Mike Parnell ’17 was appointed the men’s ice hockey head coach at Nichols College on July 1, 2020.
In his first full season behind the bench at his alma mater, the Bison qualified for the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoffs and upended No. 3 Salve Regina on the road to advance to the Semifinals. A total of 15 Bison student-athletes received CCC Academic All-Conference honors while captain Curtis Carlson was named to the CCC Third Team.
The Bison went 2-2-0 in four games during an abbreviated 2020-21 campaign – Parnell’s first at NC – due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight Bison went on to garner CCC Academic All-Conference honors.
Parnell spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Nichols, effectively recruiting the BCHL, AJHL, SJHL, NAHL, OJHL, GJOHL, CCHL and other various junior hockey leagues throughout the United States, Canada and Europe to the tune of 13 incoming freshman this fall. Parnell assisted in all aspects of pre-game, in-game and post-game adjustments while also dissecting and preparing video on opponents. He was also responsible for the implementation, teaching, and execution of the penalty kill.
The 2019-20 edition of the Nichols College men's hockey team overcame an 0-9-0 start to earn points on 12 straight contests (10-0-2) and quality for the CCC playoffs. The fifth-seeded Bison went on to upset Salve Regina University, 5-4 in overtime in Portsmouth, R.I. and nearly took down eventual champion Endicott in the semifinals, falling 3-2 in overtime.
Off the ice, Parnell became proficient with video software across InStat, Hudl, Game Breaker, iCoda, XOS, and IceBerg. He helped raise $30,000 for the program during the ‘Bison Blitz’ last September and monitored the academic prowess of the student-athletes in the program; 23 student-athletes finished with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.
Parnell returned to Nichols following stints as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (2017-18) and Trine University (2018-19). Just two months after graduating, he left Dudley and drove cross-country to 'The Last Frontier' to become a volunteer assistant for the Nanooks, who compete in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Parnell assisted the Nanooks' coaching staff in developing practice plans which focused on skill development and conditioning for non-traveling student-athletes. The Roseville, Minn. native also assisted the Director of Academics in managing the student-athletes' academic progress at while assembling goalie analytics and devising an analytical system to track face-offs and scoring chances.
At Trine, Parnell was an assistant coach and the director of recruiting, twice spending 20 days on the road recruiting for head coach Alex Todd. He recruited 2018-19 National Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) co-Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman Team pick Garrett Hallford, as well as 2019-20 NCHA All-Freshman Team defenseman Brad Jenion. This past season, four of Trine’s top five scorers were recruited by Parnell: Hallford, Brendan Prappas, Justin Meers, and TJ Delaney.
Parnell – who has worked as an assistant coach with the USA Hockey Minnesota District since 2015 – was a three-year member of the Nichols men’s ice hockey program, appearing in 69 games on the blue line over a three-year span after transferring from Wisconsin-River Falls. He helped the Bison capture the 2014-15 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast Championship, which earned the program their second-straight NCAA Tournament berth. Named to the ECAC Northeast Academic All-Conference Team in 2015-16, Parnell amassed 19 points during his time in black & white (6-13-19) and served as team captain as a senior, when he received the Hal Chalmers Memorial Award for Dedication and Sportsmanship.
Parnell received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2017 and is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership.
Career record at Nichols
|
W |
L |
T |
| 2020-21 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
| 2021-22 |
8 |
16 |
1 |
| Total |
10 |
18 |
1 |
