On March 14, 2016, Chatham University athletic director Leonard Trevino announced that the school would be adding men’s ice hockey for the 2017-18 academic year. That announcement began a long process to build a Division III men’s hockey program from scratch. The man tasked with that building is first-year head coach Michael Callan.
Chatham has experienced growth as a university in recent years, as it became a coed university in 2015 after a long history as a all-women’s school. That has allowed for further growth in athletics, and hockey was a good fit to expand their profile.
Michael Callan (Photo Courtesy of Chatham Men’s Ice Hockey).
Part of the reason hockey was such an attractive sport to add is the fact that they are now the only school that is a member of the President’s Athletics Conference (PAC) to offer men’s ice hockey. As a conference made up mostly of western Pennsylvania schools, they now can attract local hockey talent. Along with this, the school’s history and Pittsburgh in general made men’s hockey desirable.
“We have a fairly rich history as a women’s Division III ice hockey program; we’ve had a women’s program since 1996,” Callan explained. “Pittsburgh has strong allegiances as a hockey town with the Penguins being here 50 years, and it puts us on the map in the PAC as the only school supporting hockey. It’s just kind of a good fit for our university with our profile academically and everything else here.”
To build a program, there needs to be someone calling the shots. In June 2016, Callan was named as the team’s head coach. In the 16 months since then, it’s been a long, hard-working process to build a team from the ground up.
Over that time period, Callan and his head assistant, Todd Thomas, watched nearly 1,500 hockey games, spanning from as far east as Massachusetts to as far west as Edmonton. Callan estimates that he drove at least 20,000 miles over this time to cover as much area as they could. As far as he is concerned, all that time and effort paid off.
“We covered a lot of ground, and I think we are pretty happy with the guys we brought in,” he remarked. “They’re good kids. I think we’ve got some talent in our program, and I think we are off to a solid start so far.”
Members of the team donning throwback Chatham Women’s hockey jerseys during a university event. — CHATHAM ATHLETICS
Callan has a wealth of experience across multiple levels of hockey. Recently, he was the assistant coach at another D-III school, SUNY Potsdam, and prior to that he held the same title for Ohio University’s ACHA D-1 team. In both of these roles, he was the primary recruiter for the team, which undoubtedly helped him fill a roster for Chatham starting with nothing.
Being a team’s first head coach can come with a lot of pressure, and it requires a lot of dedication and hard work. Callan feels that the situation at Chatham is a great one for him at this point of his coaching career. As a Toledo native, the opportunity to be back in a nearby city was very desirable. His familiarity to the local hockey scene is something that would be helpful as he looked to attract talent.
“I think you want to go somewhere where you have support and you have the ability to generate success,” he said. “Pittsburgh is a great place to live, and I think I was happy to be back more toward the midwest, and I was happy to be in a USA hockey district.
“The Mid-Am district is one that I’ve contributed to with regards to the national selection process, and helping out with areas of the selection camps. For me, in a way, it was easy to transition in and have a base of knowledge of local players from the get go. Overall it’s a pretty good fit for me, and I’m really appreciative of the university for hiring me and giving me a chance.”
Callan thinks that his team will have a chance to be successful right away. His goal for the inaugural season is pretty simple.
“I think it’s like anything else in ice hockey: you want to make the playoffs,” he said.
While it may seemingly be difficult to make the playoffs in a team’s first year, Chatham is entering the league at an ideal time. Their conference will include three other very young programs this season, with another joining next year.
Therefore, the Cougars will not be the only team experiencing potential growing pains that would otherwise eliminate a team from playoff contention in a more established league. That being said, the more established teams in the conference bring with them some impressive prestige, which is an exciting thing for his team’s players to look forward to playing against.
“For us, in our league, the United Collegiate Hockey Conference, six out of the nine teams make the playoffs, he explained. “I think it’s fortunate timing for a new program like ours. You have five established programs in Nazareth, Utica, Elmira, Manhattanville and Neumann but you also have four new programs this year, two programs a year in, in Lebanon Valley and Stevenson and new programs, Chatham obviously and Kings this year, and Wilkes coming in next year.
“It’s nice timing and gives us the ability to get our legs under us and get going. But at the same time, it’s a quality conference with quality academic institutions and certainly some of the schools have some rich hockey histories.”
When building a team from scratch, recruiting can be a tough task. The coaches don’t have anything historical to promote. For Chatham, there are players that committed before they had even named a home rink. This uncertainty surrounding the program could have posed as a significant difficulty, but it ended up turning into a positive of the team from a character standpoint.
“It’s interesting to see the dynamic of kids today that want to jump onto something that doesn’t exist,” he explained. “I think that’s the biggest component for us. I think you really have to respect the kids that are here because they decided to jump on board when we didn’t necessarily know different aspects of the picture.
“I think we are really excited because the kids are good kids, and they want to learn and they want to get better. I think practices have been pretty up-tempo so far, they are engaged and they are working hard, and it’s been fun.”
The Chatham Men’s ice hockey team participated in a team building event led by members of the Army. — CHATHAM ATHLETICS
Part of building that team camaraderie comes from formal practices. However, the team has done a lot more to build chemistry and form an identity. One especially valuable activity was some team-building led by members of the Army from Monroeville. Additionally, the team has participated in a number of community service initiatives, including leading an on-ice skills clinic.
Along with these team tasks, there were simpler tasks, like each player being assigned to read a book and share the findings with his teammates. The team also took time to work with the Career Development center at Chatham to focus on their educational and career goals. All of these things have allowed the players to grow and develop as students and athletes, a very important aspect of their experience on the team.
The fact that there is now another opportunity for hockey players to advance both their hockey careers and progress in life in general in the Pittsburgh area is something that really makes Callan happy to see.
“I hope that local players that maybe don’t achieve Division I can understand that they can still play a high level of hockey and still have a chance to play in the AHL and East Coast Hockey League and certainly the SPHL,” he remarked. “But they also get all the added benefits of being a student athlete. The 30 best friends from Day 1, a university that supports your back and valuable career skills like time management, facing adversity, communication skills and leadership skills.
“There’s so much that the game can give people, and I’m glad that we are offering another option. And certainly as somebody who says ‘I’m a Mid-Am USA hockey product,’ I’m glad that there’s another option for local players to continue to play the great game of hockey.”
As the first team, the players and staff will always share a special bond as the founding team for the Chatham Cougars men’s ice hockey program.
In the team’s first game on Nov. 3, the past 16 months of hard work off the ice for Callan, assistant coaches Thomas, Bill Connelly and Karac Davis will finally translate to an on-ice product. There is obvious excitement for some game action. However, there is more to it than just the game itself that Callan is looking forward to.
“I think the most fun aspect of coaching is the development standpoint,” he reflected. “Whether it’s the student side, the athlete side, on-ice, off-ice – it’s fun to be back at the rink with the kids and helping them grow as people. I think that’s extremely rewarding.
“We’re all building it with our players, and I think it’s a lot of fun to be building a foundation for a program that hopefully has a lot of success into the future.”
The team’s first official home game will come on Friday, November 17 at 7:40 p.m. against Nazareth. Their home rink is the Frozen Pond Arena in Valencia, Pa. The game is being promoted as a “Flood the Pond.” T-shirts, food and more could be in store for fans looking to watch the team’s inaugural home game.
To keep up with the team, you can check out their website or follow them on twitter @Chatham_MIH.
