RPI, Ferris Hire New Men's Head Coaches

The coaching carousel began spinning last week in the NCAA Division I men's hockey ranks.

Rensselaer tabbed Eric Lang earlier today as its new bench boss. Lang, 49, an American International College graduate, spent the last nine seasons at his alma mater, which is reclassifying the AIC men's hockey program to NCAA Division II next season. He led the Yellowjackets to an overall mark of 153-139-30, which included four Atlantic Hockey regular-season championships, three Atlantic Hockey conference tournament titles, and three NCAA tournament berths. 

A former men's assistant at Army West Point, Lang, 49, also spent one year as the men's head coach at Manhattanville College, guiding the Division III Valiants to a 13-9-3 finish in 2011-12. Prior to that, he coached the Manhattanville women's team for three seasons, going 58-22-3 overall and leading the Valiants to two ECAC East titles and their most recent NCAA tournament appearance to date. He succeeds former RPI coach Dave Smith, who over saw the Engineers the last eight years.

Ferris State hired Long Island University head coach Brett Riley on March 31, the only coach LIU had known since the program began play in 2020-21. In four seasons at the helm of the Sharks, Riley, a Hobart graduate, led them to an overall record of 42-73-5, including a program-best 20 wins in 2024-25. He also coached Wilkes for one NCAA Division III season, fashioning a 16-8-2 mark in 2018-19, before serving one year as an assistant at Colgate. Riley, 34, succeeds long-time Ferris head coach Bob Daniels, who had led the Bulldogs the past 33 seasons.

ADDENDUM: LIU has hired Brendan Riley, cousin of Brett Riley, as the Sharks' new men's hockey coach. The son of longtime Army West Point head coach Brian Riley, Brendan Riley, 29, has served the past three years as an assistant coach at AIC. A native of West Point, N.Y., he skated at forward for Mercyhurst from 2016 to 2020, notching five goals and 11 assists for 16 points in 91 career games.

NCAA Hockey Coaching Ranks Changing

The head coaching carousel has begin spinning in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey.

Longtime Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels oversaw the final game of his long career with the Bulldogs' 4-1 loss at St. Thomas in the first round of the CCHA tournament. Daniels, a Michigan State graduate, began coaching FSU in 1992-93 and amassed a 510-625-117 record with the Bulldogs. Included among those numbers were six years with 20 or more victories, three CCHA regular-season championship, one CCHA tournament title, and four NCAA tournament appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 2012.

Rensselaer recently relived Dave Smith of his duties after eight years at the helm of the Engineers, as he compiled an 87-152-19 mark overall. An Ohio State graduate, Smith and his 2019-20 RPI team went 17-15-2 overall and sat fifth in ECAC Hockey at 13-8-1 before the remainder of that season was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic. He had previously manned Canisius from 2005 to 2017, taking the Golden Griffins to the 2013 NCAA tournament while also earning one Atlantic Hockey regular-season title and one tournament championship. His career record stands at 259-375-78.

American International's Eric Lang saw his NCAA Division I tenure at his alma mater end with Sunday's 4-3 loss at Holy Cross in the second round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament. The Yellowjackets are reclassifying to Division II beginning next season. In nine years, Lang led AIC to an overall mark of 168-148-33, plus four Atlantic Hockey regular-season championships, three tournament titles and three national tournament appearances, including an upset of No. 1 St. Cloud in the 2019 NCAAs.

Mercyhurst's Rick Gotkin, who has guided the Lakers since 1988-89, has announced that he will retire following the 2025-26 season. The only coach to take a school to the NCAA tournament at the Division I, II and III levels, Gotkin, who played collegiately at Brockport, has fashioned a 611-551-111 record through 37 seasons so far. His ledger includes four MAAC/Atlantic Hockey regular-season titles, three conference tournament crowns, and six NCAA tournament berths overall, plus 11 seasons with 20 wins or more.

