Melissa Samoskevich is joining the Delaware hockey program as an assistant coach for the women’s hockey team.
Samoskevich will assume the role on July 3.
“I am beyond excited for the addition of Melissa to the Blue Hen family,” Delaware head coach Allison Coomey said in a statement. “Melissa brings a wealth of experience to the University of Delaware. She has excelled as a player at the college, international, and professional levels. As a coach, she is knowledgeable, hardworking, and cares deeply about the student-athlete experience. She has worked for top programs and knows what it takes to win at this level. Having worked together previously, I know she is the perfect fit for this program. Melissa is a proven winner, and I am excited for her to bring that experience here. I look forward to learning from her and working with her as we strive to build a winning program here at UD.”
Samoskevich arrives in Newark after spending the 2023-24 season as an assistant coach at Princeton. She aided the Tigers to a 14-12-6 record and an appearance in the ECAC championship quarterfinals. With the Tigers, she assisted with video analysis, practice planning, drill implementation, special teams, and game management.
“I am so excited and honored to have this opportunity to assist Allison Coomey in leading the University of Delaware’s inaugural program,” Samoskevich said. “I am forever grateful to Allison Coomey, Chrissi Rawak, and the administration team at UD for allowing this milestone in the women’s ice hockey game to take place. I look forward to helping Allison establish a strong foundation of excellence that this program can thrive upon. I’m looking forward to being a member of the Blue Hen family.”
In the 2022-23 season, Samoskevich finished her third year on a collegiate staff, serving as the director of player development and operations at her alma mater, Quinnipiac. The Bobcats went 30-10 in Samoskevich’s season on the bench, making the ECAC Hockey semifinals and earning an at-large NCAA tournament bid on the way to making the regional final.
Samoskevich spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons at Penn State with Coomey, helping the Nittany Lions to an overall record of 34-13-7 and 24-5-5 in College Hockey America over those two years.
Following her final season at Quinnipiac, Samoskevich was named to the U.S. team for the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Finland, playing in all seven games as the Americans put together an undefeated run to win the gold medal for the fifth-consecutive tournament. Samoskevich had two goals during the pool-play round, one each against Finland and Russia.
The 2019 IIHF Worlds were just the most recent time Samoskevich was called to wear the red, white, and blue, having represented Team USA at a pair of U18 Women’s World Championships. In 2014 in Hungary, Samoskevich had a pair of helpers during the pool-play round as the U.S. won silver, and in 2015 in Buffalo, the U.S. won gold with Samoskevich having a six-goal tournament including a hat trick against Russia to close an unbeaten run through pool play and two goals in a semifinal win over the Czech Republic.
After graduating from Quinnipiac in 2019 with a history degree, Samoskevich began her professional career by playing part of the 2019-20 season professionally in Sweden with Brynäs IF. Later that season, she returned to the U.S. to play first with the PWHPA’s New England team and then with her home-state Connecticut Whale in the NWHL/PHF. Samoskevich has continued her tenure with the Whale through the team’s most recent season, which wrapped in March 2023.
During her undergraduate career at Quinnipiac, Samoskevich scored 54 goals, good enough to graduate third in program history, and 55 assists, for fifth on the Bobcats’ list, for 109 points, fourth-most in program history. Samoskevich was an ECAC Hockey all-rookie team honoree in 2016 while helping the Bobcats to the ECAC tournament title.
A Sandy Hook, Conn., native, Samoskevich, who prepped at Shattuck-St. Mary’s before playing at Quinnipiac, is the oldest of three hockey-playing siblings. Sister Maddy is in the Quinnipiac hockey class of 2024 and brother Mackie, selected in the first round (24th overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers, helped Michigan to the Frozen Four in 2022 and 2023 before beginning his professional career in the Panthers organization in the spring of 2023.
