Coaching Carousel

DelCastillo named new men's coach at Hamline

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- After a four year hiatus, Doc DelCastillo made his return to NCAA hockey as he was named head coach of Hamline University's men's hockey team on Tuesday morning. DelCastillo, a St. Paul native, fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Scott Steffen who resigned after leading the Pipers for just a single year.

"I am thrilled to be getting back to Saint Paul," DelCastillo said in a release. "This is a great opportunity. In the last three years, I have gotten to know several of the league's coaches and had some of my former players play in the MIAC. I have tremendous respect for the school and the success the program has had in recent years. There is a very good foundation here to build on."

DelCastillo has 16 years of coaching experience between the junior and college ranks. He began his career in the United States Hockey League, first as an assistant and then head coach with the Rochester Mustangs where he amassed a 71-62-2 record.  After another season as an assistant coach, he took two years off from coaching before returning to the sport as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Division I St. Cloud State.

He spent two years in St. Cloud before moving on to fellow Division I program Nebraska-Omaha where he served five years as an assistant. Following the 2006-07 campaign, he received his first opportunity as a Division I coach as he was hired to lead the Universiy of Alaska.

However, after leading the Nanooks to a 9-21-5 record in his first year, DelCastillo resigned from Alaska in the midst of sexual harassment claims that were ultimately never investigated by the school. He then returned to the Junior A ranks and spent the previous three seasons with the Alexandria Blizzard of the North American Hockey League.

DelCastillo is the third coach at Hamline in as many seasons. The Pipers finished 10-14-2 this past season under Steffen and bowed out to St. Olaf in the first round of the MIAC playoffs. The Pipers are just two years removed from finishing 17-7-5 while winning the program's first NCAA tournament game in their first ever tournament apperarance.

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Plumer leaves Amherst to take head position at UVM

Amherst Sports Information

AMHERST, Mass. – After leading the Amherst College women’s ice hockey team for the past nine years, Jim Plumer has accepted the head coaching position at University of Vermont.

Plumer will leave Amherst with two national championships and a 158-69-19 record, including a dominant 127-30-14 (.784) mark in the past six years. He was introduced to the University of Vermont community earlier today in a press conference and will officially begin his tenure with the Catamounts on May 15.

"Leaving Amherst is as difficult a career choice as a coach will ever have,” says Plumer. “I want to thank my colleagues and the entire Amherst community for their support and friendship. The experience of growing this program has changed me in ways I can't even begin to count or express. I know I am a better person for having had this incredible experience over the past nine years."

“I am proud of the way in which Jim has taken our women's hockey program to an elite status at the national level,” says Amherst Athletic Director Suzanne Coffey. “He has created a culture that invites high performing hockey players who are also outstanding students. His record of accomplishment speaks for itself.”

Plumer will join a program that is coming off a 4-22-6 season and has not posted a winning record since 2001, but he was faced with a similar situation when he came to Amherst in 2003. One year after the Lord Jeffs finished at 3-17-4, Plumer led the program to its first winning season and highest win total (13-12) as the fifth seed in the 2004 NESCAC Championship.

The bar has been raised considerably during the past nine years, as Amherst has become a national powerhouse in women’s ice hockey. Plumer led the Lord Jeffs to three NESCAC titles, five 20-win seasons and five NCAA Tournament appearances, notably becoming the first coach in school history to win multiple national championships (2009, 2010).

Plumer was named the AHCA National Coach of the Year for leading the Lord Jeffs to the 2009 NCAA crown. During their title run the Jeffs defeated two-time defending champion Plattsburgh State in the opening round, three-time national champion Middlebury in the semifinals, and two-time champ Elmira in the title game. Regular season highlights included a 16-0 record in NESCAC play, the program's first-ever No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and a No. 1 ranking in the USCHO national poll.

The 2009-10 season was equally impressive, as the Lord Jeffs extended their unbeaten streak in regular season NESCAC play to as many as 53 games (45-0-8), a dominant stretch that began in 2006. Amherst used Division III's top scoring defense (1.17 gpg) to post a 23-2-4 record (12-1-3 NESCAC), win a third conference title in four years, and out-score opponents by an 11-2 margin in the NCAA Tournament.

"I want to thank all of my former players and staff who made the Amherst program what it is today,” adds Plumer. “I've been fortunate to work with passionate and committed student-athletes who were willing to take risks, and getting to share in their tremendous achievements has been a gift and a life-changing experience for all of us. I'm confident that as we have always done, we will continue to work hard and enjoy the journey."

“Jim has been a truly valued colleague,” says Coffey. “He is the consummate student of coaching philosophy and strategy. While we will miss him on a day-to-day basis, he’ll always be a part of the Amherst Athletics family.”

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April 20, 2012

Petersen returns to St. Norbert as assistant

DE PERE, Wis. - Ryan Petersen has been named assistant coach for the St. Norbert College men's hockey program, head coach Tim Coghlin announced today.