Princeton Defeats RPI, Wins Fourth Straight

Princeton University continued its recent roll by besting visiting Rensselaer, 6-2, on Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers (5-4-1 overall, 3-4-1 ECAC Hockey) have now won four straight games, all at home, after topping Union on Friday and sweeping Ohio State last weekend. 

David Ma and Brendan Gorman each scored two goals for the Tigers against RPI, with Gorman adding an assist. David Jacobs set up a pair of goals for Princeton, which got 24 saves in net from Arthur Smith in his fourth straight victory.

Princeton is now off until Dec. 28, when it plays at Army West Point.  The Tigers return home on Jan. 3-4 against New Hampshire.

Princeton Outlasts RPI, 6-5

After starting off the 2022-23 campaign with six losses in its first eight outings, Princeton University seems to have righted the ship heading into the holiday break.

The Tigers claimed their fourth victory in their last five games by holding on for a 6-5 win over Rensselaer in an ECAC hockey matchup on Dec. 10 at Hobey Baker Rink. The Tigers never trailed that night, but saw several multiple-goal leads ultimately evaporate by the final minute of regulation as the Engineers pulled out all the stops to try and force a tie.

Nick Marciano opened the scoring for the home side with his first career collegiate goal early on, followed by a Brendan Gorman goal that made it 2-0 for Princeton before Auston Heidemann got RPI on the board with 0.4 seconds left before intermission. Ryan Mashie then pulled the Engineers within one just 24 seconds into the second period, but Princeton made it 4-2 at the end of 40 minutes on goals by Adam Robbins and Spencer Kersten, the latter a shorthanded marker.

The Tigers made it 5-2 early in the final stanza on David Jacobs' tally, before Mashie got RPI back within two goals just under 10 minutes later. Ian Murphy then scored into an empty-net, shorthanded, with under two minutes remaining, with that goal ultimately standing up as the game-winner after Jake Gagnon notched two extra-attacker goals for the Engineers only 24 seconds apart, the latter with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock. 

Nathan Pearson (30 saves) helped keep Princeton ahead for good with a point-blank glove save on TJ Walsh's one-timer from the right circle in the last minute of regulation. Jack Watson had 29 saves for RPI, which finished 4-for-8 on the power play. Princeton defenseman Pito Walton collected three assists, which helped him earn ECAC Defender of the Week accolades.

Princeton (6-7-0 overall, 5-6-0 ECAC Hockey) is now off until a two-game NCAA non-conference set at Colorado College on Sec. 30-31, while RPI (7-9-1, 2-6-0) returns to action that same weekend at Bowling Green.

Mike Addesa 1945-2022

Former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's hockey coach Mike Addesa passed away earlier this week at the age of 77.

The Boston native was head coach at RPI from 1979 to 1989, and guided the Engineers to the 1985 NCAA Division I men's hockey title. He was relieved of his duties in 1989 after a racial incident with two of his players, and never coached at the college level again.

After one year as general manager with the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, Addesa spent five years as a scout with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings. He went on to become general manager/head coach and franchise owner with the Boston Bulldogs junior organization, from 1995 to 2012. He then scouted for the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks, and also served as GM with the Seacoast Spartans Prep organization until retiring in 2017.

Addesa began his hockey coaching career in 1966-67 as an assistant at Stoneham (Mass.) High School, then moved on to St. Mary's (Mass.) High the following season as head coach. He then oversaw Randolph (N.J.) High for five seasons and Wellesley (Mass.) High for one before taking an assistant's job in 1974-75 at his alma mater, the College of the Holy Cross, where he had played football. He was promoted to head coach of the Crusaders in 1976, and remained in Worcester until he took the top job at RPI, where he fashioned an overall record of 186–124–9 over 10 NCAA campaigns.

Addesa was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

Appert Out at Rensselaer

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is looking for a new men's hockey mentor for the first time since 2006. RPI relieved head coach Seth Appert of his duties on Monday after he went 152-221-48 over 11 seasons at the helm of the Engineers.

