Alasa Anchorage Names Rud as New Head Coach

Alaska Anchorage has named its eighth hockey head coach all-time in Eric Rud, a longtime college assistant coach and former defenseman. 

Rud, 53, joins the Seawolves after spending the past two seasons at St. Cloud State, where he also coached from 2006 to 2010. Prior to his latest stint with SCSU, he served two years as head coach with Sioux Falls (USHL), after three years at Miami (Ohio) and three years before that at his alma mater, Colorado College. He also served as head coach at Green Bay (USHL) in 2010-11, where he led the Gamblers to the Clark Cup final, after earlier working as an assistant with Cedar Rapids (USHL) after three years of serving in the ECHL as a player-assistant coach.

A native of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Rud skated on the blueline at Colorado College from 1993 to 1997, recording 22 goals and 90 assists for 112 points in 168 outings over four seasons. He also led the Tigers to three WCHA regular-season titles and three NCAA tournament berths, including the 1996 national championship game where he assisted on CC's second goal while serving as team captain. An undrafted free agent, he went on to play in the IHL, ECHL and WCHL as a professional for five seasons, notching 34-98—132 points over 319 regular-season appearances. He prepped with Des Moines (USHL) and Simley (Minn.) High as a player prior to attending CC.

Alaska Anchorage finished 5-27-1 overall last season, its fourth as an NCAA Division I independent, under former head coach and Seawolf defensemen Matt Shasby. UAA will be seeking its first winning campaign since 2013-14, when it went 18-16-4 while in the WCHA. The Seawolves began play in 1979.

Shasby Steps Down as UAA Coach

Former Seawolf defenseman Matt Shasby has stepped down as head coach at Alaska Anchorage, after four seasons at the helm of his alma mater.

Shasby, 45, from Eagle River, Alaska, took over the UAA program in 2021, after it had been reinstated following budget cuts. He fashioned a 34-86-9 record in that time as an NCAA Division I independent, including a 5-27-1 mark this past year. His best campaign came in 2023-24, when he led UAA to a 15-17-2 finish.

Shasby joined the Seawolves as a player after winning a Clark Cup with Des Moines (USHL) in 1999 and being drafted 150th overall that same year by the Montreal Canadiens. In four seasons on the blueline at UAA, he collected 12 goals and 53 assists for 65 points to go with 158 penalty minutes over 127 outings. 

He spent the majority of his six-year professional career with the ECHL's Alaska Aces, winning a Kelly Cup in 2005-06 while recording 46-186—232 points and 408 PIM in 364 career regular-season ECHL appearances. 

UAA is expected to conduct a national search for his successor.

UAF Claims 15th Straight Governor's Cup

For the 15th straight time, the Alaska Airlines Governors Cup belongs to the University of (Alaska) Fairbanks.

The Nanooks sewed up their annual in-state rivalry with Alaska Anchorage with a pair of wins in southeastern Alaska this weekend, defeating the host Seawolves by 4-3 and 6-2 scores. UAF has won four of its six meetings with UAA this season, while also recording a tie.

On Friday at Sullivan Arena, Braden Birnie scored with three seconds remaining in regulation to lift UAF to the win. On Saturday, Birnie supplied a goal and two assists, while Chase Dafoe and Alexander Malinowski both scored twice. 

Lassi Lehti stopped 26 of 31 shots for the Nanooks over both games, which drew over 3,000 spectators each night to Sullivan Arena. Tyler Krivtsov stopped 51 of 60 shots in all for UAA, which got goals from five different skaters over the weekend.

The Nanooks (12-15-2 overall) and Seawolves (5-23-1) will close out their 2025-26 NCAA independent season series on Feb. 27-28 at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Alaska Nanooks Claim Governor's Cup Again

The annual Governor's Cup has once again been claimed by Alaska (Fairbanks).

The Nanooks swept a pair of contests over the weekend at in-state rival Alaska Anchorage, by 5-0 and 3-1 counts. Michigan State transfer Pierce Charleson recorded both victories in net, including the shutout on Friday, followed by a 33-save effort on Saturday. Brady Risk paced the UAF attack with three goals and two assists for five points overall through the two games.

