Re: Union College Dutchwomen 2016-17 The New Era
New assistant coaches named..
(From Ken Schott @ the Gazette)
Whitney Colbert and Mitch Baker have been named assistant coaches for the Union women's hockey team, new head coach John Sciba announced Wednesday.
Colbert comes to Union from Connecticut College, where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach for the women's hockey team. She interned with the Cornell men's hockey coaching staff and with the USA Hockey women's department in Colorado Springs, Colo. She continues to be involved with USA Hockey, working at the U-18 and U-15 National Camps in St. Cloud, Minn., as an intern coach and on-ice skills person.
"Whitney brings a new level of passion and energy that our players will feel immediately," Sciba said in a statement. "She'll be a great role model and teacher for our team. Her coaching and playing experience in the NESCAC and work with USA Hockey will help us identify and recruit the type of players that fit our identity here at Union College."
Baker spent the last eight years as an assistant with the Bethel (Minn.) University women's hockey team. He helped recruited and developed four All-Americans, a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Player of the Year and numerous All-Conference honorees.
"Mitch brings a wealth of coaching experience from his years with Bethel College," Sciba said. "In addition to being an elite goaltending coach, his ability to educate and connect with our players, recruits, and their families will be a huge asset to our program."
The pair replace Ali Boe and Chris Cobb, who were not retained by Sciba. Sciba replaced former head coach Claudia Asano on May 13.
I'm optimistic about the new coaches and the future. Particularly like that Sciba has had good results recruiting to a program (Colgate) that is about as similar to Union as can get. Whatever you want to say about the past, the program needs to get better players. In the past there were too many recruits that were 2nd-3rd liners on their prep & junior teams, and is almost impossible to compete when every other D-1 team has the 1st liners, all-stars, and national team players. As much the men's team profited from better coaching, game prep, off-ice training, etc. the real reason they reached the level they have is because they recruited much better players under Leaman & Bennett. Hoping that the new regime will start getting players from different sources and more top-tier players like Shugart.