Appert's best season came in 2010-11 when RPI finished 20-13-5 overall and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. His tenure in Troy, N.Y. was the third-longest in program history, behind Dan Fridgen and the legendary Ned Harkness. The Engineers went 8-28-1 this just-completed campaign, and were swept in the first round of the ECAC Tournament by Clarkson.

Appert, a Cottage Grove, Minn. native, lettered in goal at Ferris State in the mid-1990s when I was the Hockey SID at Michigan State, before he served nine years as an assistant coach at Denver. He was always gracious and giving of his time when I covered RPI as a reporter over the past decade, and I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.

RPI's Haggerty Signs with New York Rangers

Rensselaer has seen the last of junior forward Ryan Haggerty—and that's in a good way.

According to collegehockeynews.com, the undrafted Haggerty has signed a free-agent contract with the NHL's New York Rangers. RPI's 2013-14 season—and ultimately Haggerty's college career—both came to an end on Sunday when the Engineers were ousted by Dartmouth, 5-4, in the deciding game of a best-of-three first-round ECAC series at RPI's Houston Field House.

Haggerty ranks third in NCAA Division I with 28 goals this season, and led the Engineers (15-16-6 overall) with 43 points in 35 contests. He scored 10 of his goals on the power play, while six were game-winners. In three seasons in Troy, he rang up 47 goals and 37 assist for 84 points in 106 outings, including 19 power-play tallies, eight game-winners, and 102 penalty minutes, according to his statistical page at USCHO.com.

I interviewed Haggerty for New York Hockey Journal back in December. His father played at Providence.

A six-foot, 200-lb. native of Stamford, Conn. who prepped with the U.S. National Development Team prior to enrolling at RPI, Haggerty is expected to join the Rangers after they complete a road trip with games at Minnesota tonight and at Winnipeg tomorrow.

Princeton Edges Rensselaer, 2-1

A pair of New Jersey natives made it Princeton University's night on Friday.

Mike Ambrosia's early-third period goal at Hobey Baker Rink stood up as the game-winner, and fellow Chatham, N.J. native Colton Phinney finished with 33 saves for Princeton (4-14 overall, 3-8 ECAC) in the Tigers' 2-1 victory over ECAC rival Rensselaer on Jan. 10.

Princeton thus gained a split of its two-game regular-season series with the Engineers, following a 5-2 loss in Troy, N.Y. last month  Scott Diebold made 25 stops for RPI (8-9-4, 3-4-3) in Friday's setback, including 13 saves in the third period.

RPI's Luke Curadi opened the scoring off a goal-mouth scramble at 14:49 of the first period, before Tyler Maugeri responded for Princeton just over a minute later on a power play, by wristing home a long shot from the slot that went under the crossbar.  It was the Tigers' only man-advantage opportunity of the contest.

The score remained tied until Ambrosia tallied in-close just 1:04 into the final frame.  The visiting Engineers appeared to have tied the score later in the third stanza, but the goal was disallowed following a video review by officials.

Princeton now hosts ECAC frontrunner Union in a Saturday matinee, while RPI ventures to Quinnipiac.

Haggerty Story Up at NYHJ

My latest NCAA Division I feature story, on Rensselaer junior forward Ryan Haggerty, is now available at New York Hockey Journal's web site.

Haggerty is still pacing the nation in goals, with 18 scores in 17 games so far this season. The Engineers are currently 8-6-4 overall (3-3-3 ECAC), not including 2-1 win over the U.S. Under-18 Team this past Sunday, a contest in which Haggerty assisted on the game-winning goal at RPI's Houston Field House.

RPI will return to action on Jan. 3-4 at the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis.

... And It Goes On ...

