Rand Pecknold named assistant for US National Team

Rand Pecknold (photo by Matt Dewkett/SBN)

Quinnipiac University men's ice hockey coach Rand Pecknold has been named as one of the assistant coaches for the United States National Team that will compete at the 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championships May 5-21 in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France as was announced today by USA Hockey. Pecknold will serve under Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Jeff Blashill and serving along side former RPI head coach Seth Appert as well as former New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano who will also serve as assistants on the staff.

Pecknold was selected from an advisory group led by Jim Johannson of USA Hockey along with Stan Bowman (Chicago Blackhawks), Dean Lombardi (USA Hockey), David Poile (Nashville Predators) Ray Shero (New Jersey Devils), Dale Tallon (Florida Panthers) and Don Waddell (Carolina Hurricanes).

In 23 seasons at Qunnipiac, Pecknold has won 469 games which ranks 5th among active coaches and is also a school. He has won three ECAC regular season championships (2013, 2014, 2016) and one ECAC tournament championship (2016) and taken the Bobcats to the five NCAA tournament appearances (2002, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), two Frozen Fours (2013, 2016) and two national runner-ups (2013, 2016). He was named the 2016 Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year after leading Quinnipiac to a 32-4-7 record.

Congratulations to coach Pecknold along with his family on this great achievement in his coaching career.

Jonathan Singer is a 2004 Quinnipiac alum. You can follow him on Twitter @QHockeyBlog.