Petersen, a 2009 St. Norbert graduate, returns to his alma mater after spending the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons as an assistant coach under fellow St. Norbert alumnus Mike Szkodzinski at Lawrence University in Appleton. Petersen replaces A.J. Aitken, who was recently named head coach at Marian University in Fond du Lac.

"It is a pleasure to welcome Ryan back into the St. Norbert hockey program," Coghlin said. "He demonstrates daily the commitment, character and loyalty necessary to be a successful coach at this level. His experience as a player at St. Norbert, overseas, and most recently as an assistant coach at Lawrence have helped prepare him for the challenges lying ahead."

A highly popular player at St. Norbert, Petersen captained the Green Knights' first national championship squad in 2008 and was also a captain in 2009. In 119 career games, Petersen scored 34 goals and 39 assists for 73 points. His 119 career games played is tied for sixth-most all-time at St. Norbert.

"I am thrilled to be able to return to the St. Norbert College community and hockey program which have had profound impacts on me as a player, student and person," Petersen said. "I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Tim Coghlin as well as the young men of the hockey program."

Petersen spent the winter of 2010-11 playing in Europe with the Turnhout (Belgium) White Caps, scoring 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points in 26 games.

St. Norbert, which won its third NCAA Division III national championship in five years in March, opens the 2012-13 season against Concordia University Wisconsin on Oct. 23 at the Cornerstone Community Center.

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April 4, 2012

Jamie Kivi named women's head coach at Marian

For Immediate Release - Marian Athletics

FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Jamie Kivi, an assistant coach with the St. Norbert College for the past two seasons, has been named the new head women's ice hockey coach at Marian University, Director of Athletics Jason Murphy announced today, April 4.

Kivi, a native of Green Bay, will take the reins of a growing Marian program after helping St. Norbert establish a women's ice hockey program from scratch and compiling an impressive .500 record in the ever-competitive Northern College Hockey Association in its first two seasons of existence.

"I am excited to announce the hiring of Jamie Kivi as our new women's hockey coach at Marian," Director of Athletics Jason Murphy said. "She was successful as a player at a top-notch Division III program in Elmira and she understands what it takes to build a young program from her experience at St. Norbert. We feel her past experiences and successes will be a valuable asset to our program."

As the full-time assistant at St. Norbert, Kivi was involved in all aspects of the program, primarily the recruiting efforts, the analyzing of game statistics and player performance, and the preparation of the defensive strategies.

While at St. Norbert, the Green Knights compiled a 25-25-4 overall record in two seasons, qualifying for the NCHA tournament each year. She coached three players named to the All-NCHA team, three others that earned honorable mention accolades, and two All-Rookie team members.

For the past two seasons, Kivi has also been a head girls' coach in the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League and has spent numerous years coaching at college showcase camps and the USA Hockey regional camps.

Prior to joining St. Norbert's staff, Kivi was a standout defensemen for Division III Elmira College in New York where she led her team to three ECAC West conference titles and three Division III Frozen Four appearances.

She was twice named Reebok First Team All-American and was a finalist for the Hurd Award, given by the American Hockey Coaches Association to the Division III Women's Player of the Year.

April 4, 2012

St. Norbert assistant A.J. Aitken tapped as head coach at Marian

Marian Athletics - For Immediate Release

FOND DU LAC, Wis. – A.J. Aitken, the associate head coach at St. Norbert College for the past nine seasons, has been named the new head men's ice hockey coach at Marian University, Director of Athletics Jason Murphy announced today, April 4.

Aitken, who was a key factor in St. Norbert's recruiting efforts, recently helped the Green Knights to their second consecutive NCAA Division III national title and third in the last five years.

A.J. Aitken spent the past nine seasons as an assistant coach at St. Norbert.

"We are excited to have A.J. Aitken as our next head men's ice hockey coach," Marian Director of Athletics Jason Murphy said. "The wealth of knowledge, experience and success is a hard combination to find in a coach at this level. Three national titles in his tenure at St. Norbert, the best Division III hockey program in the west, is an incredible accomplishment. We feel that his experiences have prepared him well for this opportunity."

Aitken was promoted to associate head coach by St. Norbert Head Coach Tim Coghlin prior to the 2008-09 season, and was brought aboard as an assistant prior to the 2003-04 season. During his tenure with the Green Knights, Aitken was involved in all aspects of the program, primarily for the team's recruiting efforts and in guiding the junior varsity program.

St. Norbert won three NCAA Division III championships, played in seven NCAA Division III Frozen Fours and six NCAA Division III national championship games. The Green Knights were a sparkling 217-37-23 during his time on the hockey staff.

