April 11, 2006
Blasi Wins Spencer Penrose Award

Enrico Blasi

Miami head coach Enrico Blasi has been named the 2005-06 Spencer Penrose Award winner as the national coach of the year by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

The RedHawks went 26-9-4, capturing the school’s second CCHA regular-season championship and, for the first time, earning the nation's No. 1 ranking during the season.

A 1994 graduate of Miami, Blasi began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the Wexford Raiders junior team in 1994. He served as an assistant coach to George Gwozdecky at Denver for four years before he
was named head coach at his alma mater in 1999 at the age of 27.

Blasi became the winningest coach in Miami history with his 26 victories this season, giving him 130 wins in seven seasons, surpasing the previous mark of 121 set by Steve Cady from 1978-1985. Blasi’s career record is 130-116-23. CCHA coaches voted him CCHA Coach of the Year in 2005-06, the third time he has received the honor in just seven seasons as a head coach.

The runners-up for this year’s AHCA Men’s Division I Coach of the Year award were Mike Eaves of Wisconsin, Jack Parker of Boston University and Jerry York of Boston College. Other finalists for this year’s award were Dave Burkholder, Niagara; Bob Gaudet, Dartmouth; Dave Hakstol, North Dakota; Don Lucia, Minnesota; Bob Motzko, St. Cloud State; Brian Riley, Army; and Tim Whitehead, Maine.

The Spencer Penrose Award is named in memory of the Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor Hotel Complex, site of the first ten NCAA championship hockey tournaments. It will be presented at the AHCA Coach of the Year Banquet in Naples, Florida, on Saturday evening, April 29.