Coupled with an earlier pair of wins in Fairbanks on Nov. 3-4 against UAA, it means that UAF (8-5-1 0verall) has again taken possession of the instate trophy that has been awarded in the head-to-head series between the two NCAA Division I hockey schools since 1994. UAF has won the last 10 Cups, although its 2010, 2011 and 2012 titles were vacated as a result of NCAA violations against the Nanooks. Neither team played during the 2020-21 COVID season, while the Seawolves also sat out the 2021-22 campaign while re-establishing their program after it had been a victim of budget cuts. UAA (6-11-1) last earned the Cup in 2009.

The Nanook and Seawolves will wrap up their 2023-24 season series on Jan. 13 in Fairbanks and on Feb. 3 in Anchorage.

UAA Tabs Former Seawolf Shasby as Head Coach

Alaska Anchorage has found the seventh head coach in its 40-year hockey history.

Former Seawolf skater Matt Shasby has been chosen as the next head coach of UAA, which has not played a game since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and university cost-cutting measures, the latter of which resulted in a massive fundraising campaign that has saved the program for the time being. The Seawolves sat out last year and are doing so again this year, while rebuilding their roster for the 2022-23 season. 

Shasby played on defense for UAA from 1999 to 2003, where he tallied 12 goals and 53 assists for 65 points in 127 appearances to go along with 158 penalty minutes. A 1999 draft choice of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, he won a Clark Cup with the USHL's Lincoln Stars in junior hockey prior to enrolling at UAA. An All-WCHA Second Team selection as a junior, and the team captain his senior year in college, he later captained the ECHL's Alaska Aces in a pro career that spanned 375 regular-season games and included a Kelly Cup title in 2006. He was also named to the ECHL's All-Decade team for 2000-2010. 

Shasby, 41, from Eagle River, Alaska, has coached amateur and high school hockey in the Anchorage area after retiring as an active player in 2012, and had also been serving as vice president of player development for the state of Alaska. At UAA, he succeeds Matt Curley, who left Anchorage in June after three years as head coach of the Seawolves to take over the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers.

UAA, which began as an independent program in 1979 and made three NCAA tournament appearances in the early 1990s, is an independent again following the dissolution earlier this year of the WCHA, which the Seawolves had called home since 1992-93.

UAA Seawolf Hockey Reinstated

The University of Alaska Anchorage is scheduled to return to play in 2022-23. Men's hockey has reached the university's $3 million fundraising goal to have the 40-year-old program reinstated.

According to saveseawolfhockey.com: "To the 1,100+ individuals, promoters, corporate donors, alumni and hockey fans that assisted in reaching the $3 million goal! The coach selection process is underway and the Seawolves will be ready to play for the 2022-23 season!"

UAA suspended hockey operations for the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19, and for the 2021-22 campaign while working to meet the fundraising deadline of Aug. 31. 

The Seawolves now need to find a successor for head coach Matt Curley, who left UAA to return to junior hockey with Des Moines (USHL), and to fill out a roster, with previous players having transferred to other schools, turned pro, left hockey or gone back to juniors. UAA will also need to seek a conference affiliation, as the men's side of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association has disbanded, and will likley play again as an independent in the meantime.

UAA made the NCAA tournament as an independent from 1990 to 1992. Two former Seawolves have lifted the Stanley Cup, in Mike Peluso (New Jersey-1995) and Jay Beagle (Washington-2018).

Curley Steps Down at UAA

Matt Curley has stepped down as the men's ice hockey head coach at the University of Alaska Anchorage. 

The Seawolves did not play last season due to COVID-19, and will also  not play in 2021-22 as the program continues its fundraising efforts.

UAA is also seeking a new conference, and has returned to Division I independent status with the dissolution of the men's Western Collegiate Hockey Association after the 2020-21 season. 

