Rick Gotkin

Rick Gotkin

Sport(s)	Ice hockey
Biographical details
Born	November 7, 1959 Brooklyn, NY, USA
Alma mater	SUNY-Brockport
Playing career
1980–1982	SUNY-Brockport
Position(s)	Defenseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1983	SUNY-Brockport (Assistant)
1986–1988	Rensselaer (Assistant)
1988–Present	Mercyhurst
Head coaching record
Overall	510–367–80 (.575)
Tournaments	0-3 (.000)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2000–01 MAAC Champion 2000–01 MAAC Tournament Champion 2001–02 MAAC Champion 2002–03 MAAC Champion 2002–03 MAAC Tournament Champion 2004–05 Atlantic Hockey Tournament Champion 2013–14 Atlantic Hockey Champion
Awards
2000–01 MAAC Coach of the Year 2013–14 Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year

Rick Gotkin (born November 7, 1959) is an American ice hockey head coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey team, a position he has held since 1988.^[1]

Career

Gotkin began attending SUNY-Brockport in 1978, managing to work his way onto the varsity ice hockey team in his final two years there before graduating in 1982. He spent one additional year with the program as an assistant the following season. By 1986 he was back in the college ranks as an assistant coach for Rensselaer. After two campaigns with the Engineers he received his first head coaching opportunity at Mercyhurst.^[2]

When Gotkin arrived in Erie the college's ice hockey program was only a year old. He took over after Fred Lane led the team to a very good 16-7 mark the year before and while Gotkin's first season was disappointing at 11-16-1 he soon brought the Lakers to Division III prominence with at least 18 wins in four consecutive seasons. Mercyhurst made their first postseason appearance in his third year and their first National Championship appearance by year five (the Lakers by that time having moved up to Division II).^[3] Gotkin would lead the Lakers to their first 20-win season two years later (as well as their second championship game) wasn't able to push them any further for the rest of their time in D-II.

A year after the MAAC ice hockey conference was formed Mercyhurst was invited to join alongside Bentley and they became a Division I program for the 1999–00 season.^[4] The Lakers started off strong, finishing with a second place finish in their inaugural year, before winning the conference tournament the following season and making their first NCAA tournament appearance. Gotkin would get the Lakers to three consecutive regular season crown from 2001 thru 2003 and a second NCAA berth in '03 but after the season the MAAC conference dissolved when founding members Iona and Fairfield dropped their programs.^[5]

Fortunately for Gotkin and the rest of the programs, the remaining universities continued to support their teams and formed a new conference, Atlantic Hockey which began play in 2003–04. Gotkin and the Lakers weren't quite as successful in the second version as they were in the MAAC but he still helped the team to several 20-win seasons, a tournament title in 2005, a regular season title in 2013–14 and notched his 500th win during the 2015–16 season.^[6] Gotkin signed a 5-year extension that will keep him with the team through the 2020 season.^[7]

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Mercyhurst Lakers (ECAC West (D-III)) (1988–1992)
1988–89	Mercyhurst	11–16–1	5–12–1
1989–90	Mercyhurst	18–8–4	16–3–2
1990–91	Mercyhurst	19–13–1	15–3–0
1991–92	Mercyhurst	19–12–0	13–8–0
Mercyhurst:		67–49–6	49–26–3
Mercyhurst Lakers (ECAC West (D-II)) (1992–1999)
1992–93	Mercyhurst	18–10–0	15–3–0
1993–94	Mercyhurst	12–13–0	6–4–0
1994–95	Mercyhurst	23–3–2	6–1–1
1995–96	Mercyhurst	18–7–2	5–4–0
1996–97	Mercyhurst	16–9–2	5–5–1
1997–98	Mercyhurst	17–9–1	4–5–1
1998–99	Mercyhurst	16–10–2	3–4–1
Mercyhurst:		120–61–9	44–26–4
Mercyhurst Lakers (MAAC) (1999–2003)
1999–00	Mercyhurst	23–10–4	19–6–2	2nd	MAAC Semifinals
2000–01	Mercyhurst	22–12–2	19–6–1	1st	NCAA West Regional Quarterfinals
2001–02	Mercyhurst	24–10–3	21–2–3	1st	MAAC Runner-Up
2002–03	Mercyhurst	22–13–2	19–5–2	1st	NCAA West Regional Semifinals
Mercyhurst:		91–45–11	78–19–8
Mercyhurst Lakers (Atlantic Hockey) (2003–present)
2003–04	Mercyhurst	20–14–2	16–7–1	2nd	Atlantic Hockey Semifinals
2004–05	Mercyhurst	18–16–4	14–7–3	t-2nd	NCAA East Regional Semifinals
2005–06	Mercyhurst	22–13–1	19–8–1	2nd	Atlantic Hockey Semifinals
2006–07	Mercyhurst	9–20–6	9–15–4	t-7th	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2007–08	Mercyhurst	15–19–7	11–10–7	5th	Atlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2008–09	Mercyhurst	22–15–3	17–8–3	3rd	Atlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2009–10	Mercyhurst	15–20–3	15–10–3	4th	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2010–11	Mercyhurst	15–18–4	12–13–2	7th	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2011–12	Mercyhurst	20–16–4	15–8–4	t-3rd	Atlantic Hockey Semifinals
2012–13	Mercyhurst	19–17–5	12–11–2	6th	Atlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2013–14	Mercyhurst	21–13–7	17–4–6	1st	Atlantic Hockey Semifinals
2014–15	Mercyhurst	19–16–4	14–11–3	5th	Atlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2015–16	Mercyhurst	17–15–4	15–9–4	4th	Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
Mercyhurst:		232–212–54	186–121–43
Total:		510–367–80
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

References

1. "Rick Gotkin". College Hockey News. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
2. "Rick Gotkin". Mercyhurst Lakers. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
3. "Rick Gotkin Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
4. "Timeline: Division I men's college hockey conferences through the years". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
5. "Iona Next to Drop Hockey". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
6. "Mercyhurst Ice Hockey: Rick Gotkin earns 500th win". NCAA.com. 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
7. "Sisti, Gotkin - five more years!". Mercyhurst University. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2016-09-13.

External links

• Rick Gotkin's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Rick Gotkin's profile at Eliteprospects.com