April 4, 2002

UW-Superior coach Dan Stauber, who led his team to the NCAA Div. III National Championship, has been named the AHCA Edward Jeremiah Award as Men's College Division Coach of the Year.

Stauber, in his second year as head coach with the Jackets, helped lead UWS to the 2002 NCHA Peters Cup Championship. The Jackets, who finished 24-5-5 overall in 2002, finished second in the regular-season standings, but then went on a playoff run that culminated with the NCAA title. In the NCHA and NCAA playoffs the Jackets, which won the University's first-ever NCAA championship, were 7-0-2. The Jackets played all but three of those games on the road, including all but one of the NCAA playoff games. After winning a NCAA play-in game at home, 2-1 over St. Thomas, the Jackets went to NCHA-rival St. Norbert and won the series, 1-0-1 (4-4, 4-2). UWS then traveled to Middlebury, Vt., where they topped the defending NCAA Champions, Plattsburgh State, 5-0, and won the title with a 3-2 overtime decision over Norwich.

Stauber was an assistant coach at UWS from 1998-2000. In his first year as head coach with the Jackets he led the team to the NCAA semifinals and placed third in 2000. He was named the NCHA's Coach of the Year in 2000 when the Jackets finished with a 30-4-1 overall record and won the NCHA regular season and Peters Cup Championships.

Stauber becomes the fifth coach in NCHA history to earn the Coach of the Year honor. He joins UW-River Falls' Dean Talafous (1996), UW-Stevens Point's Joe Baldarotta (1993), Bemidji States' Bob Peters (1984) and Bemidji States' Mike Gibbons (1983).

Go to the AHCA web site.

Dan Stauber