Coaching Staff

The 2024-2025 season is Coach Fabbrini’s 3rd season both behind the bench as Varsity Head Coach and in the classroom as Fenwick’s Freshman Resource Coordinator. He was named Head Coach on June 1, 2022, after successful playing and coaching careers at the college level. 

Nick grew up in Forest Park, Illinois, and played soccer, hockey, and baseball at Fenwick during his High School career. In 2003 and 2004, Nick was a member of Back-to-Back Catholic League, Kennedy Cup, and State Championship teams. He amassed over 200 points in 2 Varsity seasons and was named to the All-State and Showcase teams in 2004. 

After graduating from Fenwick, Coach Fabbrini attended the University of Illinois, where he found continued success as a member of 2 CSCHL (2006, 2008) and ACHA National Championship (2005, 2008) teams as a player. The 2008 team is still the only undefeated team in ACHA history. Nick graduated from Illinois in 2009 with a degree in Accountancy and finished in the Top 25 in program history in Games Played (141), Goals (74) and Points (132). 

Upon returning to Chicago, Nick coached at the Chicago Hawks for one season and joined the Fenwick coaching staff in 2010-2011 as a Varsity Assistant and JV Head Coach for two seasons before returning to Champaign as the Head Coach of his alma mater, the University of Illinois for the 2012-2013 season. The Illini found immediate success under his leadership, winning the 2013 CSCHL Championship, while Coach Fabbrini was a finalist for ACHA Coach-of-The-Year. In 2016, the Illini were awarded the ACHA Community Service Award for raising over $25,000 for charitable causes, along with the players volunteering over 300 hours of their time for the local youth hockey organization. 

In the 2016-2017 season, Coach Fabbrini was named an Assistant Coach to Team USA for the Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan, alongside current JV Head Coach James McGing, who led the team in scoring during the tournament. The 2017-2018 season saw the Illini finish the season ranked 5^th nationally and make a run to the CSCHL and ACHA National Championship games before ultimately falling to Lindenwood and Adrian. In 2019, Nick was again named to Team USA’s staff for the Winter Universiade in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. He coached at Illinois until the 2021-2022 season. 

In 9+ seasons at Illinois, Nick compiled a 202-126-22 record. He was 2018 CSCHL Coach-of-the-Year and a two-time finalist for the same award for the ACHA. He recruited and coached 4 CSCHL Rookies-of-the-Year, 16 All-CSCHL players, 6 All-Americans, and more than 30 Academic All-Americans. He was also the Coaching Director for the Champaign-Urbana Youth Hockey Association for 8 years, working with their Minor Hawks program up through High School players.

In two seasons at Fenwick, Coach Fabbrini has led the Friars to a 63-58-8 record. He was the 2024 Chicago Catholic League Coach-of-the-Year. He currently resides in Forest Park with his dog, Frankie. He is excited to lead the next generation of Friar student-athletes to successful careers both on the ice and in the classroom. 

Varsity Assistant Coach Mike Lozano is entering his 3rd season on the Friar Coaching Staff and 5th season overall. Mike grew up playing youth hockey out of Orland Park, first playing AA for the Orland Park Vikings before making the jump to play AAA for the Chicago Chill, who later rebranded to the Fury.

After graduating from Lockport High School, Mike played junior hockey in the NA3HL for the Chicago Hitmen and St. Louis Jr. Blues, before attending and playing ACHA D1 Hockey at Lindenwood University in St. Louis. He had a standout career for the Lions, playing in 142 games and amassing 127 points. In 2016, Mike's Sophomore year, they would go on to win the ACHA National Championship. Coach Lozo contributed 6 points in 4 games and was named to the All-Tournament team. In the 2017-2018 season, Mike was honored to be named Team Captain, and the Lions were crowned CSCHL Champions after defeating Coaches McGing (as a player) and Fabbrini in a hard fought Championship game.

Upon graduating from Lindenwood, Mike became a Graduate Assistant under Coach Zombo for two seasons, and has brought a tremendous amount of hockey knowledge and winning pedigree to the Friars over his last two seasons.

Ryan grew up playing youth hockey in the Chicago area for the Blues and Flames. At Fenwick, he played U16 CSDHL and Fenwick JV until playing on the varsity team for his junior and senior seasons. Outside of hockey at Fenwick, Ryan was a part of the varsity wrestling team as a freshman as well as playing lacrosse his sophomore and junior years.

