Carvel named SLU assistant men's hockey coach

Former St. Lawrence University hockey captain Greg Carvel, a Canton native, has been appointed assistant men's hockey coach at his alma mater, completing the Saint staff after the departure of Bob Prier to become head coach at Princeton University.

Carvel has most recently been assistant coach of the Ottawa Senators in the National Hockey League and has 15 years of professional hockey experience. He began his professional hockey career as director of hockey operations for the Lowell Lock Monsters of the American Hockey League and joined the Anaheim Ducks as scouting coordinator in May of 1999. He added video coaching duties to his title in Anaheim in 2002 and was promoted to assistant coach in August of 2003. He joined the Senators in August of 2004.

"This is a tremendous hire for our program," said Saint coach Joe Marsh. "Greg certainly knows what St. Lawrence and its hockey program are all about as both an outstanding athlete and an outstanding scholar, and he brings a wealth of professional experience with him. He was the coach of the Senator's penalty kill and that was among the best in the league in the stretch run last year. I know the players are excited about having him as part of the staff and certainly Mike Hurlbut and I look forward to working with him."

"We are very pleased to welcome Greg Carvel to our athletic department," added athletic director Margie Strait. "He will be an outstanding ambassador for not only the hockey program, but the University as a whole as well."

Carvel graduated from St. Lawrence with a bachelor's degree in political science and mathematics in 1993 and was named the ECAC's Best Defensive Forward award winner as a senior. He earned ECAC all rookie team honors as a freshman and was captain of the 1992-93 team. Carvel  led the team in scoring as a senior with 14 goals and 34 assists for 48 points and finished his career with 37 goals and 87 assists for 124 points in 124 career games. He was the winner of the Brian P. Doyle Memorial Trophy as a senior. An outstanding student-athlete, he was the Kevin Dougherty Memorial Scholarship winner in 1989 and is one of only three players to win the Brian McFarlane Award for academic and hockey accomplishment three times during his career. He also earned Academic All America honors.

Following graduation, he played one season with Ostervala in Sweden's first division. He was drafted 22nd by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1991 NHL supplemental draft. He was assistant athletic director and assistant hockey coach at Canterbury Prep following his season in Sweden and earned his master's degree in sports management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1996. He was assistant coach at Amherst College while earning his master's degree.

He becomes the third Canton native who has served as an assistant men's coach for the Saints, following in the footsteps of Paul Flanagan and Chris Wells. He joins Wells, Randy Sexton, Prier and Bill Wilkinson as winners of the Doyle Award who went on to join the Saint coaching staff and he and associate head coach Hurlbut are both former winners of the Dougherty Scholarship.

Greg and his wife Daina are the parents of two daughters, Kathryn and Ava.