Larry Courville

Larry P. Courville (born April 2, 1975) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. Throughout his career, Courville spent parts of three seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). From 2009 to 2017, he served as head coach of the Reading Royals of the ECHL.

Born in Timmins, Ontario, Courville was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the fifth round (119th overall) of the 1993 NHL entry draft. He had an excellent final OHL season in 1994–95 in which he scored 73 points and was a key component of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 1995 World Junior Championships, but was unable to come to contract terms with Winnipeg. As a result, he re-entered the draft and was selected 61st overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1995 NHL draft.

Courville had a fine first professional season the following year with Vancouver AHL affiliate in Syracuse, scoring 49 points and earning a 3-game call-up to the Canucks, where he scored his first NHL goal. Over the next two seasons, he would continue to be a frequent call-up, seeing 30 more games in the NHL with Vancouver. However, he struggled to produce recording just 2 assists.

After spending four seasons in the Canuck organization, Courville was released in 1999 and signed with the San Jose Sharks. Courville's grit and leadership proved a valuable asset to the Sharks' farm team in Kentucky, but he failed to see any action with the Sharks in two seasons with the organization.

Since leaving the San Jose organization, Courville has played in the minor leagues. He was possibly the biggest name player in the short-lived North Eastern Hockey League, playing for the York IceCats in the 2003–04 season. After spending three seasons with the Reading Royals, Courville retired.

He was named interim head coach for the Royals on January 6, 2009, replacing Jason Nobili, and returned as head coach for the 2009–10 season. During the 2016–17 season, he announced he would be stepping down from his position with the Royals. However, after qualifying for the playoffs, the Royals fired Courville on April 3, 2017. He is now the hockey director of the Lancaster Firebirds youth hockey.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1990–91 Waterloo Siskins OHA-B 47 20 18 38 144 — — — — — 1991–92 Cornwall Royals OHL 60 8 12 20 80 6 0 0 0 8 1992–93 Newmarket Royals OHL 64 21 18 39 181 7 0 6 6 14 1993–94 Newmarket Royals OHL 39 20 19 39 134 — — — — — 1993–94 Moncton Hawks AHL 8 2 0 2 37 10 2 2 4 27 1994–95 Sarnia Sting OHL 16 9 9 18 58 — — — — — 1994–95 Oshawa Generals OHL 28 25 30 55 72 7 4 10 14 10 1995–96 Vancouver Canucks NHL 3 1 0 1 0 — — — — — 1995–96 Syracuse Crunch AHL 71 17 32 49 127 14 5 3 8 10 1996–97 Vancouver Canucks NHL 19 0 2 2 11 — — — — — 1996–97 Syracuse Crunch AHL 54 20 24 44 103 3 0 1 1 20 1997–98 Vancouver Canucks NHL 11 0 0 0 5 — — — — — 1997–98 Syracuse Crunch AHL 29 6 12 18 84 — — — — — 1998–99 Syracuse Crunch AHL 71 13 28 41 155 — — — — — 1999–00 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 61 11 12 23 107 9 1 5 6 16 2000–01 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 71 20 16 36 112 3 0 0 0 6 2001–02 Hershey Bears AHL 49 3 6 9 61 — — — — — 2001–02 Reading Royals ECHL 8 1 2 3 10 — — — — — 2001–02 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 1 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 2003–04 Johnstown Chiefs ECHL 38 13 22 35 67 1 0 0 0 4 2004–05 Reading Royals ECHL 64 9 15 24 78 4 0 0 0 6 2005–06 Reading Royals ECHL 57 12 16 28 81 4 2 5 7 10 2006–07 Reading Royals ECHL 13 2 2 4 14 — — — — — 2007–08 Reading Royals ECHL 10 0 5 5 14 — — — — — NHL totals 33 1 2 3 16 — — — — — AHL totals 415 92 130 222 788 39 8 11 19 79