Alaska-Anchorage kills its hockey team

[JMCx4]

From: The Anchorage Daily News > UAA Athletics

UAA names 3 finalists for hockey job, including alum Matt Shasby

By Beth Bragg
Published: 2 days ago
Updated: 2 days ago (25 September 2021)

Three men are in the running to take over the salvaged UAA hockey team, including Matt Shasby, who played for the Seawolves 20 years ago and has long been part of the Anchorage hockey scene as a player and coach.

The other finalists include Steve Murphy, the head coach at Buffalo State College who has Alaska roots, and Chris Cosentino, the director of a youth hockey group in New York City who spent a decade as the head coach at New York University. ...

Read more at: UAA names 3 finalists for hockey job, including alum Matt Shasby

 

[mk80]

From: The Anchorage Daily News > UAA Athletics

Hopefully they get someone in place soon.

Not that it's the be all, end all of recruiting but they did miss the NAHL Showcase, and the USHL Fall Classic is going on now.

 

[JMCx4]

Hopefully they get someone in place soon.

Not that it's the be all, end all of recruiting but they did miss the NAHL Showcase, and the USHL Fall Classic is going on now.

The Fall Classic ended Sunday night. Time skates on, while UAA holds "on-line forums" for their 3 head coach candidates.

 

[CrazyEddie20]

From: The Anchorage Daily News > UAA Athletics

Shasby is the only one of the three who's really qualified. He'll end up getting the job because the other two would want their relocation expenses covered, and there's no way the school is going to pay for that when they can barely pay for the program.

 

[JMCx4]

Shasby is the only one of the three who's really qualified. He'll end up getting the job because the other two would want their relocation expenses covered, and there's no way the school is going to pay for that when they can barely pay for the program.

All it would take is another year & another GoFundMe drive, and either of the other two candidates could be livin' with the polar bears.

 

[JMCx4]

Man, that @CrazyEddie20 is one smart cookie ... USCHO.com: Alaska Anchorage graduate Shasby chosen as next coach for Seawolves hockey program

 

[CrazyEddie20]

Man, that @CrazyEddie20 is one smart cookie ... USCHO.com: Alaska Anchorage graduate Shasby chosen as next coach for Seawolves hockey program

Thank you, thank you.

But really, it wasn't hard to read those tea leaves. Neither of the other candidates were qualified to be a Division I head coach. Both of them need to be Division I assistants somewhere before having any kind of realistic chance of getting hired as a head coach at the Division I level, save for a totally desperate, destitute program, which is why they got consideration at UAA. And even there, there's no way they'd get hired over a guy like Shasby, who has a playing and coaching resume that's far superior as well as connections to the city and school.

 

[JMCx4]

Rising from the ashes ... or the Zamboni snow pile ...

From: Seamore Sports

Matt Shasby is building the next frontier of UAA Hockey and more: Read why

ON JANUARY 6, 2022 BY TERPANESE

Alaska Anchorage Head Coach Matt Shasby knows what a new or remodeled rink on campus means. Sometime in the next two weeks an engineer will walk the current on campus building, the Alaska Airlines Center, and present the reborn Alaska Anchorage Hockey program two choices. Remodel what is there to make it even better and put a rink in it , or build a new on campus rink for, ideally the 23-24 college hockey season.

Of course building a rink is one part of the equation. Shasby has already secured nine total commitments for next year featuring two transfers and seven freshmen. All of these players, as Shasby said “every guy has a chip on their shoulder and is looking to prove people wrong.” ...

Shasby added that he’s not seeing issues with convincing players to come to Anchorage and credits that in part to how players communicate. He said “as long as they have their cellphones they could be in Antarctica and they will be fine.” Part of Shasby’s work is in building a network of players from the area with outdoors backgrounds to show players from the lower 48 and around the world the natural beauty of Alaska. Shasby wrapped up his recruiting chat with saying that, “one of my biggest pitches is that you get to spend four years living in Alaska.” Shasby as an alum talks about living there and enjoying the full environment of Alaska. “We’re going to make this the best college experience that we can.” ...

Read more at: Matt Shasby is building the next frontier of UAA Hockey and more: Read why

 

[JMCx4]

Good things come to those who wait ... and donate ...
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From: SBNation College Hockey

Alaska Anchorage Reborn
By Chris Dilks
Oct 7, 2022, 12:28pm PDT

Alaska Anchorage returned to the ice last weekend for the first time since the school announced that they were dropping their hockey program in the summer of 2020. ... But after the Anchorage hockey community raised over $3M to resurrect the program, the school announced it would reinstate the program, just over a year after the program was cut.

That brought Anchorage to last Friday night, when the Seawolves hosted a season opener against a ranked opponent in Western Michigan. Expectations were predictably low for UAA heading into the game, but in almost storybook fashion, the Seawolves pulled off a 3-1 upset ... .

The creation and greater adoption of the Transfer Portal since the Seawolves last took the ice should be a huge help to the program going forward. This year’s team rosters 12 transfers from other Division I schools. While that number is likely a little higher than average due to the fact that they had so many spots to fill, it’s probably not a bad recruiting strategy going forward. If they can continue to pick up some fringe guys from bigger schools with the offer of immediate playing time, they have a better chance at being competitive. ...


Read more at: SBN College Hockey ... Alaska Anchorage Reborn