After 15 seasons as the head coach of the St. Anselm men’s team, Ed Seney announced recently that he will be resigning from his position.
“Thirty-six years is a long time to do something,” Seney said in a news release. “I’m thinking it’s time to try something different. It’s almost like being a kid graduating college, but I’m graduating older. I’ll need something to fill that teaching and coaching void, but it’s kind of exciting, too.”
Assistant coach Larry Rocha will assume the head coaching duties on an interim basis.
In 1988, Seney landed his first head coaching job at Potsdam, where he stayed for 14 seasons and became the winningest coach in school history with 169 victories. At Potsdam, he was a three-time SUNYAC Coach of the Year, led the Bears to a SUNYAC championship and NCAA tournament berth in 1996 and was later inducted into the athletic hall of fame in 2002.
After 14 seasons at Potsdam, Seney made the move to St. Anselm, becoming the sixth head coach in program history prior to the 2002-03 season.
“On behalf of our entire athletic staff, I want to thank Coach Seney for his loyal contributions to the men’s ice hockey program,” said St. Anselm director of athletics Daron Montgomery in a statement. “Ed has been both an advocate and role model for our student-athletes, and he has run a first-class program that impacted so many lives during his tenure. The values he instilled in young people and lessons taught on and off the ice are vast in number.
“We are grateful for Ed’s leadership, passion and dedication over the past 15 years, which to me, is even more important than the 200-plus wins he posted as the Hawks head coach.”
“As an alum who is passionate about hockey and Saint Anselm College, I am honored to take over the program on an interim basis,” added Rocha. “I shared with Daron that I will do whatever is needed to ensure a seamless transition.”
Seney played at Plattsburgh and New England College and following his collegiate career, wanted to stay involved with hockey, so he stayed on as the head coach of the JV team and a varsity assistant at NEC.
“I started in 1981 as a 21-year old, getting a room, a meal card and driving the bus,” Seney said of getting into coaching. “I knew I wasn’t good enough to make a living playing, but I wanted to stay in the game somehow because I had a passion for it.”
He stayed at NEC for three years before spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Norwich. After that, he got a taste of Division I hockey for one season at Clarkson.
The athletic department plans to honor Seney in conjunction with the team’s postseason banquet on March 31.