Curley, 38, took over in Anchorage for the 2018-19 campaign, after three consecutive years of coaching junior hockey in Austria. A native of Madrid, N.Y., he played collegiately at Clarkson University and was later an assistant coach at fellow NCAA member Bentley College.

In Curley's two seasons helming the Seawolves, UAA went 7-53-10 overall. Those victories came against Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska (Fairbanks), Bemidji State and Lake Superior State, all WCHA opponents.

UAA is now seeking the sixth head coach in program history. Since joining the WCHA as a full member in 1993-94, the Seawolves have gone 259-599-114 overall.

ADDENDUM: On Wednesday, Curley was announced as the new head coach of the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers.

Thirty Years Ago Today

 UAA 3 @ BC 1 (NCAA First Round) 

Alaska Anchorage Plans to Eliminate Men's Hockey Program

The University of Alaska Anchorage hockey program has soldiered on for 40 years—but next season might be the last one for the Seawolves.

UAA announced Wednesday that it was planning to restructure its athletic program, which would result in the elimination of four varsity programs: men’s ice hockey, women’s gymnastics, women’s skiing and men’s skiing, which would result in annual savings of about $2.5 million. The restructuring would also leave UAA with eight NCAA programs, all at the Division II level, following the 2020-21 academic year. Only men’s hockey and women’s gymnastics competed in NCAA Division I.

The Seawolf hockey program got its start in 1979-80 playing at the UAA Sports Center as a Division II independent under head coach and program founder Kelvin “Brush” Christiansen. UAA posted a winning record in each of its five seasons at that level, shifting home venues to the newly-built 6,200-seat Sullivan Arena in downtown Anchorage in 1983, before also moving up to the NCAA Division I ranks in 1984-85.

After one season as a Division I independent, UAA played three seasons in the short-lived Great West Hockey Conference before re-joining the independent ranks. The Seawolves enjoyed their greatest success over the next four seasons, winning at least 18 games in each campaign, and also earned three consecutive independent berths to the NCAA Division I tournament, including a trip to the quarterfinal round in 1991. The last of those teams registered a program-record 27 victories overall in 1991-92. 

UAA joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as an affiliate member in 1992-93, and finished 18-13-4 overall that winter. The next season it became a full-time member of the WCHA, with Christiansen stepping down as head coach following the 1995-96 season, having fashioned a 287–229–30 record over 17 years. He was subsequently replaced at the helm by Dean Talafous (1996-2001), former UAA player and assistant coach John Hill (2001-05), and Dave Shyiak (2005-2013).

The Seawolves made the WCHA Final Five three times (2004, 2011, 2014), although they have posted just one winning season overall from 1993 until the present. The 2013-14 squad finished 18-16-4 under former head coach Matt Thomas, who succeeded Shyiak beginning with that season. The program has recorded just 12 campaigns with double-digit wins since joining the WCHA on a full-time basis.

UAA moved its home games back on campus to its hockey practice home, now known as the Seawolf Sports Center, beginning with the 2019-20 season under current head coach Matt Curley, and finished 4-25-7 overall last year. The university had tentatively planned to expand the rink’s capacity from 800 spectators in the next few years, until Wednesday’s announcement. The Alaska Airlines Center, the newest UAA athletic facility that opened on campus in the fall of 2014, is not equipped with an ice-making apparatus.

UAA has sent dozens of players on to the professional hockey ranks, with at least nine former Seawolves having reached the National Hockey League to date. Mike Peluso became the first former Seawolf to hoist the Stanley Cup when he won it with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils in 1995, and Jay Beagle followed suit in 2018 with the Washington Capitals.

Members of the public who wish to comment on UAA's restructuring decision may send feedback to uaa_feedback@alaska.edu, or can attend a virtual town hall meeting and Board of Regents public testimony later this month, with information on both events available at uaa.alaska.edu/calendars/public.

