NBHL Staff

Matt Rotman joins our organization with almost 30 years of experience building hockey programs, mentoring coaches and developing players.

Matt has extensive coaching and skill development experience at all ages and skill levels, from pre-Mite through Adult League. He has coached with the Falcon Hockey Association as a head coach and skill development professional and also with the early development players in the Learn to Skate clinics and House League. During his time with the Falcons, Matt was also an Assistant Varsity coach for Lake Forest High School and Deerfield High School.

In the early 2000s, Matt joined the Northbrook Hockey League as the Assistant Director of Hockey for the Bluehawks. During his tenure, the Bluehawks organization grew from 200 skaters to nearly 400 skaters – skaters that included NHL star JT Compher (of the Detroit Red Wings – formerly Colorado Avalanche) and Jesse Compher of the PWHL’s Toronto Hockey Team.

During his time with the Bluehawks, Matt also led the Glenbrook North JV Hockey team as their Head Coach.

Ken Johnson grew up in Northbrook, played as a Spartan, and continued on to play Division 1 at Miami of Ohio. Ken has had hockey in his blood ever since while working with the Falcons, Winnetka, Glacier and CYA among others, in addition to coaching and running numerous summer camps.  He has taught players from Pre-Mite through Professional and has been involved with all aspects of growing and running various hockey organizations. 

Tom Gullen grew up in Deerfield playing hockey for the Falcons and Deerfield High School. After graduating from college he began managing the Ice Arena and other facilities for the Winnetka Park District and coaching travel teams, many years with current Bluehawks Director of Development Ken Johnson. After he “retired” from the Park District in 2016, he was named Executive Director of the Winnetka Hockey Club until he “retired” at the conclusion of the 2022 season. He was inducted into the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010 and was awarded to AHAI Lifetime achievement award in 2022. Tom has enjoyed working with the Board and staff of the Bluehawks on an array of programs and especially the Wishbone Tournament held every Thanksgiving. Tom will serve as the Ice Scheduler for the Bluehawks in “semi-retirement”.

Bob moved to Northbrook with his family in 1999 and has coached hockey, football & baseball since. Growing up Bob always had a huge passion for hockey and he has been playing hockey for over 20 years. 

Bob has four children and his two oldest are boys are out of college, in the workforce and coaching in Northbrook. Bob's older son (Eric) coaches hockey and his younger son (Patrick) coaches football. They were actively involved in sports in Northbrook and GBN including baseball, football, and hockey. Bob has two daughters, Kieley and Alison. Ali is a Bluehawks hockey player. Bob has been married for over 25 years to his wife Kim Anderson, a teacher at Countryside Day School.

Mike Noonan played youth hockey with the Falcons and Chicago Minor Hawks. Mike played high school hockey at Highland Park.

Mike has been a coach at Northbrook for over 15 years. He has coached teams at various levels throughout his tenure with the Northbrook Bluehawks and has also been an instructor in all development classes with the Northbrook Park District and Bluehawks.

Mike has three kids: Matt, Trevor, and Kelcic.

Growing up in Northbrook, I played Bluehawks hockey and continued at Glenbrook North until graduating in 2012. After high school, I went on to attend Michigan State University and upon graduating began work at Discover Financial Services where I work today. I have been coaching Northbrook hockey with my dad (Bob Anderson), since returning from college and look forward to coaching for many more years to come.

Hirsch grew up playing youth hockey in the Chicagoland area. His playing background includes AAA hockey where he won state championships in 2017 with the Chicago Mission U18 team. He then went on to play D3 ACHA hockey at Hope College where he won 3 national championships in 5 seasons.