Feb. 1, 2010
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame associate hockey coach, Andy Slaggert, has been named the winner of the American Hockey Coaches Association’s Terry Flanagan Award for 2010. The announcement was made by the AHCA officers and governors this past weekend. Slaggert, now in his 17th season with the Irish as a coach is one of seven major award winners and will receive the Flanagan Award at the AHCA Convention held in Naples, Fla. from April 29-May 2, 2010.
The Terry Flanagan Award is named in honor of the former New Hampshire player and Bowling Green assistant coach and honors an assistant coach’s career body of work.
Slaggert has been involved with Notre Dame hockey program for 20 years, playing three seasons from 1986-89, and then spending 17 seasons as an assistant and associate coach since 1993.
The hard-working coach is the program’s link to the past as he has had the distinction of having played for the first two coaches of Notre Dame’s modern era – Lefty Smith and Ric Schafer – and then served as an assistant to Schafer, Dave Poulin and current head coach Jeff Jackson.
A tireless worker with a keen eye for talent, Slaggert coordinates the program’s highly successful recruiting plan that includes on-and-off campus recruiting and the observation and evaluation of prospective student-athletes. Known as one of college hockey’s top recruiters, he was promoted in 2008 to associate coach.
The veteran coach was honored following the 2008-09 season when he received the program’s Distinguished Alumni Award that is presented each year to an alumnus of the program to acknowledge their accomplishments and the example they set for others as an alumnus of the Notre Dame hockey program.
During Slaggert’s 17 seasons as an assistant, he has been involved in the recruiting of 27 players who were selected in the National Hockey League Draft including five players in 2007, two in 2008 and one in June of 2009.
That group includes two players who became the first Irish players ever selected in the first round of the draft – current junior Ian Cole, who was selected by St. Louis with the 18th pick overall in 2007 and freshman Kyle Palmieri, who was selected 26th last June by the Anaheim Ducks. Cole was joined by fellow defenseman Teddy Ruth, forwards Ryan Thang and Ben Ryan and goaltender Brad Phillips in the 2007 Draft. The 2008 draft brought defenseman Sean Lorenz and incoming freshman Nick Larson with Palmieri the lone selection in 2009. They give Notre Dame 10 NHL draft choices on the roster.
The Irish also have had 23 players from the U.S. National Team Development Program matriculate to Notre Dame, with 12 playing for the U.S. Junior National Team in the World Junior Championships.
The energetic and hard-working assistant has been highly involved with coaching on the national level since 1997.
During the summer of 2004, Slaggert reached his highest level, when he was named head coach of the U.S. Under-17 select team that went on to finish second at the Five Nations Tournament in Halle, Germany. The previous year (2003), he got his first taste of coaching with USAâ⒬ˆHockey at the international level when he served as an assistant coach on the U.S. Under-18 Select team that captured the gold medal at the Under-18 World Cup held in the Czech Republic.
During the summers of 2002-05, the native of Saginaw, Mich., served as head coach at the United States Select 15 tournament held at St. Cloud State.
Since 1997, Slaggert has been involved in coaching Michigan Select teams. During the summer of 2000, he coached the Michigan Select 15 Junior Olympic Festival Team. In 1998, he served as a head coach at the Michigan State Select 16 Festival helping evaluate players who were competing for a chance to play in the national tournament. In June, he served as the head coach for the Michigan Select 16 Team that skated to the bronze medal at the National Select 16 Festival in Ann Arbor, Mich.
In the summer of 1997, Slaggert served as an assistant coach for Team Michigan at the United States Select 15 Festival. From 1997 to 2004 he served as a head coach and evaluator at the Michigan State Bantam Camp in Big Rapids, Mich.
Slaggert also was the primary moving force behind the Notre Dame hockey program’s Power Play Run/Walk to benefit the fight against cancer.
The 40-year-old Slaggert received his bachelor of arts degree from Notre Dame in 1989. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in physical education from Ohio University in 1991.
A right wing for the Irish from 1986-89, Slaggert totaled seven goals and six assists over 55 games during his three-year Notre Dame career.
Slaggert’s first venture into coaching came in 1989 with the Amerisport International European Hockey Tour and he returned to Notre Dame in 1992.
Slaggert and his wife, Tara, were married in the summer of 1996. The couple resides in South Bend with their sons, Graham (10), Landon (7) and Carter (5).