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Men's Hockey
- Title:
- Men's Hockey Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- dave.shyiak@stcloudstate.edu
- Phone:
- 320-308-5234
Dave Shyiak will begin his fourth season as the Associate Head Coach at St. Cloud State in 2023-24. In his first three seasons with the Huskies, Shyiak has helped lead the St. Cloud State Huskies to new program heights with three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and an NCAA runner-up finish in 2020-21.
The Huskies reached the NCAA Tournament for an NCAA-leading fifth consecutive time and the third consecutive season with Shyiak on the bench in 2022-23, as St. Cloud State won 25 games, captured the 2023 NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship and earned at at-large bid to the NCAA West Regional where it advanced to the NCAA regional championship game for the sixth time in program history. In 2020-21, Shyiak helped lead St. Cloud State to its second NCAA Frozen Four appearance and its first-ever NCAA National Championship Game appearance, as the Huskies finished as the nation’s runner-up at the 2021 NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.
Under Shyiak’s guidance, four SCSU defenseman have earned All-NCHC honors, including Jack Peart (second team) and Dylan Anhorn (honorable mention) in 2022-23. Anhorn was a Hobey Baker nominee who lead the nation’s blue liners in points before a season-ending injury stopped his Hobey campaign short. Former Husky and current Tampa Cay Lightning blue liner Nick Perbix earned back-to-back all-conference honors after being named to the 2021 NCHC Second Team and the 2022 NCHC First Team. The 10th Husky to earn NCHC first team honors, Perbix totaled 31 points with six goals and a team-best 25 assists in 2021-22.
Shyiak joined SCSU head coach Brett Larson’s staff after serving as an associate head coach at NCHC-rival Western Michigan University from 2014-20. In Kalamazoo, Shyiak helped the Broncos gain an NCAA Tournament berth in 2017 along with earning home ice in the NCHC playoffs in 2017, 2019 and 2020. Prior to his tenure at WMU, Shyiak worked as an amateur hockey scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs organization from 2013-14.
Shyiak served as the head coach at the University of Alaska Anchorage from 2005-13. He ranks as the Seawolves all-time win leader as a coach during the WCHA era with 80 wins and helped UAA advance to the WCHA Final Five.
He began his college coaching career at Northern Michigan as an assistant coach from 1995-02. Shyiak then served as an associate head coach at NMU from 2002-05. He also served as a student-assistant coach at NMU in 1992-93. At NMU, Shyiak helped his team earn trips to the CCHA and WCHA final four playoffs along with NCAA bids in 1993 and 1999.
In 1994-95, Shyiak was the general manager and head coach for the Merritt Centennials of the BCJHL and his junior hockey resume includes one season as the head coach of the Kimberley Dynamiters of the RMJHL in 1993-94. Shyiak was a player/coach for one season with the Murrayfield Racers of the Super League-British Ice Hockey in 1991-92.
Shyiak is a graduate of Northern Michigan University, where he helped the Wildcats win an NCAA Division I championship as team captain in 1991. Shyiak was a part of NMU's team that won the WCHA playoff championship in 1989, and he later received his master’s degree from Northern Michigan University in Training and Development in Human Performance.
An evaluator for the USA Hockey selection camps in Michigan from 2015 to 2020, Shyiak served as a coach at the USA Hockey national selection camp in Buffalo, N.Y. in 2020. He has also served as a guest coach for the Washington Capitals Development Camp in 2010 and the Swedish National U20 Team Camp in 2009.
Dave and his wife, Lucia, have three children, Kristian, Sheldon and Isabela, and reside in St. Cloud.
