College Hockey Mid-America

CHMA Players Vying for World University Games

Dan Hestin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:38:18 +0000

Six players from the CHMA have been selected to tryout for the 2011 World University Games in Eruzurum, Turkey January 27-February 6, 2011. The tryout camp will be the weekend of August 6-8 at Patterson Ice Center in Grand Rapids, MI. Dan Hestin, Head Coach of IUP, has been one of nine coaches selected to evaluate the camp. He has the chance to be chosen as the second assistant coach for the team too. Dave DeBol, Michigan Dearborn, will be the head coach and Scott Balboni, Penn State, is the first assistant.

Tyler King – WVU
Brock Heinauer – Duquense
Joe Ford – IUP
Alex Arnold – YSU
Jesse Dietrick – JCU
Justin Thomas – Pitt

WVU Hires New Coach

Dan Hestin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:40:33 +0000

The West Virginia University Division 1 Hockey Team announced the hiring of Zach Sonnefeld as their new head coach. Sonnefeld has spent the last 4 years coaching the Under-18 AA travel team for the Amateur Nailers of the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association that play in the Pennsylvania Amateur Hockey League, where he took the team to the USA Hockey National Tournament. He also coached Wheeling Park High School’s Varsity team for the past 3 seasons, in the PIHL AAA division, winning two WV State Titles. Zach also coached teams that played in the nationally recognized Chicago Showcase.

Prior to coaching Sonnefeld received many awards while playing 16 seasons for the Junior Penguins, Wheeling Amateur Nailers and Wheeling Park High School

Head Coach Sonnefeld is a 2008 graduate of West Liberty University and is currently employed by First Niagara Bank in Bethel Park, PA.

Zachary Eckman will join Sonnefeld as the assistant coach for the West Virginia University Division 1 team. Zack was a four year Mountaineer forward on the Division 1 team from 2005-2009. He was a member of the 14-0 regular season champions in the first year of the CHMA, and a two-time ACHA National Championship participant 2007 and 2008. During his senior year he was the leading scorer and named the Most Valuable Player of the team. Coach Eckman was selected as a ACHA Academic All-American 2008 and 2009.

Zack has been playing hockey since he was four years old. He grew up playing in the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association and for the Wheeling Amateur Nailers. He played for the varsity team at Wheeling Park High School and was named the MVP of the first WV High School State Championship. During his senior year he also played for the Pittsburgh Junior Penguins Select Team.

Coach Eckman will be graduating in December from West Virginia University with degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and will be continuing his education at WVU by working on his Masters in Engineering.

CHMA 2010-2011 Playoffs at Wheeling Civic Center

Dan Hestin — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:42:09 +0000

Wheeling, WV – West Virginia University Mountaineer Hockey will host the 2010-2011 College Hockey Mid-America League Playoffs at Wheeling West Virginia’s Wesbanco Arena on February 25, 26, and 27, 2011.

The 5,500-seat arena is the Home of the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers (www.wheelingnailers.com), the AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The host hotel for the playoffs is the historic McLure House Hotel and Conference Center (www.mclurehotel.com). This hotel also serves as the host hotel for ECHL (www.ECHL.com) visiting teams and is a three minute walk to the Wesbanco Arena (www.WesbanoArena.com).

As the ACHA celebrates its 20^th Anniversary, WVU and the City of Wheeling (www.WheelingWV.gov) look forward to hosting the CHMA playoffs. More information will be available as we near each event.

College Hockey Mid-America (www.collegehockeymidamerica.com) is an affiliated Division 1 league of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (www.achahockey.org). The CHMA’s 2009-2010 regular season champion was Slippery Rock while the Mountaineers were the 2009-2010 Playoff Champions (thechma.com). Both teams finished this past season ranked in the ACHA’s Top 25.

For tickets or information, please call the City of Wheeling at 304.234.3617.