Aitken, a Fort McMurray, Alberta native, played for NCAA Division I Michigan Tech from 1997-2000. During his four-year career, Aitken played in 140 games, scoring 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. He also served as the Huskies' team captain during his last two seasons. Aitken, a finance major at MTU, was also named Academic All-WCHA twice.

Following his collegiate career, Aitken played with Macon and Memphis of the Central Hockey League. His stint in Memphis from 2001-03 resulted in being a part of a pair of CHL championships.

Aitken and his wife, Rachel, have three children, Eliza (7), Ian (4) and newborn Hattie.

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March 28, 2012

Danielle Syrowik To Coach Finlandia

 HANCOCK, Mich. --  Serving as the assistant women's coach the last four seasons at Adrian College, Syrowik has helped guide the Bulldogs to one Northern Collegiate Hockey Association title (2010-11) and one NCHA runner-up finish (2011-12), while making one NCAA post-season championship birth during the Bulldog's 2010-11 NCHA title season.  During Syrowik's tenure as the primary assistant at Adrian, the Bulldogs achieved an overall record of 68-35-8, while finishing this past season with a 16-10-2 record.  Danielle helped coach one NCAA All-American and nine All-NCHA honorees, while working with head coaches Melissa Lomanto and Chad Davis of the women's program, and Adrian head men's hockey coach Ron Fogarty.

“I am extremely thrilled to be able to welcome Coach Syrowik back to our Lion Family,” commented Chris Salani, director of athletics.  “Her competitive and winning mentality as a student-athlete during her Finlandia playing days has been demonstrated and valued at Adrian as their women's program has risen to regional prominence.”  “ I expect the coaching mentorship and network that she has gained under Coaches' Davis and Fogarty while at Adrian will be a primary catalyst in helping to transform our women's program,” remarks Salani.

As a student-athlete for Finlandia women's hockey, Syrowik was a four-year letter winner and a three-year team co-captain for the Lions.  During her playing career (2004-08) Syrowik played in 90 games, compiling 31 goals and 43 assists for 74 total points.  Her point total over her four-year career places her as Finlandia's all-time women's leading scorer.

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Future of DIII championships in question

Nothing says Division III hockey like the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

By Scott Bridges

Though it garnered little traction at the time, on Feb. 12 D3hockey.com reported briefly on a possible growing desire to combine the Division I and Division III Frozen Fours beginning in 2015. Were an arrangement like this presently in place, Amherst, Norwich, Oswego State and St. Norbert would currently be in Tampa, Fla., getting prepared for their semifinal games.  Interestingly, not a single Division III institution that sponsors men's ice hockey is located within 1,000 miles of Tampa.

Driving the speculation behind this being a bonafide possibility is an Oct. 17 report of the NCAA Division III Championships Committee. As noted in February, the report included two items of significant note pertaining to the potential of a combined Division I and Division III Championship, and they are:

• Division III Men's Ice Hockey – Term Extension Request. The men's ice hockey committee requested that the term of Bruce Delventhal, director of athletics at Plattsburgh State University of New York, be extended for one year. Mr. Delventhal is the chair of the committee, and the committee indicated that allowing him to serve until September 1, 2012, would greatly help to facilitate the process of combining the Division III championship with the Division I championship. The NCAA Division III Nominating Committee supported this request.

• Championship Date Formula Change. The committee accepted as information that the men's ice hockey committee anticipates requesting a championship date formula change to facilitate a joint championship format with Division I men's ice hockey in 2015."

As fan reaction around the Division III community has been largely negative towards the concept, D3hockey.com recently talked with Bruce Delventhal, Chair of the NCAA Division III Ice Hockey Committee and Director of Athletics at Plattsburgh State to examine the likelihood of such a change being made.

Delventhal wished to make it clear that matters were only in the discussion phase right now: No plans had been drawn, no votes had been taken, no logistics mapped out, and that this wasn't an imminent change about to swoop down on to the DIII community.

"As far as Division III is concerned, we [were] in Lake Placid this year, and we're in Lake Placid next year," Delventhal said. "Those are committed sites, and we'll be there. Things are purely in the discussion/talking-point stage right now."

Nothing was stated to indicate that any concerns exist about the viability or success of the current DIII championship, nor that this is an attempt to imitate the combined championships of other sports. However, combined championships are not unheard of in college sports. For example, lacrosse features one of the highest profile combined championships as the Division I, II and III championships are held in conjunction with each other.

"I think that our championships held at Lake Placid the last few years, and a terrific championship at Ridder last year have been very successful," Deventhal said. "I think we can do an even better job, actually.

"From our standpoint, just where we are right now, I think we have things going in a very positive way and we're very happy with it. As far as what the future holds, what it can grow to and be, I would hope that everybody would work together for what's good for hockey as a whole."

While no one would openly push for a detrimental change to the Division III championship, the merits of any change are often relative to the eye of the beholder.

