MANKATO — Shari Dickerman has been named the fifth head coach of the Minnesota State women’s hockey program after John Harrington announced his retirement from the position Monday.
Dickerman has been a member of the MSU coaching staff since 2009, including the last nine seasons under Harrington.
A former All-American goaltender for the Mavericks, Dickerman (2000-04) has played with or coached 174 current and former student-athletes since the program’s inception in 1998-99.
“A couple times today I’ve been like, ‘is this for real right now?’ It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was visiting here and committing to play. Thinking it would be four years at Minnesota State, life would move on and that would be the end of my time in Mankato,” Dickerman said. “Here I am 24 years later taking over the program.
“It’s definitely surreal, but it’s something I’m really excited about and feel really prepared to do.”
Dickerman praised Harrington’s work over the last nine seasons, and is excited about where the program stands.
Harrington, who will now shift into a role as a special assistant to the athletic director before his full retirement on June 30, finished his tenure with a record of 85-198-25.
Three former Mavericks who played for Harrington — Claire Butorac, Brooke Bryant and Brittyn Fleming — are currently playing in the PWHL for Minnesota.
“I am thankful for the opportunity given to me to coach the Women’s Hockey team at Minnesota State University for the past nine seasons,” Harrington said in a press release. “Coaching extremely talented student-athletes was a rewarding experience for me. I hope they were able to learn lifetime skills as well as hockey skills.”
Added Dickerman: “I’ve told him multiple times, ‘coach, you’ve left the place better than where you found it.’ I truly believe that. We’re on the upswing.”
Dickerman wants to build on that momentum, and her first task will be tending to the roster and it’s many returning players.
The transfer portal can decimate a roster following a coaching change in the current landscape of college athletics, but Dickerman is confident that won’t happen at MSU.
She said seniors Sydney Langseth (15-17—32) and Jamie Nelson (20-10—30), the team’s top point scorers last season, are each set to return for a fifth year via their COVID season. Madison Mashuga (3-8—11) will do the same.
Dickerman also said she already spoke to the three players who’ve signed national letters of intent with the program, and expects each of them to stay the course and play at MSU.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll have the same roster with the exception of Kennedy Bobyck and Charlotte Akervik exhausting eligibility,” Dickerman said.
The Mavericks are coming off an up-and-down season, finishing 13-25 overall, with a 6-22 record in the WCHA. After struggling to score goals early, the team got hot in the middle, scoring 25 goals in five games prior to the holiday break.
MSU won Game 1 of the WCHA quarterfinals at Minnesota, but ended up losing the next two in the best-of-three series.
Dickerman was happy with MSU’s good games this season, but acknowledged the team needs to be more consistent. The WCHA is the best league in Division I, but Dickerman doesn’t want that to limit expectations.
“With the group that we have here and the players that we have committed, I think we’ll be able to get over the hump and extend our season, not just an extra day next year, but a week and get into the WCHA Final Faceoff,” Dickerman said. “The ultimate goal is to play in the national tournament.
“We’ve been sitting on the side kind of watching all the teams we play all year long in our league get that opportunity. I’m excited to help lead this group and have the front-row seat when they get over that hump.”
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