Guy Gadowsky

Guy Gadowsky (born August 10, 1967) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional ice hockey player. Gadowsky is currently the head coach of the Penn State University men's ice hockey team.

Guy Gadowsky

Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Penn State
Conference	Big Ten
Record	231–200–31 (.534)
Biographical details
Born	(1967-08-10) August 10, 1967 (age 58) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Alma mater	Colorado College
Playing career
1984–1985	Fort Saskatchewan Traders
1985–1989	Colorado College
1991–1992	San Diego Gulls
1991–1993	Richmond Renegades
1992–1993	St. John's Maple Leafs
1993–1994	Canadian National Team
1993–1994	Straubing EHC
1994–1995	Prince Edward Island Senators
1995–1996	Fresno Falcons
Position(s)	Right wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1995–1996	Oklahoma Coyotes
1996–1997	Fresno Falcons
1996–1997	San Jose Rhinos
1997–1998	Fresno Fighting Falcons
1998–1999	Fresno Falcons
1999–2004	Alaska–Fairbanks
2004–2011	Princeton
2011–Present	Penn State
Head coaching record
Overall	404–398–68 (.503)
Tournaments	4–6 (.400)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2008 ECAC Tournament champion 2017 Big Ten Tournament champion
Awards
2002 CCHA Coach of the Year 2008 Tim Taylor Award 2015 Big Ten Coach of the Year

Early life

Gadowsky attended Strathcona High School alongside sports broadcaster Gord Miller.^[1] Growing up in Edmonton, he played in the South Side Athletic Club chain. In 1984 he advanced to the Alberta Junior Hockey League, scoring 27 goals and 63 points in 60 games during his rookie season with the Fort Saskatchewan Traders, earning a scholarship to Colorado College.

Career

Gadowsky played collegiate hockey at Colorado College and played professional hockey for the San Diego Gulls, Richmond Renegades, St. John's Maple Leafs and Prince Edward Island Senators, and Fresno Falcons.^[2] He also represented Canada on the 1993–94 Canada men's national ice hockey team, recording three goals and three assists in six games.^[2] Gadowsky also spent one season with the San Jose Rhinos professional roller hockey team in 1994.^[2]

Following his retirement as a player in 1996, Gadowsky spent three seasons as the head coach of the Fresno Falcons of the West Coast Hockey League, leading the team to three straight Taylor Cup playoff appearances. In 1999, he became the head coach of Alaska-Fairbanks and coached the team for five seasons. In 2004 Gadowsky was hired as the head coach at Princeton University.^[3] During his tenure at Princeton he led the Tigers to the 2008 ECAC Hockey Championship and to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.^[4] On April 25, 2011 he became the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey team,^[5] becoming the program's first varsity head coach in the NCAA era for Penn State. Gadowsky took over the program starting in the 2011–12 season, during the team's transition from ACHA DI level to NCAA Division I.^[6] The team finished the regular season with a record of 27–4 and received a bid to the 2012 ACHA DI National Tournament as the number one seed and ranked first in the ACHA.^[7] The team defeated West Virginia 4–1, followed by Oklahoma 6–3 in the first rounds of the tournament before Penn State lost 3–5 to Oakland (MI) in the semifinal round.^[8] In first year as head coach of Penn State, the team finished the season with an overall record of 29–5.^[8]

Personal life

Gadowsky has two sons, Mac and Magnus. Mac plays college ice hockey for Army, while Magnus plays for Amherst College.^[9]

Head coaching record

Minor League

Team	Year	Regular season							Post Season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Finish	Result
Fresno Falcons	1996–97	64	38	20	0	6	82	3rd in WCHL	Lost in 1st round
Fresno Fighting Falcons	1997–98	64	33	29	0	2	68	3rd in WCHL Southern Div.	Lost in 1st round
Fresno Falcons	1998–99	70	35	31	0	4	74	2nd in WCHL Southern Div.	Lost in 2nd round
Total		198	106	80	0	12	224

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Alaska–Fairbanks Nanooks (CCHA) (1999–2004)
1999–00	Alaska–Fairbanks	6–25–3	4–22–3	12th
2000–01	Alaska–Fairbanks	9–19–8	7–14–7	t-9th	CCHA First Round
2001–02	Alaska–Fairbanks	22–12–3	15–10–3	4th	CCHA Quarterfinals
2002–03	Alaska–Fairbanks	15–14–7	10–11–7	t-8th	CCHA First Round
2003–04	Alaska–Fairbanks	16–19–1	14–13–1	6th	CCHA First Round
Alaska–Fairbanks:		68–89–22	50–70–21
Princeton Tigers (ECAC Hockey) (2004–2011)
2004–05	Princeton	8–20–3	6–14–2	10th	ECAC First Round
2005–06	Princeton	10–18–3	7–12–3	t-9th	ECAC First Round
2006–07	Princeton	15–16–3	10–10–2	t-6th	ECAC Quarterfinals
2007–08	Princeton	21–14–0	14–8–0	2nd	NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinals
2008–09	Princeton	22–12–1	14–8–0	3rd	NCAA West Regional Semifinals
2009–10	Princeton	12–16–3	8–12–2	8th	ECAC First Round
2010–11	Princeton	17–13–2	11–9–2	t-4th	ECAC First Round
Princeton:		105–109–15	70–73–11
Penn State Nittany Lions (ACHA) (2011–2012)
2011–12	Penn State	29–5–0		1st	ACHA Semifinals
Penn State:		29–5–0
Penn State Nittany Lions Independent (2012–2013)
2012–13	Penn State	13–14–0
Penn State:		13–14–0
Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten) (2013–present)
2013–14	Penn State	8–26–2	3–16–1–0	6th	Big Ten Semifinals
2014–15	Penn State	18–15–4	10–9–1	4th	Big Ten Quarterfinals
2015–16	Penn State	21–13–4	10–9–1–1	3rd	Big Ten Semifinals
2016–17	Penn State	25–12–2	10–9–1–0	4th	NCAA Midwest Regional Finals
2017–18	Penn State	18–15–5	9–10–5–2	4th	NCAA Midwest Regional Semifinals
2018–19	Penn State	22–15–2	11–12–1–1	4th	Big Ten Runner-Up
2019–20	Penn State	20–10–4	12–8–4–1	1st	Tournament Cancelled
2020–21	Penn State	10–12–0	7–10–0	5th	Big Ten Semifinals
2021–22	Penn State	17–20–1	6–17–1	T–5th	Big Ten Semifinals
2022–23	Penn State	22–16–1	10–13–1	T–5th	NCAA Midwest Regional Final
2023–24	Penn State	15–18–3	7–14–3	6th	Big Ten Quarterfinals
2024–25	Penn State	22–14–4	9–11–4	5th	NCAA Frozen Four
Penn State:		231–200–32 (.534)	104–128–23 (.453)
Total:		404–398–69 (.503)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of college men's ice hockey coaches with 400 wins