A native of Montreal, Quebec, François Methot was a 3rd round NHL draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1996 out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).  He began his QMJHL career as a 16-year old with the St. Hyacinthe Lasers for the 1994-95 season.  In just his 2nd QMJHL season, Methot registered 94 points in 68 games and led the Lasers in scoring as a 17-year old.  Following that season, the Buffalo Sabres made Methot their 3rd round pick in the 1996 entry draft and made his professional debut with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) during the 1998-1999 season at the age of 20.

Methot spent the the first five seasons of his professional career with the Amerks, playing in 334 regular season games with the club and another 39 Calder Cup playoff contests.  After a season with the Portland Pirates in the AHL, Methot moved on to a very successful career in Europe until he retired from playing professionally.

Upon retiring following the 2014-2015 season after a 17-year professional playing career he returned to Rochester full time and immediately was brought on by the Rochester Monarchs AAA Hockey Club as their Director of Hockey.

Methot has continued to develop his knowledge of the game even after completion of his playing career.  This past summer he spent time in Arizona at the elite skating camp of renowned power skating coach Boris Dorozhenko of Next Generation Hockey schools.  Methot has brought this system and philosophy back to Rochester to work with players of the area.  Dorozhenko’s reputation became known nationally this spring as one of his longtime students, Auston Mathews, was selected overall #1 by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2016 NHL draft.  Dorozhenko worked with Mathews from the time the Leafs prospect was seven years old until Matthews moved onto the US National Team Development program U-17 and U-18 teams.

Coach Methot is excited to bring an expanded set of skating and hockey skill instruction and development to players of all ages throughout the Rochester area.

Dave has spent a lifetime developing his craft. Here in Rochester, Dave has been coaching, teaching and doing skill and skating development for nearly 30 years. Personally he has taught more than 50,000 private lessons and has worked with hundreds of thousands of hockey players of all ages.

Dave is a USA Hockey Level 5 Master certified coach. He is a USA Hockey Select Festival Head Coach and Goaltending Coach. He has also had the opportunity to be a speaker at several USA Hockey Coaching Certification seminars from Level 1 to Level 4. In his years in Rochester, Dave has coached well over 50 teams from Mite to Junior A and college. Throughout his playing and coaching life, Dave has won 6 State Championships and 3 National Championships. Dave played youth hockey in Michigan culminating with a National Championship with the Little Caesars hockey program as a midget. He went on to play D1, D3, and 2 seasons of professional hockey in the minor pro leagues.

Dave is excited to bring his nearly 3 decades of experience back to the Rochester Ice Center, where it all began for him back in the early 90s.  Dave teaches Skating, Shooting, Puckskills, Goaltending, Game Situations and much more.  However, he specializes in building confidence and cultivating a lifetime love for the game.

Dave is currently available for private instruction of all ages and abilities for on ice lessons and off ice lessons in RIC's new shooting area.

Nick graduated in 2019 from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science.  He grew up in Penfield, New York and played junior hockey for the Syracuse Stars and Buffalo Junior Sabres.  Nick went on to play NCAA DIII hockey for four years.  Two of those years were spent at SUNY Brockport and two years were at King’s College.  He made All Tournament Team in the WSYB Catamount Radio Invitational Tournament in 2017.  Nick currently trains off ice at Next Level Strength and Conditioning and on ice at the Academy with Coach Methot.  He has played two years of professional hockey, one in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and currently plays in the Southern Professional Hockey League.  He is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning coach at Next Level.  He has been coaching private lessons and team camps since 2016.

Alex grew up in Macedon, New York playing for the local youth programs before moving on to junior hockey. He played two years for the Capital District Selects in the EJHL then two years for the Salt Lake City Moose of the WSHL, where he captained the team both years as well as being named first team all-league. Alex continued his hockey career at Worcester State University playing four years of NCAA DIII while receiving a degree in history with hopes to become a teacher. Since graduating Alex has played two seasons of professional hockey in both the Federal Prospects Hockey League and Southern Professional Hockey League. In the offseason Alex trains here at the Rochester Ice Center as well as off ice training at Next Level Strength and Conditioning, and has helped coach local youth athletes for three years.

Cameron is currently completing his bachelor of science in psychology with the goal of completing a masters in Sports Psychology with a specialization in Neuroscience.  Cameron grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia before moving to the United States in 2008. Before playing juniors, Cameron played on the 18U AAA Buffalo Junior Sabers as a 15 year old. He then went on to spend his junior career in the North American Hockey League playing for the two teams in Alaska, the Kenai River Brown Bears and the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. Cameron was a part of one of the winningest teams in NAHL history in Fairbanks and subsequently won the National Championship with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the 2015-2016 season. He then went on to finish his final two years of junior in Louisiana playing for the Shreveport Mudbugs. He spent his final two years serving as an assistant captain for the Shreveport Mudbugs and helped lead the Mudbugs to a National Championship in the 2017-2018  season, only one year after the inaugural season of the team. Cameron has spent the past two seasons playing NCAA division I Hockey for the Niagara University Purple Eagles. He has spent much of his playing career working with and developing younger hockey players and has over 5 years of experience giving private
lessons.