Nearly a month after he resigned as head coach of the Mt. Ararat boys hockey team amid an investigation into hazing allegations involving the program, AJ Kavanaugh has found his next coaching job.

Former Mt. Ararat boys hockey coach AJ Kavanaugh will coach a youth hockey team in Lewiston next season. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Kavanaugh will coach the Maine Nordiques Academy’s new 15-only team for players born in 2010. The 15O team is one of a few Nordiques Academy Tier I youth hockey development teams that will play at The Colisee in Lewiston next season, along with the Nordiques’ NAHL and NA3HL junior hockey teams. The Academy’s 16U and 18U teams are returning to Maine after two years in Greer, South Carolina.

Kavanaugh said he started talking to the Nordiques last fall about the opportunity to coach the new full-season development team. He previously coached a Maine Nordiques 14U Tier II team that plays in the Maine Amateur Hockey Association.

“Myself and some of the other 14U coaches were approached about the idea of, one, academy hockey coming back from the Carolinas to Lewiston, and because we had a nice core of 2010s, they wanted to entertain the idea of a 15O Tier I team,” Kavanaugh said. “At the time, it wasn’t really on my radar. I wanted to see how my son liked high school hockey, and he was a freshman this year. As the season went on, we kind of obviously started thinking more and more seriously about it, and made the decision that that was where my son wanted to go, and I was asked shortly thereafter if I’d be going to coach. So that’s kind of how it all came to fruition.”

Mt. Ararat began a hazing investigation involving its boys hockey team in January. Kavanaugh and the Eagles’ assistant coaches were replaced by an interim coaching staff, a decision that School Administration District 75 Superintendent Heidi O’Leary said several times did not imply Kavanaugh or the other coaches did anything wrong.

Kavanaugh, who had coached the school’s varsity team since 2015, announced his resignation on Feb. 16, just hours before the remainder of the team’s season was canceled.

Late last month, a school district official informed Kavanaugh in a letter that because he resigned he was no longer part of the Title IX sexual harassment investigation into the Mt. Ararat boys hockey program.

Kavanaugh said the Mt. Ararat investigation came up during the interview process with the Nordiques.

Nick Skerlick, the general manager of the Maine Nordiques’ NAHL and academy teams, told the Sun Journal that the organization was comfortable hiring Kavanaugh, whom he said has a “five-star commitment” to helping young hockey players.

“I knew they had issues there,” Skerlick said. “You know, that was brought to my attention, I’d say, two weeks ago when he talked to me about that. But I did not know it was for sexual harassment. I thought it was for, I guess it was emotional misconduct, which, unfortunately, we see all the time in coaching.

“USA Hockey has its policies, right? And they’re good policies to keep players safe for both, you know, the physical abuse and maybe mental abuse that the younger athletes may receive. And for me, if AJ’s able to coach at the Tier II level, they’re MEAHA, with those allegations brought on him. Obviously, we’re not going to go out and hire someone that has had a past of any type of misconduct, especially anything regarding Title IX.”

Kavanaugh declined to comment when asked about the hazing investigation at Mt. Ararat.

“Of course, there were internal conversations of what I was allowed to speak to, obviously,” Kavanaugh said. “I remained quiet throughout it, and well, you know, I can’t comment on — it’s still technically an active investigation, but I’ve been removed from that completely, when I resigned.”

Kavanaugh said his son, Anthony, will likely play for the 15O academy team. Skerlick said the Nordiques already have 10 verbal commitments from players, and the team will have players from Maine and throughout the United States. The academy teams will play in two leagues, the Beast Series and the North American Prospects Hockey League, along with other showcases. In all, they will play around 50 games.

“The Beast League gives us the opportunity to showcase our kids down in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, in the big college recruiting months, which is the fall,” Skerlick said. “Colleges aren’t playing hockey games on the weekends in the fall. So these kids can go to these showcases.”