Spent last two seasons at Cornell
MARQUETTE, MI – Northern Michigan head hockey coach Dave Shyiak is proud to announce the hiring of Ben Russell as an assistant coach beginning in the 2024-25 season.
“We are really excited about Ben joining our staff and community,” says head coach Shyiak. “He grew up in the U.P. and understands the history and tradition of Wildcat hockey. Ben is an up and coming young coach bringing a unique set of skills to our group. He’s organized, detailed, and has a tireless work ethic that will help in our recruiting efforts. Ben did an outstanding job working with the goaltenders at Cornell, and that will be one of his roles here at NMU.”
Russell has spent the past two seasons with Cornell, which included one season as an assistant coach and two seasons as the director of hockey operations. Ben graduated from Cornell in 2020, where he spent all four years of his undergraduate as an assistant director of hockey operations, where he helped coordinate video, analyze film, prepare scouting reports, and incorporate advanced analytics into game preparation.
Prior to his return to East Hill, Russell spent two seasons on the staff at St. Olaf, a Minnesota-based Division III school, under head coach Eddie Effinger, helping the 2021-22 team to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. They did that with one of the youngest rosters in collegiate hockey, as 84 percent of its points came from first-year players with top 10 program marks for goals, assists, and points. Russell’s first year behind the bench was shortened to two games due to the global pandemic.
Along with his time coaching, Russell has also built his résumé with internships with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Syracuse Crunch and USA Hockey, which included serving as an assistant coach at the 2023 USA Hockey BioSteel Boys 17 National Festival in Amherst, N.Y.
Russell graduated from Cornell in 2020 with a degree in industrial and labor relations and a minor in business.
