Tyler Walsh, son of legendary University of Maine hockey coach Shawn Walsh, has been named the new head coach of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.
The 33-year-old Walsh, who has spent the past six seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Colby College in Waterville, is replacing Brett Petersen.
Petersen stepped down after 24 seasons and will be the director of club sports at the NCAA Division III school and member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Walsh began his coaching career at the University of Maine where he spent three seasons as a student assistant coach and video coordinator under Tim Whitehead from 2010-2013.
He spent the 2013-14 season as the director of hockey operations at Canisius University in Buffalo, N.Y.; two years as an assistant coach and intern for the United States National Team Development Program’s junior squad and two years as the head coach at North Yarmouth Academy before landing the Colby College job where he worked under former UMass Lowell and Niagara University head coach Blaise MacDonald.
His father guided UMaine to two NCAA championships and 399 wins in his 17 seasons at UMaine before succumbing to renal cell carcinoma on Sept. 24, 2001. He is in the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
His grandfather was the late Ron Mason, who had 924 wins over 36 seasons at Lake Superior State, Bowling Green and Michigan State University and is in the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
“Tyler impressed the search committee, our administrators and our coaches during the interview process in many ways but his leadership skills, high motivation and work ethic really stood out, ” said Gustavus Adolphus athletic director Tom Brown in a press release.
“As an up-and-coming head coach, Tyler is charismatic, collaborative and has a strong family coaching pedigree with his father and grandfather having a great deal of success as hockey coaches.
“We are excited to have Tyler lead our program into a new era of Gustavus men’s hockey,” Brown added.
Walsh said it was “humbling” for him knowing he will be “filling the shoes of former great coaches in Brett Petersen and Don Roberts.
“Our coaching staff will emphasize player development so we can play an exciting brand of hockey,” said Walsh, a 2013 UMaine graduate who earned a master’s degree from Waterville’s Thomas College last year.
He thanked Brown and…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…