University of Denver Athletics

Ryan Massa is entering his third season as an assistant coach on the Pioneers hockey team after spending the two years prior on staff as a volunteer assistant coach. He was promoted to his current role on Sept. 5, 2023, and the 2025-26 campaign marks his fifth with Denver hockey.
 
Massa, 35, first joined the DU coaching staff on Aug. 1, 2021 after spending the previous four years training goaltenders at various levels in the state of Colorado. Among his responsibilities is working with the Pioneers’ goaltenders, assisting in on-ice skill development, providing scouting reports and assisting in managing the bench during games.
 
In his time at Denver, Massa has been a part of the Pioneers’ 2022 and 2024 NCAA Championship victories, as well as the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship and two Penrose Cup as NCHC regular-season champions (2021-22, 2022-23). DU has won at least 30 games in each of the four seasons that Massa has been on staff.
 
The Littleton, Colorado, native helped guide goaltender Magnus Chrona to 50 wins and 10 shutouts across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, which included being named the NCHC Goaltender of the Year award in 2023. In 2023-24, he helped Matt Davis post a 20-4-2 record in the final 26 games of the season and post a 0.63 goals-against average and .979 save percentage in four NCAA Tournament contest, including a shutout in the NCAA Championship Game.
 
Under Massa’s guidance, Davis finished his collegiate career ranked fifth in both wins (63-tied) and goals-against average (2.13) and ninth in save percentage in (.921) in 90 games and 83 starts in his four years at the program (2021-2025).
 
A graduate of the University of Nebraska Omaha with a degree in finance and investment banking, Massa was a goaltender on the Mavericks men’s hockey team all four years and helped the program reach its first NCAA Frozen Four in 2015. He also played two seasons professionally with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL from 2015-2017 before co-founding Elite Edge Athlete in the Denver area in 2018.
 
He currently resides in Littleton with his wife Natalie and son.