The American Hockey Coaches Association has announced its slate of recipients of its most prestigious awards for 2024.
Six of the eight individuals being recognized will be honored at the 2024 AHCA Convention in Naples, Fla., scheduled for May 1-4. The recipients of the John Mariucci Award, presented to secondary school coaches, and the Jim Fullerton Award, presented to a non-coach, will be presented at the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.
JOHN MACINNES AWARD
Established by AHCA in 1982 to honor former MTU coach, John MacInnes. This award recognizes those people who have shown a great concern for amateur hockey. 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 also more importantly, as men.
2024 Recipient: Jerry York, Boston College, Bowling Green, Clarkson
Jerry York is the winningest coach in college hockey history and is the most decorated coach ever to work a college bench. His 1,123 career wins dwarf the pack, no one else having reach 1,000 victories. He is the only NCAA coach to be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and is also a member of U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, as well as numerous other halls.
York, a member of the Boston College Class of 1967, was hired at his alma mater in 1994 after coaching for 15 years at Bowling Green (1979-1994) where he won the national championship in 1984. He began his head coaching career at Clarkson at the age of 27, leading the Golden Knights from 1972-79.
York is one of only three coaches to have won NCAA titles with two different schools—Bowling Green in 1984, and BC in 2001, 2008, 2010, and 2012. He also led the Eagles to 12 Frozen Four appearances, nine Hockey East Tournament titles, 12 Hockey East regular season championships, and nine Beanpot titles. His 41 NCAA tournament victories are the most ever, and he was named Hockey East coach of the year five times, most recently in 2021.
York coached four Hobey Baker Award winners in his career. Eighteen of his former players were selected in the first round of the NHL draft, and 58 have appeared in at least fifty games in the NHL. In 2019, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. And in 2020 he was named to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
A star player at Boston College High School before coming to the Heights to play for coach John “Snooks” Kelley, York was named First-Team All-America in 1967 and won the Walter Brown Award for the top American-born player in New England that same year. He scored 134 points as a player (84 goals, 70 assists) and led the Eagles to a 60-29 record, the 1965 Beanpot title, and a second-place finish in the 1965 NCAA tournament. He still ranks among BC’s all-time leaders in points, goals, and assists.
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.
2024 Recipient: Roger Godin, Minnesota Wild
Roger Godin, a native of Tarrytown, N.Y., was named the first director of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame (USHHF) in Eveleth, Minnesota, in June 1971. Godin had applied for the position based on a proposal on how he thought the museum might be operated. The facility opened on June 21, 1973, and Godin served two tours as director, July 1971-Dec. 1983 and March 1985-Aug. 1987. He then worked in non-sports museums in the late 1980s and 1990s. In 2000, he was hired by the NHL’s Minnesota Wild to conceive and execute exhibits dealing with hockey in Minnesota and continues in that position to the present time. The exhibits occupy locations on the four levels of the Xcel Energy Center, the Wild’s home arena, in St. Paul, Minn.
During these years, Godin has done extensive research and writing on the pre-World War II American participation in hockey. Most notably he has written two books: “Before The Stars: Early Major League Hockey: and the “St. Paul Athletic Club Team and Red, White, and Blue on Ice: Minnesota’s Elite Teams and Players of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.” As a member of the Society for International Hockey Research (SIHR) he has also authored numerous monographs a sample of which are those dealing with 1933 United States National Team, early American stars Hugh “Muzz” Murray and Gerry Geran, the 1928 Boston University Club Team, the 1934-35 Baltimore Orioles, and the 1940-45 San Diego Skyhawks. All of the forgoing, except the Skyhawks’ work have appeared in SIHR’s Hockey Research Journal.
In 2021 the Hobey Baker Foundation honored Godin with a replica of the prestigious Baker award in appreciation of his support, passion, and commitment to the foundation. Other awards have come from Minnesota Hockey for outstanding service in 1983, SIHR’s Brian McFarlane Award for outstanding research and writing in 1998, and the USHHF’s John T. Karakas Award for commitment to the mission and goals of the Hall in 2004. Godin also had a 30-year active/reserve component military career during which he received the Air Medal in 1969 for meritorious achievement.
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 overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States.
2024 Recipient: Bob DeGregorio, Atlantic Hockey, CHA, NEWHA
Bob DeGregorio has forged a unique career as an athletic administrator, both inside and outside of ice hockey. He is currently the longest serving college hockey commissioner in the NCAA, having served four different conferences since 1993. He is commissioner of the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance, having been introduced as the newest conference’s commissioner in September 2018. As the NEWHA commissioner, DeGregorio helped to secure active NCAA Division I membership for the league, effective for the 2019-20 academic year. Starting with the 2021-22 season, active Division I membership allows the NEWHA champion to be eligible for a bid to the NCAA Division I championship.
