University Park, Pa. — Men’s hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky announced today the addition of Keith Fisher and Matt Lindsay to his Penn State coaching staff. Fisher and Lindsay were assistant coaches under Gadowsky at Princeton.
"Keith Fisher and Matt Lindsay both have excellent work ethic and have proven to be very successful recruiters of the top hockey student-athletes in North America," said Gadowsky. "The culture at Princeton, which puts heavy emphasis on both strong academics and athletic achievement, is very much in line with the values of Penn State Athletics, so the transition should be an easy one for these two coaches. I think having both of them on our staff will be a great asset to the rebirth of varsity hockey at Penn State."
Fisher just rounded out his sixth season as an assistant coach with the Princeton men’s hockey team. Prior to that, he spent five years with the Omaha Lancers’ coaching staff. While there, Fisher helped guide the team to a 2001 Clark Cup championship as well as Anderson Cup regular season championships in 2002 and 2005. In Omaha, he served as the team’s recruiting coordinator and academic advisor, in addition to other responsibilities of on-ice coaching, video breakdown and game analysis.
During his college coaching career, Fisher helped recruit and mentor NHL first round draft picks Keith Ballard and Nick Petrecki, seven current NHL players, including Matt Carle and Paul Stastny, and USHL Goaltender of the Year and USA Hockey Junior Player of the Year Jeff Lerg. All told, Fisher has helped develop 12 NHL draft picks.
Fisher served as associate coach for Team USHL at the USHL Prospects/All-Star game in 2006, his final season in Omaha. He has also been a part of USA Hockey Select Festivals for the past two years.
"I am very excited to join Coach Gadowsky and his staff at Penn State," said Fisher. "It is a great opportunity to be a part of the transition to a Division I hockey program at a great institution like Penn State and the Happy Valley region."
Fisher’s coaching career began in the Minnesota public school system as a coach of both football and baseball at Cherry High School. Prior to his arrival in Omaha, Fisher served two seasons with St. Cloud State University’s hockey program as an undergraduate assistant. A native of the Zim, Minn., he finished his 11th year coaching at Minnesota Hockey Camps last summer.
A 2000 graduate of St. Cloud State University with a degree in communications, Fisher also played two seasons at Hibbing Community College, participating in the NJCAA national tournament during his time there.
Lindsay is coming off a four-year stint with Princeton’s men’s hockey staff and is a 2001 Williams graduate. Upon graduation, Lindsay coached for one season at Utica College and spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Hobart College. He then held a volunteer assistant post at Colorado College for a year before serving as an assistant coach at Robert Morris prior to going to Princeton in 2007. While at Robert Morris, he was the team’s video coordinator and recruited several different junior hockey leagues in North America. He also handled video responsibilities at CC, also holding pre-scouting and on-ice responsibilities.
At Williams, he was a recipient of the William E. McCormick "Coaches" Award as a senior, which is presented each year to the member of the hockey team who best exemplifies the qualities and ideals for which Coach McCormick stood during his years behind the bench: Leadership, loyalty, a selfless devotion to the team, a youthful delight in the game of hockey, and above all a strong commitment to community service.
"I am very excited to be joining the Penn State community," said Lindsay. "I am looking forward to getting to work immediately as we begin to lay the foundation for Division I hockey. I know Penn State has a proud history on the ice and I know there is a ton of enthusiasm for the future. I am honored to be a part of it."
The Penn State men’s and women’s ice hockey teams are slated to begin competition in the 2012-13 season as NCAA Division I independents. The directors of athletics of the six Big Ten Conference institutions that sponsor men’s ice hockey will recommend to the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors in June the establishment of men’s ice hockey as a conference sport with the 2013-14 season.
Conference affiliation for the Penn State women’s ice hockey program is to be determined.
Pegula Ice Arena is slated to open in the fall of 2013 and will be built on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive, directly west of the Bryce Jordan Center. The new 200,000-square-foot, multi-purpose ice arena will be the only major rink within an 80-mile radius and will be on par with the best collegiate facilities in the country. It will include two ice sheets and other features that will allow it to be used for a broad range of campus and community activities, from commencement ceremonies to kinesiology classes to public skating sessions and camps for youth.
Penn State fielded a varsity hockey squad from 1939-40 through 1945-46. Penn State’s current club hockey programs have experienced success throughout their respective histories. Established as a club team in 1971-72, the Icers have won seven ACHA National Championships.