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Paris will open its Provincial Junior Hockey League season on Saturday with a back from the dead nickname and new coach.
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Paris will host the Norwich Merchants at the Brant Sports Complex at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday to kick off the 2026-27 season.
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Known for decades as the Mounties, Paris changed its name to Titans with an ownership change several years ago. Now with Mike Christian leading the team as its sole owner, Paris has once again gone back to using the Mounties moniker.
Renaming the team was a big off-season splash but it wasn’t the only one as the Mounties hired ex-NHLer Zac Rinaldo as the team’s new head coach.
A veteran of 374 NHL games over 11 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Arizona Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets, Rinaldo has a simple goal when he steps behind the bench.
“I want to make them better players and better people,” the 36-year-old Hamilton native said. “I think that’s just my foundation as a human.”
After concluding his career at the end of the 2021-22 season, Rinaldo wasted little time in finding new footing in the hockey world.
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Since retiring, he has coached with the Milton Menace, Toronto Red Wings 14U AAA team and Pelham Panthers. He was also the assistant general manager in Pelham and worked as a scout for the Brantford Bulldogs during the 2025-26 season.
“They approached me and the schedule lined up really well,” Rinaldo said of taking the Mounties coaching job.
“I could juggle some in-season development . . . and I could still coach. I could still be in the game, giving back, teaching and coaching while also doing development.”
Hired a bit late, Rinaldo only saw his players during a couple of summer skates. The Mounties had no practices and despite that fact, the team wound up 2-4 in the pre-season with a big win over the always strong Dundas Blues.
“Having no practices . . . I thought we did a tremendous job of buying into our identity, buying into the standard and making adjustments on the fly,” said the coach.
“That’s not easy to do.”
This season the Mounties will be an older team but don’t expect them to be slow. Rinaldo wants to play an uptempo game where the players are aggressive and have a purpose with their physical play.
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By eliminating their opponents’ time and space and concentrating on doing the little things well, the team’s end goal will take care of itself.
“You have to be well over .500 to get into the playoffs and getting into the playoffs would be our goal right now,” he said.
As for the season opener at home, Rinaldo is hoping fans will come out and support the players. He noted that there are several locals on the team, including captain Ryan O’Keefe who grew up wanting to be a Mountie and now lives out that dream.
“I just think it’s really important that the community comes out and supports our guys,” the coach said. “We have lots of local kids.
“I think people are going to see a hardworking group that wants to compete. The players are very respectful, down to earth, really good kids who want nothing more than to be successful.”
Following its opening game, Paris plays on the road Sunday when it takes on the Dorchester Dolphins at 3:30 p.m.
Visit paristitans.pjhlon.hockeytech.com for more on the team, including a schedule.
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