The exodus from the Division I college ranks continues. About 30 players in all so far this summer have moved on to the major junior or professional ranks, with some or even all of their NCAA eligibility still remaining. The latest is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute rising sophomore forward Jerry D'Amigo, who last week passed up his final three (possible) collegiate seasons with the Engineers to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who drafted him in 2009 in the sixth round.

D'Amigo's a nice kid and a good player, and I found that out firsthand when I interviewed him earlier this year for a story that ran in USA Hockey Magazine:

http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2010-04/jerry-d%E2%80%99amigo

He averaged nearly a point a game in college, and almost everyone knows how he helped the U.S. to a first-place finish in the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan in January. Would he have been better served by sticking with RPI for another year, though, if not all three? Most likely - but pro teams nowadays seem to want to get their prospects signed and into their own systems ASAP, as if leaving them in school is such a terrible thing.

Never mind that players in college tend to be older and stronger, and you're playing against young men instead of still-developing teenagers. Weight training and off-ice conditioning in college also helps those players, or student-athletes, as they physically mature. And they’re working towards a degree - it might not be in plasma physics, but they’re getting their education, and have quite a bit of academic support to assist them. Some may not take advantage of all that is offered to them; but it is there, and it’s a lot easier when you have people assisting and even cajoling you to get things done. I’m not sure that happens in the CHL ranks, at least not to the extent of the college academic system.

Some say major junior is better because they play more games, but how much skill development really occurs in games? More often than not, players will just try not to make mistakes in a contest, whereas in college there are three or four practices a week where players can strive to better themselves and even try different tactics without the pressure that accompanies an actual game.

Some want the NHL to step in and perhaps establish a calendar moratorium on when players still in college can be signed away. I don't see that happening - the pros are a business, and to a lesser extent so is major junior, and of course they want to get the best players possible on their rosters. This plundering of the college system isn't good for the NCAA, though, and there's been strong words on both the college and junior sides about the spreading of falsehoods and the utilization of underhanded tactics and the like.

Just because a player is enrolled in school or has signed a letter of intent hasn’t kept the junior clubs from pursuing them until they wrest them away. College Hockey Inc. executive Paul Kelly supposedly wasn't even invited to the upcoming World Hockey Summit in Toronto - an oversight?

The truth is that players can stay in college all four years and still make the NHL - and do well. Montreal's Brian Gionta readily comes to mind, and he won an NCAA title with Boston College in 2001 and a Stanley Cup with New Jersey just two years later. He also has his bachelor's degree, has played in more than 500 NHL games, and has fashioned a half-dozen NHL campaigns of at least 20 goals apiece. Ryan Malone played four seasons at St. Cloud State and averaged almost a point per game, and has skated in more than 400 NHL outings, plus the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals with Pittsburgh. Rem Murray tallied more than 50 points in each of his four seasons at Michigan State while studying civil engineering, and went on to play in 560 NHL games. He also recovered from a debilitating muscular condition to help Edmonton to Game Seven of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.

You could argue the other side of the coin with a player like Bill Guerin, who has collected two Stanley Cup rings and more than 850 points with eight NHL clubs. He left Boston College after just two seasons - but he was also drafted fifth overall in 1989. So odds are he was going to make it. The same can’t be said of the kids who have just jumped from college after playing one or two years, and weren’t drafted nearly as high as Guerin, and are nowhere near as big or strong as he was at that age. (I felt like he was going to break my hand just from a simple handshake when he was a freshman at BC and I was a junior and a staff writer for The Heights student newspaper.)

How many of these kids who signed away their eligibility this summer will stick in “The Show” remains to be seen, but I'll wager none will make an impact or possibly even suit up in the NHL this season. And some may never get there.

Obviously major junior has been the feeder system to the NHL for a long, long time, and no can deny the talent of the truly elite players who have come out of the CHL, from Wayne Gretzky on down. Still, when you consider the benefits of increased practice time, off-ice conditioning, and allowing time for physical, mental and personal development, well, staying in school for the kids who aren’t quite Gretzky really isn't such a bad thing.