Six outstanding individuals have been chosen as winners of the 2005 American Hockey Coaches Association major awards. The awards and their recipients:

Mike Sertich

JOHN “SNOOKS” KELLEY FOUNDERS AWARD: Named after the famed Boston College coach, this award honors those people in the coaching profession who have contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States.

2005 Winner: Mike Sertich, Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan Tech

In 2002-03, Mike Sertich concluded a 21-year head coaching career with a record of 375-397-53 overall, including a 25-69-9 mark at Michigan Tech and a 350-338-44 record with Minnesota- Duluth. Along with the legendary John MacInnes of Michigan Tech, “Sertie” is the only four-time winner of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Coach of the Year Award (1983- 1985, and 1993), and in 1984, he was named the American Hockey Coaches Association Spencer Penrose recipient as the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year. (In 1983-84 he took UMD to the NCAA final, only to lose a four-overtime thriller to Bowling Green, 5-4. )

Born and raised in Virginia,MN, in the heart of Minnesota’s Iron Range, Sertich’s work ethic led him to be a standout in hockey, football, and baseball at Roosevelt High School in Virginia. Upon graduation from the prep ranks in 1965, Sertich was offered a football scholarship to the University of North Dakota, but instead opted to pursue hockey at UMD, a school which had just gained entrance into the prestigious WCHA. During his three seasons (1966-69) with the Bulldogs, he was perhaps one of the most diligent workers on the club, and in 1969 was named the club’s Most Improved Player.

Following his graduation from UMD in 1969 with a B.S. degree in physical education, Sertich wasted little time in landing his first teaching and coaching job, joining Head Coach Gus Hendrickson at Grand Rapids (MN) High School. After the two had literally built a hockey dynasty with the Indians in the early and mid-1970s, UMD officials persuaded both Hendrickson and Sertich to try their coaching magic at the collegiate level. Sertich, who had also been an assistant baseball coach at Grand Rapids High School, worked as Hendrickson’s right-hand man and the Bulldogs’ chief recruiter for seven years before accepting the job as UMD’s head coach in the spring of 1982.

As president of the American Hockey Coaches Association and chair of the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, Sertich made even more impressive and long lasting contributions to the game of college hockey.

Mike Gilligan

JOHN MAC INNES AWARD: Established by AHCA in 1982 to honor former MTU coach, John MacInnes, this award recognizes those people who have shown a great concern for amateur hockey and youth programs. The recipients have had high winning percentages, as well as outstanding graduating percentages among their former players. The winners of this award have helped young men grow not only as hockey players, but more importantly, as men.

2005 Winner: Mike Gilligan, Salem State and Vermont

One of the most respected and most successful college hockey coaches in the nation, Mike Gilligan coached his 19th and final season behind the Vermont bench in 2002-03. He completed his career with a record of 279-289-46 at UVM, 419-348-49 in 26 years overall. (He also coached six years at Salem State and spent one year as Interim Head Coach at Yale.)

At the time of his retirement from college coaching, then Vermont AD Rick Farnham observed,“Mike Gilligan has all the qualities you would want in a collegiate head coach. He is loyal, thoughtful and extremely dedicated to his student-athletes. His values are beyond reproach. More importantly, Mike is a man of integrity and as caring a person as you will find.”

A native of Beverly, MA, Gilligan enjoyed a successful playing career at Salem State College before landing his first head coaching job at his alma mater. A member of the Salem State Hall of Fame, he is currently assisting head coach Ben Smith with the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Grant Standbrook

TERRY FLANAGAN AWARD: Named in honor of the former UNH player and Bowling Green Assistant, this award honors an assistant coach’s career body of work.

2005 Winner: Grant Standbrook, University of Wisconsin and University of Maine

Grant Standbrook is in his 17th season at the University of Maine as assistant coach and primary recruiter. Since coming to Maine in 1988, Standbrook has coordinated recruiting of classes which have consistently ranked among the best in the nation. Those recruiting classes at Maine have formed the foundation for the program that has won five Hockey East Tournament Championships, advanced to nine Frozen Fours and won two NCAA Championships.

Overall, Standbrook has been on coaching staffs that have won five NCAA Championships and been in the title game three other occasions. Before joining the Black Bear staff, Standbrook was an assistant coach at Wisconsin where he played an integral role in the Badgers winning three national championships during his 12- year tenure at that school. Together with head coach Bob Johnson, Standbrook built a college hockey dynasty, winning national titles in 1977, 1981 and 1983 in addition to reaching the NCAA Championship game on two other occasions.

From 1970-75, Standbrook was the head coach at Dartmouth College where he inherited a program with just 29 wins in the previous 10 years, and led the team to the Ivy League Championship game in his third season. He also coached soccer and lacrosse for the Big Green.

