AMERICAN HOCKEY COACHES ASSOCIATION Executive Director: Joe Bertagna — 7 Concord Street — Gloucester, MA 01930 — (781) 245-4177 For immediate release: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 2015 AHCA Major Awards Are Announced Jack Parker, Bruce Delventhal, Karen Kay Head List of Eight Honorees The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) has announced its major awards for 2015. Eight individuals who have made unique contributions to amateur hockey in the United States will be recognized during the 2015 AHCA Convention in Naples, Florida, the women’s hockey honorees being recognized on Friday, May 1, and the men’s hockey award recipients feted on Saturday, May 2. Heading the list of award winners is former Boston University head coach Jack Parker, winner of 897 games and three national champi- onships during a 40-year career at BU. Parker will receive the John MacInnes Award. Also being recognized are Bruce Delventhal, athletic director at Plattsburgh State and three-decade officer of the AHCA, who will receive the John “Snooks” Kelley Founders Award, and Karen Kay, former University of New Hampshire and U.S. National Team head coach, who will be presented the Women’s Hockey Founders Award. All awards will be presented at two dinners taking place at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Here is a detailed look at each of the eight awards and their recipients. JOHN MACINNES AWARD Established by the AHCA in 1982 to honor former Michigan Tech 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. 2015 Recipient: Jack Parker No NCAA hockey coach won more games at one institution than Jack Parker. His 897 wins in a 40-year career at Boston University set that record and is second all-time to still-active rival Jerry York of Boston College. A native of Somerville, Massachusetts, Parker captained BU as a player, graduating in 1968. He got his coaching start as an assistant at Medford (Mass.) High School in 1968 and then returned to his alma mater as an assistant from 1969-73. He was named head coach in 1973 and promptly led the Terriers to four straight ECAC championships, led by the likes of Mike Eruzione, Jack O’Callahan, Jim Craig and Terry and Ricky Meagher. The first of three NCAA Championships came in 1978, followed by subsequent national crowns in 1995 and 2009. The latter came in dramatic style as the Terriers rallied from a 3-1 deficit late in the third period to defeat Miami, 4-3, in overtime. His teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament 24 times and 21 of his squads captured Boston’s fabled Beanpot trophy. In addition to his four ECAC tournament titles, Parker captured seven Hockey East regular season crowns and eight post-season tournaments. A number of his players went on to become NCAA and NHL coaches, as well as NHL players. Among the latter: Tony Amonte, Keith Tkachuk, Rick DiPietro, Jay Pandolfo, Shawn McEachern, Chris Drury and John Cullen. Current NCAA head coaches who either played or worked along side Parker include (men’s hockey) Bill O’Neill at Salem State, Blaise MacDonald at Colby, Terry Meagher at Bowdoin, (women’s hockey) Brian Durocher at BU and Bob Deraney at Providence. Joe Sacco and Mike Sullivan are among Parker players who be- came NHL head coaches and Ben Smith, a longtime Parker assistant, served three stints as the U.S. Women’s Olympic head coach, winning medals each time, including gold in 1998. Beyond these accomplishments, Parker was a strong leader for the game of college hockey nationally, and not just for the interests of his school or conference. He also gained a reputation for fierce loyalty to his players after their playing days had ended.This was never more evident than in his longtime relationship with Travis Roy, a Terrier whose career lasted all of 11 seconds due to a catastrophic injury on his first and only shift. Even before his retirement at the end of the 2012-13 season, Parker began to be recognized with major awards, both regionally and nationally. Of the many honors, the most prestigious came in 2010 with the presentation of the Lester Patrick Award for contributions to ice hockey in the United States. This award is presented by the NHL and USA Hockey. He has also received the Hobey Baker Memorial Foundation’s “Legends of Hockey” award and is a member of the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame. Parker remains employed by Boston University, working for the school president, and resides in the Boston area with his wife, Jacqueline. 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 over- all growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States. 2015 Recipient: Bruce Delventhal -more- 2015 AHCA Major Awards Release of January 20, 2015/Page Two Few people have given to the game of college hockey in as many ways as Bruce Delventhal. His resume features four years as a player at Hamil- ton College, 15 more seasons as a coach at three universities, ten years as an athletic director at a fourth school and nearly three decades of devotion to the American Hockey Coaches Association. Delventhal, a New Jersey native, played for Greg Batt at Hamilton, graduating in 1971. His first coaching job came at the Northwood School and his first college job was assisting Jim Higgins at Princeton from 1982-84. (Higgins, with whom Delventhal remains good friends, won this award two years ago.) He first became a head coach in 1984 at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he compiled a record of 87-39-2 in four seasons, the highlight of his RIT tenure being the 1985 NCAA Division III Championship. From RIT, Delventhal moved to Division I as head coach at Union College. His record with the Dutchmen was 89-111-21 over eight campaigns and was named ECAC Coach of the Year in 1994. Among the current NCAA head coaches influenced by Delventhal are Blaise MacDonald of Colby College, who played on the RIT national champions, and Kevin Sneddon of Vermont, Delventhal’s assistant at Union. In his 12 seasons as an NCAA head coach, his career record was 176-150-23 (.537). After spending eight years away from a campus, working in sales, Delventhal was named director of athletics at Plattsburgh State on June 28, 2005. The Cardinals have achieved unparalleled success since his arrival, with 37 teams appearing in the NCAA Championships during the last eight years, including three NCAA women’s ice hockey titles. In addition, Plattsburgh student-athletes have earned a higher grade-point average than the general student population during every semester since Delventhal came to campus. Delventhal was instrumental in the renovated Stafford Ice Arena, which underwent a $2.1 million renovation in the summer of 2008, and in improvements to Chip Cummings Field, which serves as the home of Cardinals Baseball. He also formed the Friends of Plattsburgh State Athletics, which is the fundraising arm of the department, and has worked with several organizations to help bring Cardinal teams closer to the community. Delventhal has worked for the American Hockey Coaches’ Association since 1988 as the organization’s secretary/treasurer. As an officer of the AHCA, he’s charged with creating and implementing budgets, developing convention agendas and generating sponsorships. He is also a member of the board of Hockey Coaches Care, a non-profit charitable organization that raises money to help people in need at all levels of the hockey community. After his coaching days, Delventhal spent eight years working in the business world as North America sales manager for the fishing/tackle division of two Japanese companies, Yo-Zuri and Seaquar. He received a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a master’s from Princeton Seminary. He is married to his wife Allie, who works as a nurse and midwife. She previously taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Rochester. They have a grown son, Brent, who resides in Richmond, Virginia. JIM FULLERTON AWARD Named in honor of the former Brown University hockey coach and ACHA 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. 2015 Recipient: Doug Spencer Doug Spencer worked in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for 28 years as the Associate Commissioner for Public Relations. Spencer worked under two commissioners, Bruce McLeod and Otto Breitenbach, and served the league over three decades, from 1986-2014. In that period he helped grow the WCHA Final Five into one of the sport’s premier post-season events and watched the women’s WCHA win 14 national champion- ships. Spencer was also involved in publicizing and promoting college hockey for more than 30 seasons, dating to the early 1970s, when he started as a student assistant in the SID office of his alma mater, Western Michigan University. For the WCHA, Spencer coordinated public and media information needs, assisted in the general administration of the annual WCHA Final Five and the league’s international tours, produced numerous publications for both the men’s and women’s leagues, issued regular press releases and statistics, maintained historical playing records and oversaw the league’s web site and weekly radio show.