"College hockey is a unique entity," Delventhal said. "That doesn't mean we're better than anybody, but we're different. There are different stresses and different concerns at the different levels, but as far as the game itself we're all on the same page."

It's true that hockey is somewhat different from other NCAA sports, especially in how DII does not really exist as it does in most other sports. Instead there are only two championship events: DI and DIII. Also unlike other sports, there is not as wide a gap between the levels. For example, in their 2005-2006 transitional year, the RIT men defeated some DI teams while still falling to DIII Oswego State.

"We all have our own little cultures," Delventhal said. "And hockey in particular because it's so regional and is so small. I think that kind of breeds our strength too, in that we really are a small family. In many respects just like in a good family, an extended family, there's a lot of strength in that. We know one another and we respect one another, whether you're involved in DIII or DI we care about the game."

Delventhal has experience in both the DI and DIII communities, as he has coached at RIT, Union, and Princeton.

"Don Lucia, Jerry York, Jack Parker, and Mike Eaves: they all care about DIII hockey," Delventhal said. "And DIII people care very much about what happens on the DI level as well, whether it be Brett Petersen, or Tim Coghlin, or Mike McShane, or Bill Beaney or Bob Emery. We all want what's best for college hockey."

So far we know that things are still just in the discussion phase, and that the intention is to grow the sport as a whole, on all levels. The obvious next question is how far the discussions have come.

When asked if there were any plans to change the current format of the D3 championship, Delventhal said: "We are nowhere near the point of deciding anything like that, nowhere near deciding how brackets would work out. We don't even know if the tournament will still be at eleven teams, or if we'll get to twelve, or if they'll allow it to be 16 like it is for DI."

"None of that is at a point now where it would be anything more than idle conjecture," he added.  "There's been no hard talk about that at all, that would definitely be putting the cart ahead of the horse. We'll have a lot more facts and impressions after the meetings in June. This isn't something that's been attempted to keep secret, there just isn't that much more to say about it right now."

Though there isn't not much more information to be had at this point in time, expect much more to be available following this summer's NCAA meetings.  Though clearly a combined championship is anything but a certainty, there is also nothing that states it's an impossibility.

Whether it has been the creation of the Big Ten hockey conference that led to the splintering of the WCHA, the creation of the NCHC and the collapse of the CCHA as recently witnessed in Division I; or the recent and unexpected news of Division III conference realignment, recent devlopments have shown it's prudent to not forget that a lot can change in a hurry when it comes to these sorts of matters.

Like Delventhal stated, it is important to not put the cart ahead of the horse, but two years is a long time in the world of college sports, discussions can lead to unexpected places, and things once viewed as a sure thing can be questioned.

What is a sure thing is that the 2013 Frozen Four will again be held in Lake Placid.  What might happen after that, however, is anyone's guess.  Stay tuned.

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St. Norbert assistant A.J. Aitken tapped as head coach at Marian

Marian Athletics - For Immediate Release

FOND DU LAC, Wis. – A.J. Aitken, the associate head coach at St. Norbert College for the past nine seasons, has been named the new head men's ice hockey coach at Marian University, Director of Athletics Jason Murphy announced today, April 4.

Aitken, who was a key factor in St. Norbert's recruiting efforts, recently helped the Green Knights to their second consecutive NCAA Division III national title and third in the last five years.

A.J. Aitken spent the past nine seasons as an assistant coach at St. Norbert.

"We are excited to have A.J. Aitken as our next head men's ice hockey coach," Marian Director of Athletics Jason Murphy said. "The wealth of knowledge, experience and success is a hard combination to find in a coach at this level. Three national titles in his tenure at St. Norbert, the best Division III hockey program in the west, is an incredible accomplishment. We feel that his experiences have prepared him well for this opportunity."

Aitken was promoted to associate head coach by St. Norbert Head Coach Tim Coghlin prior to the 2008-09 season, and was brought aboard as an assistant prior to the 2003-04 season. During his tenure with the Green Knights, Aitken was involved in all aspects of the program, primarily for the team's recruiting efforts and in guiding the junior varsity program.

St. Norbert won three NCAA Division III championships, played in seven NCAA Division III Frozen Fours and six NCAA Division III national championship games. The Green Knights were a sparkling 217-37-23 during his time on the hockey staff.

Aitken, a Fort McMurray, Alberta native, played for NCAA Division I Michigan Tech from 1997-2000. During his four-year career, Aitken played in 140 games, scoring 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. He also served as the Huskies' team captain during his last two seasons. Aitken, a finance major at MTU, was also named Academic All-WCHA twice.

Following his collegiate career, Aitken played with Macon and Memphis of the Central Hockey League. His stint in Memphis from 2001-03 resulted in being a part of a pair of CHL championships.

Aitken and his wife, Rachel, have three children, Eliza (7), Ian (4) and newborn Hattie.

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