Staff
John Keshishian
Founder/Owner
John played youth hockey in the Bay Area and continued through the collegiate level and now Senior men’s hockey. As a Business Major, John has combined his passion for hockey with his business background in 2019 to become one of the Founders of the Santa Rosa Growlers.
Blake Johnson
Founder/Owner/Captain
USA Hockey Certified Coach - Level 5
Blake has been a life-long member of the Santa Rosa hockey community. After playing for the Santa Rosa Junior Hockey Club and coaching for a few years as well, he went on to help restart, play, and then coach the Santa Rosa Junior College hockey program. After playing 4 years of Senior A hockey for another club, he returned to Santa Rosa to co-found the Growlers in 2019. Blake is also the Programming Director at the Growlers home arena, Snoopy's Home Ice.
Michelle Harris
Owner, President, Director of Growth and Community
Michelle comes from 30+ years as an sales executive/director in the beauty and wellness industry. Michelle thrives on building high-touch relationships with her clients to help their businesses grow to reach the next level. She is most excited to build more meaningful relationships between the Growler staff, players, local sponsorship partners and the local community-strong support system.
Sean Harris
Owner, General Manager, Vice President of Operations
A Santa Rosa native, Sean is a retired sales executive from the liquor and wine industry. Sean has always been passionate about sports having played and coached several basketball and soccer teams in Northern California. He looks foward to the challenges and rewards of growing a business and bringing the Santa Rosa and Sonoma County community an exciting product everyone of all ages can attend.
JESSE KOFALK
HEAD COACH
USA Hockey Certified Coach - Level 5
Coach Jesse brings over 30 years of hockey experience to the Growlers . He first fell in love with the game playing on the frozen lake behind his house where he was raised in upstate NY. He also played the entirety of his youth hockey career in New York State ranging from Youth,Tier I, and High School Hockey. His junior career was spent playing defense in the MetJHL currently known as the EHL. Jesse also had a short stint in the Catamount Senior Elite Hockey League in Vermont.
He holds over a decade of coaching experience at the Youth, Tier, and High School levels, he has coached both “men’s and women’s teams” and has had the opportunity to share the bench with some former NHL greats. He is currently the Western Scout for the Chicago Cougars of the Premier Division of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL).
Jesse is passionate about growing the game in California where he also serves Northern California as a skills and development coach. He excels at providing High School and Tier players with skills, development, drive and opportunity to play at the next level and increasing their chances to play collegiately.
Sean McGee
Ambassador
Sean McGee, native of Santa Rosa, played hockey for the SRJHC from age 7 through juniors with his two brothers Brian and Danny. Sean graduated from Cardinal Newman High School and then attended The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota to pursue hockey but ended up playing collegiate soccer. The entire McGee family have been a part of the Snoopy's Hockey Tournament for over 40 years. Sean began refereeing tournament games at the age of 16 until age 40. He has also had the pleasure of playing in the tournament the last 16 years. Sean was assistant coach for the SRJC for 3 years with Tom Belliter, where he coached many of the players currently on the Growlers roster. Sean was the first head coach for the Growlers for two years. Many would consider him a “players coach”…Sean’s favorite thing to tell the team: “ you guys are out there sweating, bleeding and giving it your all for the Growlers, Santa Rosa & me, I love you for it!”
Greg Cornelius
COACH
USA Hockey Certified Coach - Level 4
Coach Greg was born and raised in Calgary Canada, and spent hours at the outdoor rinks and lakes developing his passion for the game of hockey. After high school, he moved to Southern California and played competitive roller hockey while going to Cal State Long Beach to get his degree in Film Production. After year of working at Paramount Studios, he decided to move to Santa Rosa, to raise his two kids Will and Katie, and is a Real Estate Broker. For the last 20 years, Greg has coached every level of hockey that the Santa Rosa Flyers youth program has to offer and is currently an assistant coach of the Sonoma County Flyers Varsity team. His coaching philosophy revolves around not only teaching the skills of the game, but also instilling strong work ethic, discipline and sportsmanship in his players, and has inspired countless youth athletes in Santa Rosa to chase their own hockey dreams and grow the passion of the game.
Tim Scally
Goalie Coach
USA Hockey Certified Coach - Level 4
Coach Tim brings over 50 years of hockey experience to the Growlers. A San Franciso Bay Area native, Tim has earned numerous awards and achievements as a goaltender throughout his youth and adult hockey career, which spans 6 decades. Over the course of the past 20 years, Tim has performed as Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and Goalie Coach for youth players in the SRJHC and has been coaching with the Growlers since the team’s inception.