In his fourth season guiding the Crimson and Gold, DU hockey Head Coach Jim Montgomery has been named the Spencer Penrose Award winner as Division I Men’s Ice Hockey CCM/AHCA Coach of the Year. Denver finished the regular season with a 31-7-4 record, ranked No. 1 nationally and as NCHC regular season champions.

DU downed Michigan Tech and Penn State in the first two rounds of the NCAA Championship playoffs in order to advance to the program’s 16th Frozen Four. They will take on the University of Notre Dame on April 6 in the tournament’s semifinal round.

Montgomery has led Denver to the NCAA Tournament in each of his four seasons with the team. DU improbably won the inaugural NCHC Tournament in 2014, earning an automatic bid and ultimately bowing out in the first round of the National Tournament. The team would advance to the second round in 2015 and finally reached the Frozen Four in 2016 for the first time under Montgomery’s watch.

Now, with a senior core and roster recruited entirely by the Spencer Penrose Award winner, Denver is poised to take the next step of winning a National Championship in 2017.

Before joining the college coaching ranks, Montgomery was a head coach and general manager in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for the expansion franchise Dubuque Fighting Saints for three years (2011-2013). He guided the team to Clark Cup Championships in both 2011 and 2013, while also coaching future Pioneers Evan Janssen (Green Bay, Wisconsin) and Dylan Gambrell (Bonney Lake, Washington).

Succeeding former DU Head Coach George Gwozdecky, who delivered two national titles in the mid-2000’s before a string of poor playoff performances saw his exit, Montgomery has been able to write his own legacy on the midwest campus. His 100 wins in only four seasons is evidence enough of that, as is this award.

“Coach of the Year is definitely a team award, and I share this honor with our entire program,” said Montgomery.
The award will be presented to Montgomery later this month at the American Hockey Coaches Association convention in Naples, FL on April 26.