CHMA Announces New Associate Commissioner

Dan Hestin — Sat, 15 May 2010 23:32:15 +0000

Luc Brozovich is joining College Hockey Mid-America as our Associate Commissioner. Luc currently is the Operations Manager for the Pitt Hockey program. Luc’s previous experience includes stints as an assistant coach with the Amateur Penguins Midget U16 AA team from 06/07-07/08 and the Pee Wee Quebec Team in 05/06, as well as off-ice experience with California University of Pennsylvania and CCAC:

http://pitthockey.com/?mod=_panthers&cmd=profile&v=id,3299762

Luc will start working with us this summer and he will be at our pre-season meeting in August (date TBD). His initial responsibilities will include score reporting, ownership of the master league schedule, and the marketing of our league. Luc can be reached at lbrozovich@pitthockey.com.

ACHA Unveils 20th Anniversary Logo

Dan Hestin — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:46:52 +0000

The ACHA is turning 2o years old this year. In celebration of the occasion, the ACHA unveiled the 20th Anniversary logo during the coaches meetings in Naples, FL.

2009-2010 CHMA Post Season Awards Announced

Dan Hestin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:41:34 +0000

Congtratulations to the following individuals for being named to the College Hockey Mid-America 2009-2010 All-Conference Team.

First Team

Forward Brock Heinauer, Duquesne

Forward Chris Urso, Duquesne

Forward Wes Waldschmidt, Slippery Rock

Defense Jim Pasquine, W&J

Defense Justin Umbs, Slippery Rock

Goaltender Sean Ketterer, Slippery Rock

Second Team

Forward Joe Ford, IUP

Forward Matt Lancaster, Slippery Rock

Forward Justin Thomas, Pitt

Defense Jesse Kunkle, IUP

Defense Sean McFadden, West Virginia

Goaltender Brian Matesevac, IUP

Rookie of the Year

Forward Jeff Cupelli, IUP

Three CHMA Players Selected to the ACHA All-Star Game

Dan Hestin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 19:06:47 +0000

Chris Urso of Duquesne, Justin Thomas of Pitt, and Ryne Savisky of W&J were among 40 players selected to participate in the 3rd Annual ACHA All-Star game held at Adrian College on Saturday March 20.

2009-2010 CHMA Coach of the Year

Dan Hestin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:08:35 +0000

Congratulations to Bill Waldschmidt for being voted as the College Hockey Mid-America Coach of the Year for the 2009-2010 season.

Bill earned this recognition by leading Slippery Rock to the CHMA Regular Season League Championship with a 10-4-0 league record and a 20-6-1 overall ACHA record.

Wilder Leads WVU to Finals Win

Dan Hestin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:07:13 +0000

The West Virginia Mountaineers captured their first CHMA Playoff Championship Sunday February 28 as they beat the IUP Crimson Hawks 8-2. WVU became the third different team in four years to win the playoff championship. Chris Wilder, goalie for WVU, was named the playoff MVP. In two games he stopped 76 of 80 shots for a 95% save percentage.

Playoff recap:

Friday February 26

Duquesne 8
W&J 3

IUP 4
Pitt 2

Saturday February 27

Slippery Rock 7
IUP 8

West Virginia 6
Duquesne 2

Sunday February 28

West Virginia 8
IUP 2

CHMA Playoffs to Be Broadcast on Fasthockey.com

Dan Hestin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:53:56 +0000

The College Hockey Mid-America Conference of the ACHA has announced video broadcasts of all games from its upcoming playoff tournament, which is taking place February 26^th-28^th at S&T Bank Arena in Indiana, PA. These broadcasts will be available on FASTHockey, an online pay-per-view service offering live streaming video from a wide variety of hockey games across North America. The playoff broadcasts can be accessed by visiting the fasthockey.com homepage, where visitors can purchase a $6 credit to gain access to the game feed of their choice.

Calling the action on FASTHockey will be Ben Livingston, Pitt Hockey’s Public Address Announcer and the host of WPTS Pittsburgh’s Pond Talk Hockey Radio Show. He can be contacted via e-mail at bwl10@pitt.edu.