DENVER The Officers and Governors of the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) has announced that longtime University of Denver assistant coach Steve Miller has earned the prestigious Terry Flanagan Award, which honors an assistant coaches’ career body of work. The award, named in honor of the former UNH player and Bowling Green assistant coach, will be presented to Miller at the 2009 AHCA Convention in Naples, Fla., April 23-26, 2009.
Miller has been a Division I assistant coach for 18 years and all of them have been on the coaching staff of head coach George Gwozdecky (three years at Miami and 15 years at Denver). As an assistant coach at Denver, Miller has helped the Pioneers to back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 2004 and 2005, two WCHA Regular Season titles and four WCHA Final Five titles. He has been responsible for the signing of 11 consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting classes. Miller has coached and recruited 30 NHL Draft picks, 31 All-WCHA honorees, eight World Junior Championship participants, nine All-Americans, a Hobey Baker Award winner, three WCHA Student-Athletes of the Year, three WCHA Defensive Players of the Year, one WCHA Rookie of the Year and two Frozen Four Most Outstanding Players. The Pioneers have averaged over 23 wins in Miller’s 15 years, including seven NCAA tournament ap­pearances, two Frozen Four appearances and two national championships. He has coached and recruited former DU and current NHL players Paul Stastny (Colorado), Matt Carle (Philadelphia), Wade Dubielewicz (Columbus), Peter Mannino (NY Islanders), Chris Butler (Buffalo) and Matt Pettinger (Tampa Bay).
Prior to his arrival at Denver, Miller assisted Gwozdecky in a similar role at Miami (Ohio) University from 1991-1994. Miller was a big part of Miami’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1992-93. The Redskins posted a school-best mark of 27-9-5 and won their first-ever CCHA league championship. Miller coached or assisted in the recruitment of former Miami and current NHL players Kevyn Adams (retired), Brian Savage (retired) and Dan Boyle (San Jose). He coached 11 NHL draft picks, 19 All-CCHA honorees, four All-Americans, two Hobey Baker nominees, an Olympian and one World Junior participant.
Miller has also gained additional coaching experience working for USA Hockey as a head coach of Team Rocky Mountain at the Select 17 Festi­val in 2000 and led the team to its best ever finish by winning a silver medal.
A 1988 graduate of St. Mary’s with a bachelors of arts in public administration, Miller played three years of varsity hockey. He earned Most Inspirational Player two years and was named Most Improved Player as a sophomore. Miller helped St. Mary’s to its first MIAC championship in 23 years. The team also set a school record for victories in a single season (22) which still stands today. Miller was also selected to the MIAC All-Academic team his junior year.
Said George Gwozdecky, “Steve Miller is one of the elite assistant coaches in all of college hockey. He is a great evaluator of talent and his abil­ity to research and identify an individual’s true character is tremendous. He is absolutely outstanding in his ability to work with our talent and help them develop to their full potential. Steve typifies what the Terry Flanagan Award is all about”.
Added RPI head coach Seth Appert, also a former Denver assistant, “Steve continues to exemplify all of the merits of an outstanding assistant coach. He is a tireless recruiter, one of the best in our business, has a great knowledge of the game and continually helps his programs to success. The most important attribute that he brings to his student-athletes is his passion for the game. Miller’s passion and intensity shows every day and his players feed off that passion.”