UAA was set to be without a conference home following next season, along with Alaska (Fairbanks) and Alabama-Huntsville, as the WCHA men’s league is scheduled to break up. Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, and Northern Michigan are all slated to withdraw from the WCHA following the 2020-21 season to reform the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, which itself originally disbanded in 2013.

Alabama-Huntsville announced earlier this year that it would be eliminating its men’s hockey program, only to have it at least temporarily saved by an aggressivefundraising campaign. Alaska (Fairbanks) announced Wednesday that it was not planning to eliminate ice hockey or any of its other nine NCAA athletic programs at present. 

Alaska Fairbanks Wins Governors Cup Again

The University of Alaska (Fairbanks) locked up its 10th consecutive Governors Cup with a 6-1 victory over visiting rival Alaska Anchorage at the Carlson Center on Saturday night. The Nanooks had moved with one win of the title following a come-from-behind 5-2 victory over UAA on Friday night.

Steven Jandric tallied a natural hat trick for the Nanooks in the third period in the opener to break a 2-2 tie, after the visiting Seawolves had taken a 2-0 lead. The two rivals combined for a total of 48 separate penalties on the night.

UAA then jumped out to a 1-0 advantage on Saturday, only to have the Nanooks score six unanswered goals the rest of the way. Roberts Kaļķis notched two goals for Alaska and set up another, while Anton Martinsson stopped 49 of 52 shots on the weekend for the Nanooks.

Both Alaska schools qualified for the WCHA tournament, which features all its games played on member campuses at the site of the higher seed. Alaska (16-13-5 overall, 14-9-5-2 WCHA) finished in fourth place in the league standings and will host Bowling Green in a best-of-three series this weekend, while UAA (4-23-7, 4-18-6-3) will visit top-seeded Mankato State.

Alaska Schools Safe for 2020-21 Season

 

According to several sources, Alaska Anchorage and Alaska (Fairbanks) will both participate in the 2020-2021 NCAA campaign, including in ice hockey. The Seawolves and Nanooks participate in Division I for men's ice hockey, and in Division II for all other sports, including basketball, skiing and volleyball.

Both institutions will still be seeking a hockey conference home in two years, as the "new" WCHA is expected to break up and leave the Alaska schools behind, along with Alabama-Huntsville. UAA has been with the WCHA full-time since 1993, while UAF joined in 2013 following the dissolution of the CCHA. Both teams competed as Division I independents for several seasons prior to 1992-93.

Alaska, UAA Split Round One of Governor's Cup

The 2019-20 Alaska Airlines Governor's Cup is all tied up at one win apiece.

The 49th State's two NCAA Division I ice hockey teams split a pair of games at the Seawolf Sports Complex in Anchorage over the weekend, with visiting Alaska (Fairbanks) winning by a 2-1 count on Friday night before host Alaska Anchorage returned the favor on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 whitewash.

On Friday, Brayden Camrud staked the Seawolves to a 1-0 lead just under 16 minutes into the first period, before Tristan Thompson set up Max Newton for the tying score for UAF 46 seconds before intermission. Thompson's power-play goal midway through the second stanza then put the Nanooks on top for good, as Anton Martinsson made 26 stops in goal for the victory.

On Saturday, Nick Wicks paced the Seawolf offense with two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal on a second-period power play, while Tomi Hiekkavirta posted three assists. Tanner Schachle and Alex Frye also scored for the Seawolves, and Kristian Stead made 29 saves for the shutout while also backstopping UAA (1-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 WCHA) to its first victory this fall. Martinsson had 22 stops in the rematch for the Nanooks (4-4-0, 2-2-0).

The two games marked the inaugural contests of the first full home slate for UAA Hockey to be played at the sports complex since the 1982-83 campaign. Since then the Seawolves had skated at the 6,200-seat Sullivan Arena in downtown Anchorage, but were forced to move back on-campus this season due to state budget cuts. Plans call for the 700-seat facility to potentially be expanded to as much as 2,500 seats over the next few years.

This season's Governor's Cup will be determined following a two-game set at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks on Feb. 28-29, 2020. A deciding shootout will be utilized if the two schools are subsequently tied with two wins apiece following the second game in Fairbanks.  The Nanooks have claimed the last 10 Governor's Cups.