Prior to the formation of the NEWHA, DeGregorio served 20 years as commissioner of Atlantic Hockey, an 11-team men’s ice hockey conference, and 11 years as commissioner of College Hockey America, a six-team women’s ice hockey league. Under DeGregorio’s tutelage, Atlantic Hockey grew from nine member institutions at its inception in 2003 to the current 11-member roster. He orchestrated the moving of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Championships to a neutral site, negotiating with the City of Rochester and the Blue Cross Arena, to make the BCA the home of the semifinals and final, where it remained from 2007 until 2018. DeGregorio then worked with the HarborCenter administration to keep the Atlantic Hockey tournament in western New York beginning in 2019.
DeGregorio is no stranger to guiding a major ice hockey league, having served as commissioner of Hockey East from 1993-96, a position he held while simultaneously working as Merrimack College director of athletics. DeGregorio, served Merrimack College athletics for two decades, joining the staff as business manager for the athletic department and for the college’s S. Peter Volpe Physical Education Center in 1978. He was promoted to director of athletics in May of 1983.
Throughout his tenure, many of the Warrior teams became national powers. Although winning is always a goal, DeGregorio has constantly recognized and encouraged success in the classroom as well as community involvement. This was evidenced in July 2001, when the first USA Today/NCAA Foundation academic achievement awards were announced. Out of the 264 Division II schools in the country, Merrimack ranked second with an impressive student-athlete graduation rate of 86 percent.
A resident of Winthrop, Mass., where he resides with his wife Michele, DeGregorio graduated from Boston State College in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in education. He was inducted into his alma mater’s athletic hall of fame in the fall of 2023. Bob has two children, Leah and Robert Michael III.
THE WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY FOUNDERS AWARD
This award honors a member of the hockey community or college coaching profession who has contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of women’s ice hockey in the United States through their enthusiasm, passion and selflessness.
2024 Recipient: Winny Brodt Brown, UNH, Minnesota, Minnesota Whitecaps
Winny Brodt Brown first made headlines when she was chosen as the inaugural winner of Minnesota’s Ms. Hockey Award back in 1996. The Roseville, Minn., native went on to win two national titles (AWCHA), the first as a UNH freshman in 1997 and the second in 2000 after transferring to the University of Minnesota. She was named the AWCHA tournament Most Valuable Player in 1997. While at Minnesota, the talented defenseman not only forged a Hall of Fame career but also interrupted her college career to play for Team USA, earning silver medals at both the 2000 and 2001 World Championships.
Upon leaving the University of Minnesota, she joined the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL) Minnesota Whitecaps in their inaugural 2004–05 season. In 2006, she was joined by her sister Chelsey Brodt-Rosenthal. They played every season with the Whitecaps, including their 2010 Clarkson Cup win, and through the team’s independent years after the dissolution of the WWHL in 2011. Both signed contracts with the Whitecaps for its inaugural 2018–19 season in the professional Premier Hockey Federation (PHF, originally the National Women’s Hockey League). She announced her retirement from the Whitecaps on August 16, 2022.[1]
Brodt-Brown was inducted into the University of Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021. One of Brodt-Brown’s former teammates, Allie Morse, who was one of the Whitecaps’ goalies for the last three seasons, has said, “An absolute legend. She made women’s hockey what it is today in Minnesota and will continue to do so even if she isn’t playing.”
Alongside her playing career, Brodt has been involved with coaching for the past two decades, not only coaching the Junior Whitecaps but also as the director of OS Hockey Training since 2008.
TERRY FLANAGAN AWARD
Named in honor of the former UNH player and Bowling Green assistant, this award honors an assistant coach’s career body of work.
2024 Recipient: Joe Dumais, UConn, Union, Quinnipiac
Joe Dumais, a Former Quinnipiac hockey captain, is in his eighth year as the Bobcats’ associate head coach. In his first seven seasons with the Bobcats, Quinnipiac has recorded 169 wins with Dumais on the staff, including the 2023 National Championship and each of the last three Cleary Cups as ECAC regular-season champion. He was a key component of the Bobcats’ title run, engineering the faceoff play that helped clinch the program’s first national championship.
Dumais returned to Quinnipiac in 2016 after spending the previous five seasons at Union College preceded by three seasons at the University of Connecticut. Dumais joined the staff at Union in 2011 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2015. During Dumais’ time at Union, he helped guide the Dutchmen to the 2014 NCAA national championship. In addition to the Dutchmen’s success in the national tournament, Dumais also helped develop three All-Americans, six All-ECAC Hockey selections and a pair of ECAC Hockey all-rookie team picks.