Ryan went on to attend St. Mary’s University in Winona where he was a part of the NCAA Division III program as a true freshman and ACHA Division II the following year. Ryan finished his undergraduate education at Illinois State University where he continued playing hockey at the ACHA Division 2 and 3 levels and was an ACHA Academic All-American in his final year. Upon receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Illinois State, Ryan continued to stay involved with the game of hockey by joining the Oak Park Hockey Academy where he was involved in the learn to skate program teaching levels 1-4 and developing the private lesson program for the Hockey Academy. Ryan took a brief hiatus from coaching to further his education by pursuing two master’s degrees concurrently: Master of Science in Sport and Human Performance; Master of Art in Counseling: Specialization in Rehabilitation Counseling.

After completing his graduate program, Ryan returned to Fenwick Hockey as an Assistant Coach/Mental Skills Coach since the 2021-2022 season. In his second season with the program Ryan was a part of the coaching staff for the team that won the DiChristina Cup during the 2022-2023 season. In addition to coaching at Fenwick, Ryan also is a lead instructor for Next Level Power Skating where he assists hockey players and officials improve their skating abilities.

Professionally, Ryan is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and is eligible to be Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) through the State of Illinois. He currently works for a multidisciplinary performance, rehabilitation and technology company that plans to open their first facility later this year in the West Loop.

Coach James McGing is entering his first season coaching the Friars, but brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to the position. James grew up in a hockey family, and played AAA growing up before attending and playing at Culver for 4 years. After spending 2 seasons with the Prep Team at Culver, he played 2 full seasons in the NAHL (North American Hockey League) before playing 4 years for Coach Fabbrini at the University of Illinois.

James had an accomplished career as an Illini, garnering numerous CSCHL All-League Awards, as well as being selected as a member of Team USA for the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In a tournament full of players with professional experience, James led team USA in scoring with 9 points in 6 games. He would go on to finish his Illini career in the top 20 in Points and Points per game, and in the top 10 in Assists and Penalty Minutes. He also played for Team Mexico in the LatAm Cup in Chicago.

As accomplished as James is as a player, he has two youngers brothers who can boast similarly outstanding hockey careers. Liam, his middle brother, played in the USHL and NCAA D1 at Arizona State. His youngest brother, Hugh, was a standout at Western Michigan and is currently playing for the St. Louis Blues AHL affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts.

James has previous coaching experience at the 10u and 12u AA levels for the Chicago Jets and Skokie youth organizations, and does freelance video work professionally. He currently resides in Chicago.

David brings a wealth of coaching knowledge that dates back to his high school days. His experience was built from the time he was 16 years old and throughout his playing career in the Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul Areas. The experience he gained over the years led him to starting his own goalie training business, AdvancEdge Performance which provides goalie private lessons, camps and services to individuals and organizations throughout Chicago. 

Over the last few years David has served several roles including: Goalie Director (Ice Dogs Hockey Association), Assistant and Goalie Coach (University of Illinois), Goalie Coach (Carmel HS, Chicago Cougars), and Head Coach (Ice Dogs - Peewee, Chicago Cougars - USPHL Elite).

During his playing days, he played spent of most his youth playing with the Highland Park Falcons and Team Illinois. He went on through the junior circuit ranging from Junior B to Tier II Junior A and then moved on to college at the NCAA D3 (University of Wisconsin - River Falls) and ACHA D1 (University of Illinois) levels. 

Chris Malay joins the Friar Hockey Coaching Staff for his first season, but is entering his 6th season behind the bench overall, including 3 years as a Head Coach. Chris grew up playing hockey in the Chicagoland area, before attending Lyons Township High School, where he was a 4-year Varsity Goaltender. He was named to the IHSHL All-Star Team twice, and was also selected to represent Team Illinois at America's Showcase, one of the highest attainable honors for Illinois High School players. member of the Illinois High School Showcase Team.

Following LT, Chris played attended and played hockey at St. Mary's University of Minnesota. Coaches Malay and Fleming were actually roommates their first year at St. Mary's as well. After playing, Chris got into coaching and most recently was the Head Coach and Goalie Coach for the Spartans High School Hockey program, who won two IHSHL League Championships under his guidance. Chris will be working primarily with our JV team, but will also lend his expertise to our goalies in coordination with Coach Heflin. Outside of coaching, Chris is a commercial real estate broker and lives in Chicago with his girlfriend and his puppy, Chelios.