Thirty five seasons ago, a Stettler, Alberta native guided the Ooks to NAIT's first national title in any sport. Twenty five years ago, Perry Pearn guided NAIT to an unprecedented sixth appearance in the gold medal game.

Pearn was the first ACAC head coach in any sport and the first (and only) CCAA hockey head coach in the country to be behind the bench of six teams that won CCAA titles. He is the lone hockey head coach with more than three CCAA national championships.

In 14 seasons behind the Ooks bench, the 1984 CCAA Coaching Award of Excellence recipient posted an unmatched 21 wins in 25 outings at CCAA nationals and two more victories at a national qualifier for a winning percentage of .852.

When Pearn parted ways with the Ooks after the 1992-93 season, he was the conference's career coaching leader in championships (6), first place finishes (7), seasons (14), wins (291), and games (412). In addition, he set a number of conference records that still stand including most consecutive regular season/playoff wins (52), most consecutive regular season wins (42), and most consecutive playoff wins (16), most consecutive appearances in the conference finals (7) and most consecutive conference champions (4).

Pearn was the first ACAC head coach in any sport and the first CCAA hockey head coach in the country to have his/her teams repeat as both conference champions and national champions. (The 1984-85 & 1985-1986 NAIT Ooks were back-to-back ACAC and CCAA champions.)

He was also the first ACAC head coach in any sport and the first (and only) CCAA hockey head coach in the country to have his/her teams win three successive CCAA titles with gold medal performances in 1989, 1990 and 1992. (No CCAA tournament was held in 1991.)

During his tenure at NAIT, Pearn was also on the coaching staff of Team Canada at three World Junior Championships (1990, 1991, 1993). After a pair of gold medals as an assistant coach, Perry brought home a gold medal as a head coach.

For the past 21 seasons, he has been an assistant coach in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets, the Ottawa Senators, the New York Rangers, the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks.

On July 23rd in Canmore, he will become the fourth conference coach to be inducted into the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame joining Dale Henwood, Al Ferchuk, and Ken Babey.

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