2020-21 PENN STATE WOMEN'S HOCKEY
ASSISTANT COACHES 2013. While at BU, Coomey coached four Olympians who combined to win six gold medals for the Canadian National Team at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympic Games.
ALLISON COOMEY
Selected for various international coaching roles with USA Hockey, Coomey was most recently a member of USA Hockey's scouting staff at the 2019 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship. She also has experience as a Team USA Camp instructor at the Women's National Festival and Women's National Winter Camp.
ASSISTANT COACH Fourth Season Niagara, ’02
A four-year letterwinner at Niagara, Coomey returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach (2004-08), helping the Purple Eagles reach the CHA title game twice. Her duties included serving as Niagara’s recruiting coordinator, working with the forwards, coordinating the team's community service efforts and overseeing the team's academic program.
Allison Coomey is one of the most decorated and accomplished coaches in the sport and enters her fourth season with a rising Penn State women’s hockey program in 2020-21. Primarily responsible for coaching defense, Coomey’s leadership has turned the Nittany Lions into one of the best defensive units in the country by allowing just 2.04 goals per game over 108 games the last three seasons. At the 2019 America Hockey Coaches Association Convention, Coomey received the AHCA Women’s Hockey Assistant Coach of the Year award for her outstanding career resume, which includes helping the Nittany Lions to backto-back College Hockey America (CHA) semifinal appearances. Coomey, as a part of the Penn State staff, has helped student-athletes achieve CHA honors. A total of 11 Nittany Lions were named to All-CHA rosters, including three All-CHA First Team performers, five All-CHA Second Team honorees, along with a CHA Rookie of the Year and three All-CHA Rookie Team members.
Coomey served as an assistant coach at Plattsburgh in 2003-04 where she helped guide the Cardinals to the 2004 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) West Division III regular season title and the NCAA Division III semifinals. The Baldwinsville, New York, native earned two degrees from Niagara, a bachelor's degree in education in 2002 and a master's degree in school counseling in 2008. She was a two-time ECAC All-Academic Team member and earned a spot on the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. Following graduation, Coomey completed an internship as the assistant women's hockey coach at Connecticut College and was also a volunteer lacrosse coach for the 2002-03 season. She has also worked numerous hockey camps, including the USA Hockey Development Camp. Coomey was a two-sport letterwinner at Niagara, playing ice hockey and lacrosse from 1998-2002. On the ice, she served as an alternate captain during her senior season and helped the team to its most successful campaign in program history. The Purple Eagles reached the 2002 NCAA Women's Frozen Four and finished tied for third in the final national poll. On the lacrosse field, she earned the team's rookie of the year award in 1999 and tallied 69 goals and 37 assists in her four-year career.
Coomey came to the Nittany Lions after spending nine seasons with Boston University where she helped the Terriers qualify for the NCAA Tournament six times, including a pair of NCAA Championship appearances in 2011 and Samoskevich was tabbed the top U.S. player by her peers and named to the Media All-Star Team. Samoskevich also accumulated international competition experience as a six-time participant in the USA vs. Canada series in the U18 (2012-14) and U22 divisions (2015-16, 2018).
MELISSA SAMOSKEVICH ASSISTANT COACH First Season Quinnipiac, '19
A 2019 graduate of Quinnipiac, Samoskevich is recognized as one of the program’s all-time great players, finishing her career No. 4 on the career scoring list with 109 points on 54 goals and 55 assists. She was selected to the 2016 ECAC All-Rookie team after a freshman season that included 32 points and eight game-winning scores, a total that ranked second in the nation. In her senior season, Samoskevich was named team captain and led Quinnipiac with 13 goals, including five game-winners. She graduated with a degree in history plus a minor in psychology. A Sandy Hook, Conn. native, Samoskevich was selected second overall by the Connecticut Whale in the 2018-19 NWHL draft. She has contributed time and energy to on her local youth hockey environment as a coach for the Mid Farfield Stars Youth Hockey program.
A gold medal winner at the international level and a decorated collegiate hockey student-athlete, Melissa Samoskevich joins Penn State women’s hockey as an assistant coach and a driver of winning culture. Head coach Jeff Kampersal announced her hiring in the summer of 2020. Samoskevich made her debut with the United States national team at the 2018 Four Nations Cup and later helped power the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Espoo, Finland. She scored a pair of goals over the seven-game stretch, including a game-tying goal in the third period of the opening round matchup against the host, Finland. She has also excelled internationally at the U18 level with a gold and silver medal at the U18 IIHF World Championships. In the 2015 gold medal run,
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