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600 Wins and Counting, O’Handley Powers On

By Tom Robinson - Special to USAHockey.com, 03/24/16, 4:45PM MDT

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O’Handley became the USHL’s first 600-game-winning coach earlier this month.

P.K. O’Handley’s task as coach of the Waterloo Black Hawks requires him to be planning for the Clark Cup Playoffs rather than celebrating his latest United States Hockey League milestone as the league’s first coach to win 600 regular-season games.

His dual responsibility of general manager demands that O’Handley keep an eye on younger players and oversee the process of obtaining the players he will coach in Waterloo in the future.

As he tries to secure the latest playoff berth and keep Waterloo among the top teams in the USHL in the years ahead, there are, however, many success stories among his former players that are worth noting as well.

O’Handley shares the career win milestone with those who helped him win games in the USHL and whom he has helped toward successful careers after they left the league.

“I communicate quite regularly with a lot of former players, even back from when I was at North Iowa,” said O’Handley, who won 140 games with the North Iowa Huskies from 1991-98 before adding 462 more in Waterloo since the start of the 2002-03 season. “I feel fortunate to be able to do that.

“I think what we’ve done here in Waterloo in my 14 years is create a great sense of pride in being an alumnus of this program. It seems that way with the guys that are still in hockey and even the guys who are not in hockey. Their willingness to come back and contribute has been phenomenal.”

O’Handley was able to be in Milwaukee to watch current San Jose Sharks captain Joe Pavelski win an NCAA Division I title for the University of Wisconsin in 2006, just two years after winning a Clark Cup with the Black Hawks.

“He’s been a good friend and was one of the first to reach out when it happened,” O’Handley said, referring to the 600th career win, which was recognized on home ice earlier this week.

The impact of Black Hawks in the NCAA Tournament through the years has remained significant, including Frozen Four MVPs Parker Milner at Boston College and J.T. Brown at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

“I’ve been able to watch a lot of college hockey this year and I’m obviously proud of all our alumni,” O’Handley said. “This is a fun time of year to watch college hockey.”

This season should be no different.

Brock Broeser, the leading scorer at the third-seeded University of North Dakota as a freshman, and Cal Petersen, a standout goalie at the University of Notre Dame as a sophomore, are just two of the latest additions to the list of players who could have an impact on deciding this year’s national title. They could see each other before the weekend is over.

Second-seeded St. Cloud State and Boston College each have multiple Black Hawks on the roster.

“It’s really fun and maybe puts a little exclamation point on what we try to do here,” O’Handley said.

While developing players for their futures on and off the ice, O’Handley is pursuing current success in the USHL.

Already the league’s career leader in wins, O’Handley arrived at the latest milestone March 17 in Muskegon, Michigan, in dramatic fashion.

After an offensive-zone faceoff with 9.5 seconds left in a tie game, Nick Swaney scored the game-winning goal with 0.9 seconds left for a 6-5 win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks.

“That game will be a memorable one,” O’Handley said. “You’re standing on the bench and you’ve come back from two goals three different times, so you think you’re going to get a point on the road for sure.

“Then you come back with .9 seconds left and find the back of the net. It was an exciting and memorable finish.”

The win was part of a recent surge by the Black Hawks, who are 7-2-1-0 in the last 10 games and 8-2-2-1 in the last 13 to improve their season mark to 27-21-2-3. They are in third place out of eight teams in the Western Conference, where four will make the playoffs.

“From the start of the season until mid-February, we had key players out,” O’Handley said. “They’ve been able to hang around and keep themselves in the playoff race.

“For them, I really hope we can get in. They’re as strong a group of people as I’ve had here. It’s been a trying season with injuries and adversity.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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