July 27, 2011
Team USA's Rolston Picked as Amerks' New Coach
by PR Wire Report/
Ron Rolston has been named new coach of the Rochester Americans, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Sabres. Rolston becomes the 29th Head Coach in Amerks franchise history.
“We are very excited for Ron to join the organization as head coach of the Amerks,” said Sabres GM Darcy Regier. “He has achieved tremendous success with USA Hockey’s development program and he fits our vision for how we want to develop players at the American Hockey League level. Ron is a proven winner and a terrific teacher and we look forward to having him lead the Amerks going forward.”
"I am both excited and honored to join an organization with as storied a tradition as the Rochester Americans,” Rolston said. “The opportunity to work within the Sabres organization, and to develop players at the game’s highest level, is an opportunity that I am committed to and embrace."
Rolston joins the organization after spending the previous seven seasons as a head coach with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP), where he led the U.S. Under-18 team to three gold medals and a silver medal in four stints as head coach at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Under-18 Championship, including the 2011 tournament in Germany. In June, he received the 2011 Bob Johnson Award from USA Hockey, which recognizes excellence in international competition during a season.
The longest-tenured and most decorated head coach in NTDP history, Rolston guided his teams to five medals and multiple tournament championships in international competition. He is the only coach in U.S. history to win three gold medals in the Under-18 World Championship (2005, 2009, 2011).
Rolston has been by-passed for numerous collegiate coaching openings in recent years. Just this year, he interviewed for the openings at Mass.-Lowell, Clarkson and Western Michigan.
The 44-year-old Rolston joined USA Hockey after serving as an assistant coach at four different NCAA Division I hockey programs between 1990 and 2004, winning National Championships in 1992 and 1994 with Lake Superior State University. Rolston was an assistant coach at Boston College from 2002-04 and also served as the top assistant at Harvard University from 1999-2002 and as an assistant coach at Clarkson University (1996-99) and Lake Superior State University (1990-95).
In addition to winning two national titles at Lake Superior State, Rolston also helped guide the team to three straight appearances in the NCAA National Championship game and four CCHA tournament titles in his five-year stint. He was elevated to associate head coach for the Lakers in 1994. Rolston’s younger brother, 16-year NHL veteran Brian Rolston, was a member of the 1992 and ’93 squads that Ron helped coach.
A native of Fenton, Mich., Rolston attended Michigan Tech, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business management and was a three-year hockey letterman with the Huskies (1986-89), serving as an alternate captain during his senior season.