UAA will now host Nebraska-Omaha for two non-conference games next weekend, including the series opener on Halloween night, while UAF will entertain Bemidji State for a pair of WCHA contests on Friday and Saturday.

Thomas Let Go at UAA

The University of Alaska Anchorage announced on Wednesday that it will not renew the contract of head coach Matt Thomas. The former RIT skater and minor-league coach led the Seawolves to a 48-105-21 overall mark in five seasons, including a 39-92-27 record in WCHA play, as the fifth-ever head coach in the UAA hockey program’s history.

Thomas' first campaign in Anchorage was his best, as he guided UAA to an 18-16-4 overall finish in 2013-14, plus a berth in the WCHA Final Five. His worst was his last this past season, as the Seawolves went 4-26-4 overall and finished last in the WCHA at 4-21-3, with the last two wins coming in the last two games of the year at archrival Alaska Fairbanks.

The UAA program began in 1979-80 at the NCAA Division II level, and became a Division I independent in 1984-85. The Seawolves earned three consecutive independent berths to the NCAA Tournament from 1990 to 1992, but have not returned to the nationals since that time. UAA joined the WCHA as an affiliate in 1992-93 and became a full member the following season, but has only registered one winning overall record since joining the conference, and has not qualified for the WCHA Tournament since 2014.

Former UAA Skater Glencross Retires From NHL

Former University of Alaska Anchorage forward Curtis Glencross has called it a career.

Glencross, 32, who did not receive a new NHL contract this fall despite try-outs with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche, calls it quits after playing in 507 NHL regular season games with the Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Bluejackets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Washington Capitals. In that span, he recorded 134 goals and 141 assists for 275 points, to go along with 351 penalty minutes.

A native of Kindersley, Sask., Glencross joined the professional ranks as a free agent in 2003-04 with Cincinnati (AHL) in Anaheim's organization, after finishing his second and final season at UAA. He also apprenticed with Portland and Syracuse in the American League and made his NHL debut with the Ducks in 2006-07, scoring one goal in two games,

He made it to the NHL for good in 2007-08 with Columbus before joining Edmonton for a short stint. He then spent the bulk of his pro career in Calgary, where he put up career-best numbers of 26-22—48 points and 62 PIM in 67 outings with the Flames in 2011-12.

Prior to turning pro, Glencross played two years of junior hockey with Brooks (AJHL), where he tallied 113 points in 113 games, before skating two seasons with UAA. He posted 32-25—57 points in 72 total NCAA outings with the Seawolves, including a 21-13—34 ledger as a sophomore.

He finished his career playing 10 games in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Washington, which also featured former UAA skater Jay Beagle on its roster. Glencross scored his last pro goal in the second round of the postseason, as the Capitals fell to the New York Rangers in seven games.

Beagle Noses Through for Caps in Win

Jay Beagle (Alaska Anchorage) scored the game's only goal on a wraparound attempt midway through the second period as the Washington Capitals edged the New York Rangers, 1-0, on Monday night in the nation's capital.

"It's not always going to be pretty, especially against a great goalie [Henrik Lundqvist] like that," said Beagle at NHL.com. "My goals are never how you draw them up. It's just a matter of grinding it out and trying to create havoc in front and good things happen."

The Caps now lead the Eastern Conference semifinal series, two games to one, with Game 4 in Washington, D.C. set for Wednesday evening. It was Beagle's first goal of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and came after his initial shot was stopped in front.

Beagle, 29, a Calgary native, played for UAA from 2005 to 2007, and tallied 14 goals and 16 assists for 30 points in 67 NCAA games with the Seawolves, including a 20-point sophomore season. He has spent his entire NHL career with Washington, and has 23 goals and 47 points in 254 career regular-season contests with the Caps.

Vermont Eliminates BC in Three Games

Nearly 25 years later, the Maroon and Gold was again done in by a green and gold opponent near St. Patrick's Day. 