Dumais was a four-year letterwinner for the Bobcats from 2002 through 2006, appearing in 128 games for his career and serving as a captain for the 2006 team. Dumais accumulated 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points.
Dumais graduated from Quinnipiac in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology before completing a master’s degree in recreation and sports sciences from Ohio University.
ASSISTANT WOMEN’S COACH AWARD
This award honors an assistant coach’s career body of work.
2024 Recipient: Edith Racine, Cornell, Brown
Edith Racine is in her 15th year at Cornell and 17th overall as an NCAA assistant coach. She was named assistant coach for the Big Red in 2009-10 season and prior to the 2019-20 season, Racine was promoted to associate head coach.
While serving under Head Coach Doug Derraugh in a number of roles, she has excelled in the development of goaltenders. Racine has guided the likes of Lindsay Browning, Lauren Slebodnick, Amanda Mazzotta, Paula Voorheis and Marlene Boissonnault. All either received the highest post-season accolades or led the conference or nation in a variety of goaltending categories. During her tenure, Cornell advanced to the national title game in her first season, starting a run of three consecutive NCAA Frozen Four appearances (2010,2011, and 2012), in addition to another appearance in the national semifinals in 2019 and being ranked No. 1 in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Big Red has won seven Ivy League titles, six ECAC Hockey regular-season crowns, and four ECAC Hockey tournament championships.
Before joining the Big Red, Racine coached for two seasons at Brown University, first as a volunteer assistant during the 2007-08 season and then as a full-time assistant coach in 2008-09.
A two-time All-American goaltender at Elmira College, second team in 2003 and first team in 2005, Racine played four seasons in goal with the Soaring Eagles women’s hockey team, guiding her squad to a pair of national titles and a national runner-up finish.
JOE BURKE AWARD
The Joe Burke Award was established in 1994 to honor those individuals who have shown great support and dedication to girls/women’s hockey. Joe Burke has been an avid fan of girls/women’s hockey since the late 70’s. Joe Burke, a Dedham, Mass., resident is a lifelong hockey fan, who never actually played the game himself. He became hooked on the women’s game when he attended the game vs. the University of New Hampshire and Boston College in 1978 at McHugh Forum. Since this game, Joe was seen at every major girls/women’s hockey event in the New England area. He is a true friend of the women’s game and the people associated with it.
2024 Recipient: Bill Leidt
Bill Leidt has spent more than 20 years in the world of girls’ and women’s ice hockey, his activities ranging from coaching, clinics, player development and tournament management. All of this took place on state, district and national levels.
From 2002-2014, he was a force in Connecticut hockey. For a decade, he was a coach and coaching director for the Connecticut Polar Bears. He also served as Connecticut girls director (2006-14) and Connecticut state championships director (2008-14.)
He has served the New England Region and USA Hockey nationally in a number of capacities from 2008 to the present. Among his titles: USA Hockey Girls eastern select camp director (founder), USA national championship director (girls/women), USA Hockey girls ADM launch committee and New England District regional championship director.
JOHN MARIUCCI AWARD
John Mariucci, the former coach of the University of Minnesota, was not only an outstanding college coach, but also a driving force behind the growth of hockey in the United States. In 1987, the AHCA created this award to honor a secondary school association coach who best exemplifies the spirit, dedication and enthusiasm of the “Godfather of U.S. Hockey,” John Mariucci.
2024 Recipient: Keith Hendrickson, Virginia (Minn.) High School
Keith Hendrickson spent 26 years (1985-2011) as the Virginia High School head coach, which included multiple conference and section championships, state tournament appearances. His Blue Devils were perennial favorites for the Section 7A championship. Beyond his coaching success, his contributions to the overall hockey program in Virginia were inspirational. He spearheaded huge fundraising efforts that resulted in a second sheet of indoor ice being built, the installation of artificial ice a few years later and an arena weight room. The result was increased hockey participation at the youth ranks despite declining enrollment in the schools.
Keith was also very active in Minnesota hockey. He coached several High Performance teams and was twice coach of Team Minnesota at the Chicago Showcase. In 2006, along with Herb Brooks, Jack Blatherwick and Ted Brill, he wrote the blueprint for the first Satellite Training Program, which became the model summer hockey training program in the state of Minnesota. He has received a number of prestigious awards for his bord of work, including the 2003 Dave Peterson Award, given by Minnesota Hockey, and the 2023 Cliff Thomson Award, given by the Minnesota Wild.
A decorated athlete at Virginia HS in both football and hockey, Hendrickson went on to play for his uncle, Gus Hendrickson, at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Keith is now a scout for the Vegas Golden Knights.
