Nichols has announced the hiring of Parker Burgess as the 18th head coach in school history.
Burgess spent the previous five seasons at St. Thomas, first as an assistant coach (2010-13) before being elevated to associate head coach in 2013. The Tommies posted a combined mark of 82-38-12 with Burgess on staff and made a pair of trips to the NCAA tournament in 2012 and 2014.
He replaces Kevin Swallow, who resigned last month to become head coach at the University of New England.
“I am excited and honored to be named head coach of the Nichols men’s ice hockey program,” said Burgess in a news release. “I want to thank director of athletics Chris Colvin and all of the Nichols administrators for this opportunity. It is an exciting time to be at Nichols College and Jessie and I are looking forward to making the move to Massachusetts. I would be remised if I didn’t thank my family and Jessie for all their support throughout this process and my coaching career. I can’t wait to get on the ice and get started. Jessie and I are elated to be a part of the Nichols family.”
“Parker Burgess rose to the top of a very competitive application pool of over 100 candidates,” added Colvin. “The combination of Parker’s vast experience at St. Thomas, his focus on the full development of the student-athlete as a campus leader, and his process-focused approach to coaching made it clear that he was the right person to lead Nichols ice hockey into the future. I am pleased and excited to welcome Parker to Nichols College.”
A Calgary native, Burgess began his collegiate playing career at Robert Morris in 2006 and spent two years with the Colonials before transferring to St. Thomas, where he served as team captain as a senior in 2009-10.
“I would like to thank everyone at the University of St. Thomas,” added Burgess. “UST is a first class institution and I am very grateful for everything the school has done for me on a personal and professional level. Head coach Jeff Boeser has been a mentor to me and has prepared me for this opportunity. I can’t thank him enough. I want to thank all the other coaches I worked with at UST: Tony Lawrence, Andrew Kappers, Tyler Gubb, Jacque Vezina, Garret Gruenke and Evan Mackintosh. Each one of them helped me develop and grow as a coach. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to all the student-athletes who, over the past five years, worked tirelessly to take the UST hockey program to new heights.
“The Nichols hockey program has made great strides over the past few years. Coach Swallow has left big shoes to fill. He did an excellent job recruiting and creating a championship culture at Nichols. I want to build on the program’s recent success and take it to even higher levels. I am excited to work with a great group of returning student-athletes and several high-end recruits. It is my goal for the student-athletes to achieve success both on the ice and in the classroom, as well as be leaders on campus. Our goal will be to bring a national championship to Nichols. That said, we will not lose sight of the process and the little details necessary to have success. We will be an honest, hard-working team which will compete hard every game and not take a back seat to anyone.”
