St. Lawrence head coach Joe Marsh has announced his retirement following a 26-year career as the Saints’ coach, citing the time commitment for the continuation of treatment for a condition that prompted him to take a medical leave for the 2011-12 season.
He will be replaced behind the bench by Greg Carvel, who will become head coach after sharing the coaching duties with Mike Hurlbut this past season.
Hurlbut will continue in his role as associate head coach.
“The time feels right,” said Marsh in a news release. “We have the right people in place to take the reins of the program. Two of our former players, one of whom played in the NHL, and the other who has years of coaching experience in the NHL.”
Marsh compiled a coaching record of 468-399-72 in 26 seasons, the most career victories of any active ECAC coach and became the third coach in NCAA Division I history to accrue more than 400 wins at one institution. He is the seventh coach since 1951 to win multiple Spencer Penrose Awards as the NCAA Division I Hockey Coach of the Year (1989, 2000) and was ECAC Coach of the Year a record four times.
Carvel, a 1993 graduate of St. Lawrence and a former captain, joined the staff in the fall of 2011.
“Looking at the future of the program, we have been extremely impressed with the way Greg Carvel and Mike Hurlbut handled the team this past season,” added St. Lawrence athletics director Margie Strait. “The feedback from the players, alumni and the university community has been very positive. In continuing discussions with Joe Marsh, he has been very supportive of Greg and Mike and impressed with the new systems Greg has introduced to our program to make us a better team. We feel we could not find a better person to take over our program after Joe’s long and very successful tenure as head coach.”
Carvel becomes the 13th head coach in SLU history and the second as Charles W. Appleton II Head Men’s Ice Hockey Coach, an endowed position established in 1997. Carvel is the second St. Lawrence graduate to be head coach of the Saints, joining the late Bernie McKinnon (class of 1959), who coached the team in 1967-68 and from 1971-76. Carvel is also the second Canton, N.Y., native to be head coach of the Saints, joining Paul Patten, who coached from 1947-50.
