College hockey coaching changes continue

Three college hockey coaching vacancies have been filled, according to multiple sources over the last week.

Former Miami and Sacred Heart assistant Joel Beal will be the new assistant coach at Bentley. A standout player at Union from 2001-2005, Beal was an assistant at Sacred Heart for five seasons before heading to the Red Hawks for the 2018-19 campaign.

He also had been a grad assistant at his alma mater as well as coaching prep school hockey at Albany Academy. Beal fills the void left by Ben Murphy, who headed off to St. Lawrence.

Merrimack College has hired Dan Jewell to be an assistant coach. The Medford, N.Y., native replaces Curtis Carr, who left the Warriors to become an assistant coach at Bowling Green. Jewell previously worked the last two seasons as an assistant coach at RPI. He played prep school hockey at South Kent before tending the net for SUNY-Cortland at the collegiate level.

Jewell was set to become the Director of Hockey Operations at Boston University before the position at Merrimack became available to him. BU head coach Albie O’Connell has instead turned to Eddie Effinger, who has been an assistant coach at Amherst College, his alma mater for the past six seasons. The Belleville, Ill., native played for the Lord Jeffs from 2008-2012, including serving as captain as a junior and senior.

Also last week, Northeastern announced a shift in its staff. Head coach Jim Madigan announced that Mike McLaughlin would be moving from Director of Hockey Operations to assistant coach while Jason Smith would be transitioning from an Assistant Coach to the Director of Hockey Advancement.

There remains one known vacancy in the region when it comes to Division I. UMass Lowell is looking for a Director of Hockey Operations after Ryan Blair left the program.