The ninth-ranked Boston College men's hockey team will have to wait a week to discover its NCAA Tournament fate after falling, 1-0, to visiting No. 17 Vermont on Sunday in Game 3 of their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series at Kelley Rink.

BC won, 4-2, on Friday before UVM (22-14-4 overall) evened up the series on Saturday with a 3-1 victory. BC fell to 21-13-3 on the season.

Alexx Pivitera scored the game's only goal less than three minutes into the third period of Game 3 to offset a 22-save performance by BC sophomore netminder Thatcher Demko.

Vermont junior goaltender Brody Hoffman made 36 saves for the Catamounts on Sunday, one day after stopping 39 shots by the Eagles. He played clean-up on Friday night, stopping all 12 shots he faced in his first action in nearly a month, and for the weekend recorded 87 saves on 88 shots to boost UVM to the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden in Boston.

The Catamounts will now face UMass Lowell on Friday at 5 p.m. The winner of that contest will meet the victor of the Boston University-New Hampshire tilt on Saturday evening for the Hockey East crown and the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

On March 15-16, 1991, BC dropped a two-game set to visiting Alaska Anchorage in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Like UVM, UAA’s colors are green and gold.) BC would not return to the national picture for seven years after that series, while the 3-2 and 3-1 wins remain the only NCAA Tournament triumphs by the Seawolves in their 35-year history.

The 2015 NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be televised at noon on Sunday on ESPNU. BC, which dropped to 11th place in the latest national polls, is ranked ninth in the current Pairwise Rankings, which mimics the NCAA Tournament selection process. That almost assures that the Eagles will receive one of the 16 NCAA Tournament bids for the 13th consecutive season, the longest current streak in Hockey East. 

UVM sits 19th in the current Pairwise, and the Catamounts will likely to have to win the Hockey East championship this weekend to advance to the national tournament.

UAF Wraps Up 2014-15 Season This Weekend

Alaska Fairbanks faces the end of its season this weekend with two games at rival Alaska Anchorage to decide the annual Governor's Cup. UAF (17-13-2 overall, 12-12-2 WCHA), which stands in fifth place in its conference, is ineligible for the WCHA and NCAA postseason races due to academic violations from 2008 to 2012.

The Nanooks, who dropped a pair of games to UAA by 2-1 and 3-2 (OT) counts in Fairbanks on Jan. 16-17, need to win both games this weekend at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage to force a Cup-deciding shootout. UAA (8-20-4, 5-19-2 WCHA), on the other hand, sits in last place in the WCHA, and can only advance to the league playoffs if it sweeps UAF, and both Alabama-Huntsville and Lake Superior State are held pointless.

As part of its capitulation regarding the NCAA violations, UAF had to vacate two of its past Governor's Cup victories over UAA, along with its appearance in the 2010 NCAA Tournament where the Nanooks fell in the first round to eventual national champion Boston College.

ADDENDUM: UAF won, 3-2, on Saturday night and then won, 1-0, in the ensuing shootout to claim its third straight Governor's Cup.

Tales from the Road

Pretty good piece at USCHO.com about the trials and travails of college hockey teams traveling earlier this month, particularly the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Stuck in Minneapolis after not making their connecting flight from Wisconsin in time, the Seawolves eventually arrived home 24 hours before they swept Minnesota State—which was already in the 49th State, having played Alaska (Fairbanks) the weekend before—even though UAA had to express mail its equipment home.

Having spent my first year after graduating from Boston College at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I can personally relate that traveling from the Great White North to the rest of the NCAA hockey world had and still has its own unique challenges, even normally. Connecting flights are just a cost of doing business to compete at the Division I level with the rest of the Lower 48.

In November 1991, UAF headed east to play Army, which was an East Coast homecoming for me. The itinerary? Leave Fairbanks International Airport at midnight Alaska time (which is 4 a.m. ET). Get into Anchorage in about 45 minutes, then leave for Seattle about a half-hour later. Get into Seattle 5 a.m. Pacific time, when barely anything is open in the airport (as a long-time Seahawks fan, I probably should have gone to see the Kingdome then, before it got imploded in 2000). Then off to Salt Lake City, before flying to Chicago, and then getting into Newark early that evening.

