O’Connor named head coach of UD ice hockey club

3:00 p.m., Aug. 28, 2003--John O’Connor has been named head coach of the University of Delaware men’s club ice hockey team.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity, and I can’t wait for the season to begin,” O’Connor said. “The University of Delaware club ice hockey team is a fantastic, nationally known program.”

O’Connor replaces Josh Brandwene, who has accepted a position as head coach of the club ice hockey team at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

O’Connor has been an assistant coach at UD for seven years and said he will continue to run the team like a varsity program, while adding some new and different practice drills.

Although the team has graduated 15 seniors, O’Connor said the goal remains the same. “The bottom line is we want to bring UD its first national championship in ice hockey.”

A graduate of Penn State, O’Connor played right wing on the university’s 1990 club team that won the national championship and has been an instructor at the Penn State Ice Hockey School.

He is employed by MBNA America and lives in Hockessin with his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Jack.

The UD ice hockey team was formed in 1972 and competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. The Fightin’ Blue Hens reached the semifinals of the 2003 ACHA national championship tournament, falling 5-1 to eventual champion Penn State.

Article by Neil Thomas
Photo by Eric Crossan

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