Wednesday, May 10, 2006

UAA Coaching Changes

Alaska-Anchorage made some coaching moves last week when they informed assistant coaches Jack Kowal and Keith Morris that their contracts would not be renewed. It wasn't a huge surprise given that Kowal and Morris were former head coach John Hill's assistants and it was likely that Shyiak wanted to bring in his own assistant coaches. But some weren't happy with the way Shyiak handled the situation.

Kowal and Morris spoke out against the way Shyiak handled the situation in the Alaska Daily News. UAA blogger Drop the Puck agreed that things were handled poorly by Shyiak.

Ultimately, I think this is little more than a public relations problem. It also doesn't help that Anchorage was a miserable hockey team last year. Winning has a way of making little problems like this disappear.

This situation could run deeper than just this for Shyiak though. The brand new Northern Hockey Blog, which covers the western US and western Canada, is reporting that UAA recruit Kevin Clark is reconsidering his commitment to UAA . Clark was recruited by outgoing Keith Morris and may not be as interested in going to Anchorage. The NHB is a new blog, but there is some definite credibility to this rumor.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walsky #55 and Hamilton #89 leaving UAA. Both transferring

Anonymous said...

Seems like the Alaska Aces, ECHL (rumored to switch to AHL within the next 2 years) is really pulling in a lot of UAA graduates. If you look at the Alaska Aces roster, it's filled with UAA standouts.

Best of luck to UAA this year! Your pro-team up there is kicking some royal butt this season!! Kevin

Anonymous said...

The "Alaska Daily News" is also called the Anchorage Daily News.