Play at Army, sweep the series, then head up to Maine (I didn't make that leg of the trip). Then go home in reverse, again taking about 15-18 hours total with layovers. Then repeat again a few weeks later to Alabama-Huntsville. Then again to Kent State—and again. And again. (And then personally, do it one more time in Jan. 1996 with Michigan State for a three-game trip to Fairbanks.)

You don't really see NHL teams do that.

Seawolves Select Thomas as New Bench Boss

The University of Alaska Anchorage has a new head coach—someone who will be moving just up the West Coast, and is no stranger to the college ranks.

The Seawolves have hired former Rochester of Technology Institute center Matt Thomas, who spent the last 12 seasons in professional hockey, most recently as head coach of the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder. The Thunder, an affiliate of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, were the ECHL’s Western Conference champions this season before they fell to the Reading Royals in the Kelly Cup Final.

“I have always admired the sense of community and pride that is associated with Anchorage and the entire state of Alaska and our entire family is excited about the move,” said Thomas at uscho.com. It truly is a ‘hockey state.’ My goal is to bring back the passion for UAA hockey and produce a winner for the community, alumni and our fan base.”

Thomas, from Mississauga, Ont., went 163-127-39 (.555) in 329 games in five campaigns with the Thunder, and was also 34-30 in the ECHL postseason in that span, according to the team’s website. All-time, Thomas fashioned a 342-225-80 mark (.590) in 647 career ECHL regular-season games as head coach of the Thunder, the Fresno Falcons and the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies. He ranks fifth in league regular-season annals in victories, and is sixth in total games coached.

A former assistant coach at the University of Maine from 2000 to 2002, Thomas played at RIT from 1994 to 1998. He helped the Tigers to three NCAA Division III Tournament berths, along with a national runner-up finish his sophomore season. He also helped them to the NCAAs as an assistant coach in 1999.

The Seawolves last posted a winning season in 1993-94, one year after they finished a string of three consecutive NCAA Division I Tournament appearances.
 
UAA will start play this fall in a revamped WCHA that also includes Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska Fairbanks, Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State and Northern Michigan.

Maine Hires Gendron as Head Coach

Maine hired former assistant Dennis “Red” Gendron this week as head coach to replace the ousted Tim Whitehead. Gendron was on the staff of Maine’s first NCAA title team in 1993, and also coached in the New Jersey Devils organization. He then moved on to Massachusetts before spending the last two seasons at Yale,  garnering a second national championship ring in April with the Bulldogs.

With Mike Cavanaugh having been hired at UConn earlier this month, one of the last open head coaching positions in the Division I men’s ranks is at Alaska Anchorage, which assembled a new committee, including UAA hockey program founder Kelvin “Brush” Christiansen, to name a successor to Dave Shyiak. The former Northern Michigan skater was let go by the Seawolves after eight seasons and has been embroiled in some controversy lately involving an incident during his tenure at UAA.

Shyiak is still seeking a new coaching job along with Mark Osiecki and George Gwozdecky, who were released by Ohio State and Denver, respectively, this off-season. Osiecki spent three years at OSU after assisting at his alma mater of Wisconsin. Fellow Badgers alum Gwozdecky was not retained at Denver after 19 seasons with the Pioneers, including NCAA championships in both 2004 and 2005.

As reported tonight at USCHO.com, UAA athletic director Steve Cobb has been relieved of his duties. He had earlier received votes of no confidence from both the Anchorage youth hockey community and an alumni group of former Seawolf players.

The site is also reporting that the head coaching job at Alabama-Huntsville has just opened up after Kurt Kleinendorst stepped down after one season at the helm of the Chargers. UAH will join former independent foe UAA in the revamped Western Collegiate Hockey Association this fall.