Tim Watters, head coach of the Michigan Tech Huskies, has been chosen as the head coach of Team USA for the third annual North American College Hockey Championships (NACHC), slated for Saturday-Sunday, April 10-11, at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and the new Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Watters, now in his third season at Houghton, is no stranger to the Joe Louis Arena. A 1981 graduate of Michigan Tech (WCHA), Watters spent 14 years in the National Hockey League, 13 as a player and one as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins. He has played and coached in the "Joe" and hopes to add a victory over Team Canada to his Joe Louis Arena resume on April 10.

Rounding out the staff will be three other coaches from three different NCAA conferences. Chris Serino, the first-year head coach at Merrimack College, represents the Hockey East Association. Serino, a 1971 graduate of American International College in Springfield, MA, played football, hockey, and baseball in college, earning All-American honors in baseball. He arrived at Merrimack last summer after seven years as an assistant at the University of New Hampshire, where he helped guide the hockey team into the NCAA's on five occasions

Tom Newton, the nine-year veteran assistant at Michigan State, represents the CCHA. Newton has helped MSU head coach Ron Mason lift the Spartans to a #3 in the nation ranking this season, his 23rd in college hockey as either a player or a coach. Newton was a four-year letterwinner at Bowling Green, graduating in 1980.

The ECAC sends Princeton Universitv assistant coach Len Quesnelle to the staff. Now enjoying his 11th season at Princeton, Quesnelle helped head coach Donald "Toot" Cahoon bring the Tigers their first ever ECAC Tournament Championship in 1998. The Tigers' dream season ended by the narrowest of margins as eventual NCAA champion Michigan eked 'out a 2-1 win over Princeton at the NCAA West Regionals. Quesnelle skated for the Tigers from 1984-1988.

The NACHO expands to a two-game format in this its third year of existence. On Saturday evening, April 10, Team USA will host Team Canada in Detroit. Face-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The next afternoon at 4:00 p.m., the two teams meet at the new Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

This year, for the first time, the Joe Louis Arena and Olympia Entertainment have become sponsoring bodies for the first of the two games, providing greater stability for an event that had already established itself on the college hockey calendar.

The games match senior all-stars from U.S. colleges vs. their counterparts from Canadian universities. In 1997, Team Canada tied the U.S. with less than a second remaining and went on to win, 5-4, in overtime. Last year, Team USA rebounded with a 3-1 victory. Both games were played at the Joe Louis Arena.

For ticket information, call TicketMaster at (248)-645-6666 or the Joe Louis Arena Box Office at (313)-396- 7575.