The Mercyhurst women’s team has announced the hiring of Kelley Steadman as its new assistant coach.
Steadman, who graduated from Mercyhurst in 2012, had a successful career as a Laker. In 140 games, she totaled 78 goals and 54 assists for 132 total points and was part of four consecutive CHA regular-season-championships and four NCAA tournament appearances.
“It is gratifying to see Kelley rejoin our program as our new assistant coach,” Mercyhurst head coach Michael Sisti said in a statement. “Kelley was an outstanding student, player and person while here at Mercyhurst. She will be a wonderful role model for our players. She clearly understands the key elements of pride, commitment and the pursuit of excellence that have helped build our program. Kelley, Lou (Goulet) and I are excited to start the upcoming season.”
During her senior season with the Lakers, Steadman was named CHA Player of the Year as she led the conference in goals. She was also named to the All-CHA First Team and was a Patty Kazmaier Top-30 nominee.
While Steadman was in the program, the Lakers had a 113-23-6 overall record while she received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
“Mercyhurst is the program where my hockey career started and I couldn’t be more proud and excited to be a part of the coaching staff,” Steadman added. “I am looking forward to doing my part in continuing the great legacy this program has built and helping this next group of women achieve their goals inside and outside of the rink.”
After her graduation from Mercyhurst, Steadman played four seasons of professional hockey and five years with the United States National Team. She was a member of the Clarkson Cup champion Boston Blades of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (2012-13), the European Cup champion Moscow Tornado in the European Women’s Hockey League (2013-14) and the Isobel Cup champion Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League (2016-17). She was the championship game MVP during each of her teams’ championship runs.
In international play, Steadman won two World Championship gold medals while playing for Team USA (2011, 2013).
Steadman also spent three seasons as an assistant for the Robert Morris women’s program — one year as a volunteer assistant and two years as the director of hockey operations (2014-17). While there, Steadman earned a master’s degree in instructional leadership from RMU.
