If you have played slo-pitch or minor hockey in Orillia over the last four decades, you are likely quite familiar with Mike Borrelli.
Borrelli is the president of the men’s, women’s and co-ed slo-pitch league in Orillia. He is also the tournament coordinator for the Orillia Minor Hockey Association (OMHA), a long-time coach for the organization’s major midget team, and serves on a few committees with the organization as well.
The Thunder Bay native has always had a passion for sports. He admits he wasn’t fantastic as a player, but he always felt he had some kind of purpose to serve the sports he loved.
His family moved to Orillia when he was 12; Borrelli came here with something to prove.
“I was never the best at anything, but I wanted to show people that I knew how to get to be the best,” said the now 60-year-old.
Borrelli has been coaching and organizing teams since he was 20 and has been at it ever since - for four decades.
It all started with a ball hockey team that was as close to professional as it could get, featuring star players like Shayne Corson, who spent many years playing in the NHL.
Around the same time, Borrelli began getting into slo-pitch and ran a team that played at a highly competitive level, won consistently and put Orillia on the slo-pitch map.
After tons of success playing, coaching and organizing teams, Borrelli needed a new challenge.
“Once I got to a point where I didn’t want to do the competitive tournaments, I decided I’ll get on the executive and try to get a league going,” said Borrelli.
Borrelli joined the Orillia Slo-Pitch league that, at the time, consisted of 20 teams: a 12-team division for men and an eight-team division for women.
Thanks in part to Borrelli’s efforts, the league has blossomed to 85 teams, in four different divisions for men, women and co-ed squads.
“It has expanded to the point where, unfortunately, we don’t have the fields to grow the league any further,” Borrelli said with pride.
As the league has evolved, the players have also evolved.
“(Orillia) has won a lot of Ontario championships which people said we would never do. We’ve won Nationals, which is another thing they said we would never do,” Borrelli said with gratification.
Borrelli says there is no shortage of talented players and teams in Orillia.
“I’ve taken this little town of Orillia and have made it recognized as one of the best player-for-player at all levels in Ontario or maybe even Canada,” Borrelli says.
Despite the ongoing success of the league and teams in the city, Borrelli still feels things can improve.
“I still have the fire and competitiveness to prove to people that slo-pitch in Orillia is what slo-pitch was meant to be at the highest caliber, and I believe our league and teams all get better from that,” Borrelli said.
Borrelli is also the mastermind behind the annual Northern Shootout Tournament which just celebrated its 12th year in June.
The tournament hosted almost 90 teams and over 1,000 slo-pitch players from all across Canada this year. It is the host tournament for the national men’s and ladies’ A championship.
The tournament is a marquee event for teams in Orillia, but also local businesses, says Borrelli.
“We had a company do a stream study on the tournament and they came back to us and said your tournament generates over $400,000.”
Thanks to Borrelli and Molson Coors Brewing Company, this year's Northern Shootout featured a contest for tournament participants to win a once-in-a- lifetime experience.
“Molson raffled off, at their expense, two tickets to the World Series. This was just for the people who attended our tournament,” explains Borrelli.
“It was won by a local slo-pitch player from Orillia, Jim Scharf. He was in awe and very emotional,” Borrelli said with a smile.
In the colder months of the year, Borelli spends most of his time running tournaments and coaching for the OMHA.
“I was never a good ice hockey player, however, I enjoyed the game, so I thought I would give back to the kids of the community,” said Borrelli.
One of Borrelli’s favourite parts of the hockey season is the year-end banquet. Without Borrelli, there might not be one.
At the end of Borelli’s first season as a coach with the OMHA, he was stunned to learn there was no such thing as a banquet for the rep level players.
“It was only for house league players, so I put together a presentation for the board. I went and presented it, they liked it and four years later, I believed it was one of the best banquets for its size, its character and for the way it’s run,” Borrelli said with a smile.
“I love to give back to some of these kids who never had a chance to experience this before,” he added.
Borrelli is currently preparing to coach the Orillia major midget Terriers again this season after serving many years as a bench boss for OMHA teams and having plenty of success.
Borrelli has coached teams to provincial and OHF championships and an International Silver Stick back in 2018 which Borrelli counts as one of his career highlights.
“We took a bunch of kids who I did not think could win and got them over the hump, winning a Silver Stick,” Borrelli remembers fondly.
“We went undefeated that year in single-A. We would go to tournaments and people would brush us off as little Orillia and we surprised a lot of people,” he added.
Borrelli is driven to win another Silver Stick, and he likes his team’s chances for the upcoming season.
“The excitement of competing at that level is my rush. I’m 60 and I feel like I’m 30. I love it, I love the competitiveness,” said Borrelli.
Although the main goal for Borrelli is to win another banner to hang in Orillia’s Rotary Place, the most satisfaction he gets is watching the players grow.
“I have players who I coached 10 to 15 years ago come back and see me, and go out of their way to shake my hand and say ‘Hey Coach’... and no one can take that away from me. It is the best,” says Borrelli.
One of those players is Braeden Price, a netminder for Borrelli's Terriers in 2004 and the championship year in 2006. He's now an elementary school teacher at Severn Shores School.
"It's just a whole different experience when you play for him," said Price. "By that age, you know how to play and he just works on making you as happy as you can be."
Price said Borrelli is generous and passionate.
"He'll take the whole team for wings. He would ask us all on the bus ride home, who wants to come to Kelseys for wings? And then he would order 200 chicken wings, and we would just go in there as a team and he would pay the whole shot," said Price.
"He is a very selfless guy. He's just a big teddy bear and will give you everything you ever wanted without even asking."
Price said Borrelli was a good role model.
"He makes you realize that coaching is about having your players' backs at that level. It's a big transitional time for the age group he coaches, and at that age, when your headspace is just crazy, it's a comfort knowing you can go to the rink and he (Borrelli) is going to be there for you."
Underpinning it all and instrumental to the success, says Borrelli, is one important ingredient.
“If you have respect on a team, running a team or even a league, you will do well and it is rewarding,” Borrelli says.
Borrelli has been a key pillar of the sports community in Orillia for 40 years. He says he has no plans to slow down.
“I still have a fire in me to make Orillia a great place in sports,” says Borelli. “I’ll stop when the fire goes away, but not yet.”
