USA Hockey News Feed: May 19
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today announced the coaching staffs for both the 2010 U.S. Women's Under-18 and Under-22 Select Teams. The squads will take part in the 2010 USA Hockey Women's National Festival prior to playing a pair of three-game series against Canada in mid-August.
Jodi McKenna, the head women's ice hockey coach at Wesleyan University who recently served as an assistant coach for the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team, will serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's Under-18 Select Team. She previously was an assistant coach for the U.S. Women's National Team at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship and for the 2009-10 U.S. Women's National Team during the Qwest Tour.
McKenna will be joined by assistant coaches Brian Durocher, head women's ice hockey coach at Boston University, and Emily McKissock, former assistant women's ice hockey coach at the University of Vermont and video coordinator for the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team. Both will be making their Team USA coaching debuts after having been involved with USA Hockey Player Development Camps.
Meanwhile, Digit Murphy, head women's ice hockey coach at Brown University, will be the head coach of the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team. Murphy has been involved with USA Hockey since the early 90s when she served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women's National Team at the 1992 IIHF World Women's Championship. Since then, she was as an assistant coach for the U.S. at the 1996 Women's Three Nations Cup and has been involved in Player Development Camps and Women's National Festivals.
Serving as assistant coaches for the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team will be Linda Lundigran, assistant women's ice hockey coach at Northeastern University, and Hilary Witt, head women's ice hockey coach at Yale University. Lundigran has experience at Player Development Camps, as does Witt, who was an assistant coach at both the 2006 Women's Four Nations Cup and 2007 IIHF World Women's Championship, and was a former national-team player.
All six coaches will be on hand at the 2010 USA Hockey Women's National Festival, Aug. 13-21 in Lake Placid, N.Y. The Under-22 Team will travel to Canada for the 2010 Under-22 Series from Aug. 18-21, while the Under-18 Team will remain in Lake Placid for the 2010 Under-18 Series during the same time frame. In addition, an Over-22 Team will take part in the Festival and will train in Lake Placid from Aug. 13-21.
The elite camp will cover the physical and mental aspects of the goaltending position, helping each goaltender master the fundamentals of the position while developing a personal identity that translates into game success.
The camp will be led by Joe Exter, Warren Strelow mentor and U.S. National Team goaltending coach, and regional mentors Mike Ayers and Bob Janosz. In addition, assistant mentors Seth Appert, Jeff Blashill, Dave Flint, Derek Lalonde, David Lassonde, Emily McKissock, Phil Osaer and Nick Petraglia, as well as guest coaches Mandy Cronin, Bill Howard, Alison Quandt, Brian Renfrew and John Vanbiesbrouck will be on hand for instruction.
NOTES: A total of 13 of this year's attendees also participated in the camp in 2009, including Corinne Boyles, Aubree Moore, Becca Ruegsegger, Molly Schaus, Jackee Snikeris and Jessie Vetter on the female side; and Kevin Dluhy, John Gibson, Brandon Hope, James Howe, Dalton Izyk, Brendan Jensen, Matt McNeely and Colin Stevens on the boys' side.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Tom Osiecki, who spent the 2008-09 season as the head coach of the U.S. Women's Select Team during its residency in Blaine, Minn., and most recently has been an assistant coach for the University of Minnesota women's ice hockey team, has been named a scout for the U.S. Women's National Program.
In his new role with USA Hockey, Osiecki will primarily scout players from Western Collegiate Hockey Association and College Hockey America NCAA programs, as well as high school players from around the region for inclusion on U.S. National Teams. He will remain based in Burnsville, Minn., a suburb of the Twin Cities. Ben Smith, USA Hockey's national team advisor, will continue scouting the ECAC Hockey and Hockey East collegiate players, as well as East Coast high school athletes.
Osiecki has over 40 years of coaching experience, most recently with the University of Minnesota women's ice hockey team. In his multiple decades in hockey, Osiecki has coached both boys' and girls' hockey as well as holding a National Hockey League scouting position.
After beginning his coaching career in 1964 with the St. Agnes boys' team, Osiecki started the Burnsville (Minn.) High School boys' program in 1966 and coached at BHS for 24 years. From there, he took a position with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars as an NHL scout from 1990 to 1995 before delving into girls’ and women’s hockey. Osiecki coached the Burnsville High School girls' team from 1996-98 and started the St. Olaf (Minn.) College program, where he coached from 2000-04. He returned to Burnsville to coach the girls' team from 2004-06.
In two seasons (2007-08, 2009-10) as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota, Osiecki helped the Golden Gophers advance to the NCAA tournament each year. During the 2008-09 season, when he coached the post-collegiate women's residency program, Team USA went on to capture both the 2008 Women's Four Nations Cup and the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship.
Osiecki will begin his duties with USA Hockey at the start of the 2010-11 season.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - USA Hockey today announced a new partnership agreement with weighted training gear manufacturer Hasanen Power Wear. Hasanen Power Wear will serve as an official weighted training gear sponsor of USA Hockey, and will provide sets of its training equipment to USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.
Each member of USA Hockey's NTDP will be provided with Hasanen Power Wear's weighted shorts, which are designed to target core muscles and help improve strength, endurance and flexibility.
"Hasanen Power Wear's weighted shorts will be used as another tool for player development at the NTDP," said Ron Rolston, U.S. National Development Coach. "The shorts will be used heavily in our spring on-ice workouts to improve power, agility and the transition components of skating."
Players from the U.S. National Under-17 and Under-18 Teams will utilize the gear throughout the 2010-11 season as they skate on the international stage, take on NCAA opponents and compete in the United States Hockey League.
“We’re very proud to be associated with USA Hockey’s top teams,” says Jack Bartoszek of JB Exceleration LLC, USA Distributor for Hasanen Power Wear. “We’ve seen dramatic speed, power and endurance gains from hockey players using our product that will now power our teams’ continued success around the world.”
ABOUT USA HOCKEY
USA Hockey, Inc., founded in 1937 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the National Governing Body of the sport of ice hockey in the United States. With a membership of nearly 600,000 players, coaches, officials and volunteers that span all 50 states, USA Hockey seeks to promote the growth of hockey and provide the best possible experience for all participants by encouraging, developing, advancing and administering the sport. For more information, visit usahockey.com.
ABOUT HASANEN POWER WEAR
Founded by long-time Finnish hockey coach Pertti Hasanen, Hasanen Power Wear is an innovative company committed to developing safe and functional weighted training gear. Hasanen, which recently entered a partnership with the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, has revolutionized the way in which elite athletes conduct sport and fitness training. Their weighted training gear is currently being worn by U.S. college teams, European hockey teams, and many current NHL and AHL players. For more information, visit power-wear.us.