In 1987-88, he was the head coach of Varese-Kronenberg of the Italian league where he led the team to a second place finish. He was an assistant coach of the 1976 U.S. Olympic hockey team, and the U.S. National teams in 1974 and 1975 and has coached several teams for USA Hockey.

A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, he is a 1961 graduate of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Standbrook was a two-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs, scoring 22 goals and adding 24 assists in 31 career games as a center on the hockey team. The team lost only eight games during his junior and senior seasons. He also was a member of Minnesota-Duluth’s track and field team. A versitile athlete, Standbrook finished second in the Manitoba Judo Championships in 1954. He also played on a Canadian national championship soccer team in 1962 and was a profilic scorer in lacrosse.

JOHN MARIUCCI AWARD: John Mariucci, the former coach of the University of Minnesota, was not only an outstanding college coach, but also a driving force behind the growth of hockey in the United States. In 1987, the AHCA created this award to honor a secondary school coach who best exemplifies the spirit, dedication and enthusiasm of the “GODFATHER OF U.S. HOCKEY,” John Mariucci.

2005 Winner: John Sumner, Shattuck-St.Mary’s School (MN)

John Sumner has been involved at the Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, MN, for the past 34 years. Currently serving as Director of Athletics (since 1976) and Associate Director of Advancement (since 2004), Sumner has a forged a unique record of athletic accomplishment at the school. A physical education instructor since he arrived in 1971, Sumner has been a succesful head coach in football (1971-93), ice hockey (1971-1989), and baseball (1971-2000). He also assisted the hockey program from 1989-2003.

While pursuing graduate work in computer science in 1984-85, he assisted the hockey team at Mankato State. A native of Marblehead, MA, Sumner was graduated from Jamestown College in 1971.

THE JIM FULLERTON AWARD: Named in honor of the former Brown University coach and AHCA spiritual leader, this award recognizes an individual who loves the purity of our sport. Whether a coach, administrator, trainer, official, journalist, or simply a fan, the recipient exemplifies Jim Fullerton, who gave as much as he received and never stopped caring about the direction in which our game was heading.

2005 Winner: Dana Hennigar, Hockey East Association

Dana Hennigar served as Supervisor of Officials for Hockey East for it’s first ten years. Prior to that he served as a Division I ice hockey official for 20 years. During that time he refereed many major games in college hockey including Division I National Championships, Div. II and III National Championships, ECAC Championships and Bean Pot Championships. He served as Secretary of the Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association for many years. He still serves as a permanent Trustee of the Trust for Ice Hockey Officials. He has been the recipient of the “Schaeffer Pen Award” in 1995 by the New England Hockey Writers Association. He also received the 1993 Massachusetts Hockey Coaches “Referee’s Award.”

A native of Melrose, MA. Hennigar played at Dartmouth College, serving as team captain in 1954-55, his senior year.

Bill Cahill

JOE BURKE AWARD: Presented annually to the person who has given outstanding contribution, support, and dedication to women’s ice hockey.

2005 Winner: Bill Cahill, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Bill Cahill’s involvement with women’s ice hockey was tremendous over his years in the game, not just at the collegiate level, but at camps and clinics throughout the country. All of hockey lost a great ambassador for the game when Bill died suddenly on October 5, 2003.

A native of Worcester, MA, Bill Cahill played his college hockey at Norwich University, before entering coaching at the junior and high school level. He compiled a 7-year record of 112-26-16 at St. John’s of Shrewsbury (MA) High School before beginning a college career with Assumption, Norwich, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). At RPI, he was a men’s assistant for many years before taking the helm of the women’s team. He had a three-year mark of 47-28-3 with the RPI women and became a huge advocate of women’s hockey.

Said MIT coach Juilie Sasner, in nominating Bill Cahill for this award: “Bill had a genuine passion for the game of hockey and loved to talk about the game as much as he loved coaching. He was supportive of all hockey, men’s and women’s, girl’s and boy’s, and not just his own team. He would talk the ears off of anyone who would listen to his ideas about drills and systems. He was a friend to anyone who loved the game of hockey.

“Bill was a true friend and the kind of guy who loved moving the salt and pepper shakers around to demonstrate a forecheck after you played his team. He was generous with his time and knowledge. Few people could match Bill’s tremendous enthusiasm for the game. His early passing is a huge loss to the hockey community.”

[NOTE: All awards, except the Joe Burke Award, will be presented at the Coach of the Year Banquet in Naples, FL, on April 23, 2005. The Joe Burke Award will be presented at a special reception for women’s hockey coaches on Wednesday, April 20, also at Naples, FL.]