and was also selected for the Under-16 national team of Hungary.  Shortly after, due to a knee injury, he decided to focus on his education, ultimately earning a law degree.

Throughout he stayed close to the sport, as he started coaching his hometown’s squirt and peewee teams and was running the International Ice Hockey Federation “Learn to Play” program.  In 2004, after getting married and joining his wife here in San Francisco, he instantly got connected with the local hockey world.   Since then he has been serving as a coach and skating instructor for the in-house/squirt program at YBISC.

It’s been over a decade since he started teaching youngsters the fundamentals of ice hockey, incorporating solid work ethic and uncompromising team spirit.  He also plays for the San Francisco Adult Hockey League, since has never forgotten the ultimate reason he first stepped on the ice: Hockey is FUN!