Pearson a Finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award

Mel Pearson is a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, national coach of the year.
Mel Pearson is a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, national coach of the year.

Michigan Tech's head hockey coach Mel Pearson is one of seven coaches nationally who have been named finalists for the Spencer Penrose Award, given annually to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. The winner will be announced on Friday, April 6, in Tampa, Fla.

The nominees include coaches who won or shared Coach of the Year honors in their conference this past season, along with coaches whose teams have advanced to the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey semifinals.

Pearson, in his first year at the helm at Tech, was the WCHA Coach of the Year after leading Michigan Tech to a 16-19-4 record and a spot in the WCHA Final Five in 2011-12. The Huskies were picked to finish 12th in the WCHA after accumulating just four wins in 2010-11. They finished in eighth in the WCHA standings after having a chance to finish as high as fifth in the final weekend.

The Spencer Penrose Award is named in memory of the Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor Hotel Complex, site of the first ten NCAA championship hockey tournaments. The actual award will be presented at the AHCA Coach of the Year Banquet in Naples, Fla., on Saturday, April 28. The AHCA Coach of the Year Awards are chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association and sponsored by FlexxCoach, a leader in the creation and distribution of drills and general hockey instruction to coaches across the country.

2011-12 AHCA Men’s Ice Hockey Spencer Penrose Award Finalists
(AHCA/FlexxCoach Division I Coach of the Year)

Norm Bazin, UMass-Lowell – Hockey East Coach of the Year
Rick Bennett, Union – ECAC Coach of the Year and NCAA Semifinalist
Bob Daniels, Ferris State – CCHA Coach of the Year and NCAA Semifinalist*
Don Lucia, Minnesota – NCAA Semifinalist*
Mel Pearson, Michigan Tech – WCHA Coach of the Year
Ryan Soderquist, Bentley College – Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year
Jerry York, Boston College – NCAA Semifinalist*

* Past Spencer Penrose Award Winner

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.