Eaves Named 2002 Development Coach of the Year
September 17, 2002 | Men's Hockey
USA Hockey announced that Wisconsin men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves has been named the 2002 Development Coach of the Year. As the U.S. National Development head coach, Eaves led the 2001-02 U.S. National Under-18 Team to a 37-21-4 record during the regular season. The squad went on to win the gold medal this past April at the 2002 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Piestany, Slovakia, the first gold medal for the U.S. at an A-Pool IIHF World Championship, excluding the Olympics, since 1933.
Eaves also guided the U.S. National Under-18 Team to a silver medal this past February at the 2002 Five Nations Cup in Tyumen, Russia. The team compiled an 8-8-3 regular-season record against college teams.
This year Eaves saw additional success with the USA Hockey NTDP as 19 of his athletes committed to Division I colleges and a record of 19 NTDP alumni were selected in the 2002 NHL Draft.
Eaves created an innovative coaching co-op program, in which two coaches from each of USA Hockey's 11 districts are invited to stay for four days and become part of the NTDP coaching staff. During their stay these coaches have the opportunity to learn new coaching techniques from the NTDP coaches and take that knowledge back with them to their own players and to help teach other coaches.
He has also been a guest speaker for the 1999 and 2001 National Hockey Coaches Symposiums, a program for coaches at the Master's level, the highest level of coaching certification offered by the USA Hockey Coaching Education Program. Eaves has completed the Level IV coaching status in the USA Hockey's Coaching Education Program.
During his USA Hockey affiliation, Eaves represented the U.S. in international competition as both a player and a coach. Eaves was a forward on Team USA in 1981 and in 1984 at the Canada Cup tournaments and a member of the 1976 and 1978 U.S. National Teams at the IIHF World Championships. Eaves also acted as assistant to Bob Johnson for the 1991 U.S. National Team at the IIHF World Championship in Finland.
