Alaska announced Tuesday that former defenseman Corbin Schmidt has been named the Nanooks’ new assistant coach.
Schmidt replaces Brian Meisner.
“I am honored to have been selected as the assistant coach at my alma mater,” Schmidt said in a statement. “I am very excited to return to Fairbanks and coach alongside another former Nanook in Dallas Ferguson, as he has been a mentor of mine for some time now.”
Schmidt has most recently been the director of training and recruitment at the Minnesota Advancement Program since 2009.
“Corbin is a great communicator and teacher,” Alaska coach Dallas Ferguson added. “Both of these qualities are going to make him a tremendous asset to our student-athletes’ development.”
A Nanook from 2001-2005, Schmidt played his first three seasons for Guy Gadowsky, now at Penn State, and his senior year under Tavis MacMillan, a scout these days for the Winnipeg Jets.
Schmidt appeared in 117 career games for the Nanooks and scored 23 points, including 19 as a senior.
“Few student-athletes exhibited a passion for Alaska and UAF like Corbin did,” MacMillan said in a news release. “He was so proud to be Alaskan, always had a smile on his face and a great spirit about him. It was contagious. He can sell young men on why Alaska and Alaska hockey is a special place and it will be genuine.”
Schmidt’s professional hockey career landed him back in his hometown of Anchorage, where he enjoyed a successful four-year stint playing for the Alaska Aces of the ECHL, where he was a part of the Kelly Cup championship team in 2005-06.
“I have been fortunate enough to play under some of the most successful coaches in the game of hockey and in turn, have had a very successful playing career,” Schmidt concluded. “I am eager to take what I learned from my former coaches and experiences as a player and share that knowledge with the student-athletes to enhance an already successful program and help to continue the proud tradition of Nanook hockey.”
