New Coach Looks to Improve USM’S Men Hockey Program
By Rhiannon McQuaide, Sports Editor
After almost a decade of coaching men’s ice hockey at the University of Southern Maine, former head coach Ed Harding made the decision to resign from the position in early June. After two months of searching the country for a replacement, athletics director Al Bean proudly announced in August that Matt Pinchevsky will be taking over Harding’s position for the 2023-24 season.
Pinchevsky is no stranger to coaching. He spent the past four seasons coaching with the Maine Nordiques, a high-level junior hockey team based out of Auburn. Last season, he led the team to 33 regular season wins and a win against the USA U17 National Team, a team that is known for producing NHL draft picks. He also has a track record of producing successful college hockey players, with 6 members of his 2022 team committed to play division one.
Aside from the Nordiques, Pinchevsky has numerous other impressive listings on his resume including coaching stints with the Seacoast Spartans (2016-2018) and the Portland Jr. Pirates (2015-2016).
Pinchevsky looks to improve the men’s hockey program here at USM after numerous losing seasons (the last time the Huskies had a winning record was 2007-08). The team returns numerous influential upperclassmen including seniors Austin Marini (6 points, 12 assists) and Cole Ouellette (2 goals, 11 assists) as well as graduate student Nolan McElhaney (5 goals, 7 assists). The Huskies will also return junior goalie tandem Mason Palmer and Kyle Penton, and have added a slew of talented freshmen to the roster.
They play two exhibition games, one on the road at UMass Dartmouth (10/18) and one at home against University of New England (10/21), before starting out the regular season with a home match against St. Anselm College on Tuesday, October 31.