New York, NY – August 10, 2015: The Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) have hired Shelley Looney and Ric Seiling as co-head coaches, general manager Linda Mroz announced Friday.
Looney is a two-time Olympic medalist, winning a gold medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan and a silver medal at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the 1998 Olympic Games, Looney scored the game-winning goal against Canada. She played on the U.S. Women’s National Team for 14 seasons, collecting 136 points (61g, 75a), and was named to USA Hockey’s Board of Directors in 2012.
Looney played college hockey at Northeastern University from 1991-1994. While playing for the Huskies, Looney was named an ECAC All-Star, ECAC Tournament MVP (1993) and ECAC Player of the Year (1993-1994). She was inducted into the Northeastern Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Brownstown, Michigan native went on to become an assistant coach for the University of Vermont and the U.S. National Development Program’s Men’s U-17 Team. Most recently, Looney acted as the Hockey Director for the Buffalo Bison Hockey Association and was the Women’s Hockey Director for the New Jersey Colonials program from 2006-2013.
“This league as a whole, especially in Buffalo, will help to grow girls youth hockey,” said Looney. “This gives young players a platform where they can see positive role models play and envision what they can reach in their career.”
Ric Seiling was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1997 and spent ten seasons playing in the NHL, nine with the Sabres and one with the Detroit Red Wings. While playing in the NHL, Seiling recorded 387 points (179g, 208a).
The Elmira, Ontario native began coaching in the AHL (American Hockey League) as an assistant coach for the Adirondack Red Wings while still playing for the team. Most recently, Seiling coached in the Central Hockey League with San Antonio and Tulsa, and in the OHL (Ontario Hockey League) with the Owen Sound Platers.
“In coaching this season, I’ll take a lot of experience I had this past year coaching the Buffalo Sabres junior U-18 team,” Seiling said, “We took what we had and built around it, and beat some high-powered, well-respected teams.
“It’s up to the coach to design a game plan that’s best for the team- to find their weaknesses and their strengths and go from there.”
