Dartmouth women's ice hockey head coach Mark Hudak was recently chosen as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women's Select Team in the Four Nations Cup. The tournament will take place Nov. 8-14 in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Hudak joins fellow assistant coach Hilary Witt, who serves as the current assistant coach of the women's ice hockey team at Northeastern University.
Both Hudak and Witt will assist head coach Katey Stone, who helped the U.S. Women's Select Team procure the gold at the 2008 Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y.
"I have known Mark a long time and I have a lot of respect for him and the success he has had in his program," Stone said. "One of the keys is I trust him."
The U.S. faces Canada first, before confronting Sweden the next day and finally Finland after a day of rest.
"Hopefully there will be a lot of successes," Stone said. "How we will define success is not just wins and losses, we are looking to develop each player individually it is the first step to the 2014 Olympics."
Jenny Potter, a member of the 2010 U.S. Women's Olympic Team, will serve as the squad's captain. This is her seventh time competing at the Four Nations Cup and she led all four countries in goal-scoring in 2005 with four goals.
Last year in Finland, the U.S. Women's Select Team earned the silver medal in the Cup, posting a 3-1 record and suffering its lone loss at the hands of Canada in the championship game.
Hudak, who coached alongside Stone at the USA Hockey Women's National Festival in Lake Placid in August, is excited to be reunited with her.
"We are very passionate about teaching the game," Hudak said. "There is as much heart involved as there is science. I think we are also very similar in our bench management style we are not really yellers."
Starting his eighth season as a head coach for the Big Green, Hudak served as the associate head coach for two years before taking over the program. He was also the assistant coach for the Big Green from 1998-2001.
Hudak has led Dartmouth to five out of its total of seven NCAA tournament appearances, including the most recent in 2009. The squad has also achieved two of its four ECAC Hockey Tournament wins during Hudak's tenure.
He has amassed 140 career wins with the Big Green and is second in Dartmouth history in that category.
"He is very organized," Dartmouth captain Katie Horner '11 said. "He sets very high standards for us which not only allows our program to excel but allows everyone in the program to be better every year. It is exciting for [Hudak] to bring his game up to the next level."
Stone is the head coach of the Harvard women's ice hockey team. Currently starting her 17th season with the Crimson, Stone has collected 339 wins the highest number of career victories posted by any Division I women's hockey coach.
In addition to coaching the U.S. National Team in 1996, she also led the U.S. Women's Under-22 Select Team in 2006.
Prior to joining the Northeastern program, Witt spent eight years as an assistant coach at Ivy foe Yale University.
"We understand the professionalism of what we do and because of that, except for when we are playing each other and recruiting against each other, our goals are pretty similar," Hudak said.
The U.S. Women's Select Team will prepare for the Cup at a camp held in Brunswick, Maine, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6.
While Hudak is away from Dartmouth at the camp and then at the Cup, assistant coaches Holly Tyng, Sara Simard and Gabe Tash are expected to provide good leadership in the head coach's absence, he said.
"In years past, we have had to deal with national players like Sarah Parsons ['10] being gone and at the camp," Horner said. "We have never had to deal without the coach we'll face the adversity when we get to it but we won't let it affect our game."
Just before Hudak heads to the camp, the Big Green will take on McGill University in an exhibition game on Oct. 22. The Dartmouth women later open their season against Brown University on Oct. 29 and Yale on Oct. 30 at home.
"Everyone wants to win an Ivy title," Horner said. "The fact that we get to kick off homecoming weekend against an Ivy foe is huge for us and we are so excited."
