COACHING STAFF
2025-26
16AA - DEAN TILTGEN (Assistant-Paul Strand) // 14AA - DEAN TILTGEN (Assistant-Paul Strand)
14AA2 - MATTHEW STRAND // 12AA - DEVIN WARFIELD
10AA - BLAISE SMELTZER (Assistant- Austin Finch)
18U - MATTHEW STRAND (Assistant - Manny Esteves)
16A - BOBBY GRAM //16A - DEVIN WARFIELD //16A - TBD
14A - BANKS MORGAN/REECE COLLEY //14A - TBD
12A - BATES BATTAGLIA // 12A - BOBBY GRAM
10A - AUSTIN FINCH
2025-26 NC GOLDEN BEARS COACHING STAFF BIO
DEAN TILTGEN - U14 AA and 16AA
After coaching both the 16AA and 14AA teams in 2024-25, leading the 14AA to Nationals for the NC Golden Bears program, Tiltgen will once again coach the 14AA AND 16AA as head coach for the 2025-26 season.
Tiltgen grew up in Canada and was a very accomplished hockey player. Tiltgen played 5 season in the Western Hockey League before he moved on to the University of Alberta, also playing with Paul Strand for the Golden Bears. After playing for two seasons, Tiltgen moved on to a professional career that lasted 8 seasons in the East Coast and West Coast hockey Leagues.
Tiltgen Coaches in the Alberta Mens Hockey league for the Stony Plain Eagles prior to relocating to the Raleigh Area with his family. After living in the area for a few years Tiltgen decided he wanted to get back into coaching and took on the head coaching position for the U14AA NC Golden Bears in 2022-23.
Tiltgen's teams outperformed expectations, as he brought his playing career background and non-parent perspective to the club. He is truly an asset to the NC Golden Bears in our development structure.
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PAUL STRAND - ASSISTANT COACH 14AA AND 16AA
In order to transition to a focus on the growth and development of the tier 2 aspect of the NCGB and the AA and A level teams, Strand has been added to the coaching staff of the 16AA and 14AA teams that will be head coached by Dean Tiltgen.
Strand is the founder of the NC Golden Bears program and is looking forward to adding to the depth of the coaching staff of these two flagship teams of the program. He will assist in the on ice and off-ice development of these crucial age groups in order to help move them to AAA, Junior and College teams in the future.
Strand is looking forward to adding to the wealth of knowledge that Tiltgen already brings to this age group.
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MATTHEW STRAND - U14AA2 AND U18
Strand will once again take on two coaching roles. Last year's 16AAA and 18A coach will coach the 18U team again and take on the 14AA2 role for 2025-26.
Strand began his coaching career while attending the University of Alberta and took an assistant coaching role with the South Side Athletic Club of Edmonton. While in this program Strand helped coach future NHL players Vernon Fiddler and Jason Chimera.
Later on, Strand moved on to coach the Spruce Grove Regals Junior B program taking those teams to Provincial championships multiple times and to a championship on one occasion.
Strand has been a head coach for multiple teams in the NC Golden Bears program each season. He has a talent for teaching the game to players of great travel experience or coming from the house league.
Strand played Junior hockey in the Alberta Junior Hockey league after being a standout in Midget Hockey for the Fort Mcmurray Oil Barons. He was an incredibly smart player who also was known for his ability to protect his teammates, coming to the aid of his brother on numerous occasions.
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DEVIN WARFIELD - U12AA AND 16UA
Warfield was entrusted with the 14Gold and 14Green teams in 2024-25 and has been a highly requested coach for 2025-26. Warfield will coach the 12AA team and one of the 16UA this upcoming season.
Warfield is a local product. Warfield played in the Junior Hurricanes program and was coached by Paul Strand, first at the Quebec Pee-wee Tournament and then again at the U14 AAA level.
Warfield played College hockey at Division 3 Utica and returned home to join the coaching ranks with the NC Golden Bears. He was thrown into the fire as the head coach of the EHL Golden Bears and did a great job weathering the storm for a team that was severely overmatched. After that team folded Devin joined youth side of the program and was brought along slowly as an assistant coach for multiple teams under Matthew Strand.
During the 2021-22 season Warfield stepped into the pro ranks for the Carolina Thunderbirds of the Federal Prospects Hockey league. Warfield scored 9 points in 11 games proving his ability. However, his desire to coach and develop the youth of the Carolinas proved to be a bigger calling.
In 2023-24 Warfield was given the head coach title of the U16AA, and arguably made that team into the best U16AA team in North Carolina according to its overall record.
Warfield is a world class skater and has become the premier Powerskating and skills coach in the Raleigh area.
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BOBBY GRAM - 12A Gold AND 16A
Gram will once again be back coaching in the U12 and U16 ranks for 2025-26. Bobby is a stalwart in the program and loved by all the players he coaches at 12U and 16U.
Bobby is another local product who grew up playing in the now defunct Carolina Eagles and NC Golden Bears after that. Bobby played U16 AAA for the TPH Thunder and then moved on to have a 4-year career in Junior, including the EHL, before succumbing to concussion injuries.
Bobby is very passionate about coaching and works with kids in the Polar Ice league as well as within the NC Golden Bears Program. in 2022-23 Bobby was an assistant coach, under the mentorship of Matthew Strand, for the U16 Gold and U16 Green teams. Many times, Bobby took on the head coach role during games including a season ending tournament championship in Hampton Roads.
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BATES BATTAGLIA - 12A GREEN
Bates played 580 NHL hockey games for the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs. Bates has been a staple in the community since his early playing days and was widely recognized as one of the players who gave a lot back to the fans in terms of his time and dedication.
Bates will be heading up the NCGB 12A Upper Level Green team and will truly be an asset to the program. We are extremely proud to have him lead one of our teams.
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AUSTIN FINCH - U10
Austin Finch was an original NC Force U16 player during the 2015-2016 season. Finch played 3 seasons of youth hockey before playing both seasons for the NC Golden Bears EHL team. After the team folded Finch was moved onto the Seahawks of the EHL where he got an offer to play Division 3 NCAA at Rivier University in New England.
Finch played one season of Division 3 before moving back to NC and getting into coaching as an assistant coach in 2022-23 for the NC Golden Bears. Finch did an awesome job with our 14A Golden team while also leading and assisting our skills sessions and on the bench with multiple teams throughout the season.
Finch got accepted into NC State and will play for the Icepack in 2025-26 season. This will be his second season with the Icepack.
Finch will coach our 10A team
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BLAISE SMELTZER - U10AA
Blaise came to the NCGB program in 2024-25 and was a great addition to the coaching staff. He will be returning to the U10 level for 2025-26 as a head coach. Blaise will be assisted by NCGB coaches for practices and games.
Blaise grew up playing travel hockey in Western New York. He played competitive high school hockey in the greater Buffalo area before focusing on academics and attending college. Blaise has been a youth coach for nearly 20 years. He has worked with hundreds of young hockey players over the past 6 years within the local house program. Blaise is a level 4 certified USA Hockey coach, and a USA Hockey certified official. Blaise has a Masters degree in education and believes in focusing on the fundamentals of both individual skill and team play. Blaise’s commitment and attention to detail allows him to develop young hockey players to a very high standard with proven results.