After a four-year career at the University of North Dakota (UND), former Humboldt Bronco Matt Hrynkiw will be returning to UND as a volunteer assistant coach.
Being able to stay part of the UND hockey program is really exciting, he says, noting that he cannot say enough about his four years as a player, noting that the atmosphere on game days is incredible.
“It’s a contagious place to be around. You want to be there as much as you can you want to be involved and you want to contribute and so when I got the call that I had the opportunity to come back and be a coach for such a historic program I was all over it and beyond excited.”
His experience as a player and his knowledge of the program were big factors in the decision to bring Hrynkiw back as a part of the coaching staff, says head coach Brad Berry, who notes he brings all the qualities of a good coach and mentor to a hockey team.
“He’s hard working, he’s very focused and detailed and above all he had a team first mentality. When he took a job here in Grand Forks and knew that he was going to be in the community here long term it didn’t take too long to connect the dots and knew he would be a great fit for our program.”
Hard work and focus is something Hrynkiw thinks he will be able to pass along to the players of the UND program, noting his preparation, mindset, and understanding the keys to playing the best hockey possible are all things he will try and impart on the players.
“I’m going to emphasize not getting consumed by the game itself and not getting too up tight about the things happening around you. But more focusing in on your own personal game and understanding your keys and making sure you execute those keys on a consistent basis.”
Hrynkiw wrapped up his playing days at UND after a four year career that saw him play in 18 games, posting a 2.13 goals against average (GAA) and a .910 save percentage (SV%) in 2016, and a 1.93 GAA and .915 SV% in 2017 and help the Fighting Hawks win the 2016 NCAA Frozen Four National Championship.
Berry noted that he felt Hrynkiw did not get enough credit for the job he did helping that team win the national title, partly because he was considered the defacto back up goalie.
“When our starter Cam Johnson went down for an extended period of time he proceeded to come in and win ten games in a very tough league, in a very tough schedule. And if it wasn’t for Matt to keep us in the winning ways we wouldn’t have had a chance to compete for that national title two years ago.”
Being so fresh out of school will be a benefit for both Hrynkiw and the coaching staff, with Hrynkiw noting that he still knows, and has relationships with a majority of the team.
“That will help me communicate and get across my ideas because I know exactly how they act, and what buttons to push for a number of guys.”
Berry adds that Hrynkiw will be able to provide an age gap between the rest of the coaching staff and the players.
“We have a guy here who went through our program that lived it every single day, not only the current guys that he played with… but our incoming freshmen who don’t know him at all. That’s a big deal because those guys are the ones that we have to get up to speed about what our culture is and there’s no better person to show examples of what that is.”
Prior to his time at UND Hrynkiw was a goaltender for the Broncos for three full seasons and helped lead the Broncos to the national championship semi-finals in 2012.
Hrynkiw says he looks back fondly on his time in Humboldt, and notes that former Broncos head coach Dean Brockman is still one of his favourite coaches, and says he hopes to model some of his own coaching tendencies after him, noting he was always very focused on knowing each player on an individual basis.
“He coached a team but he coached every player individually and he put a lot of time in just having personal conversations with each and every guy. Understanding where they came from, their mindsets going into games, just the willingness to get to know guys and understand how that builds a true team.”
With Hrynkiw being a volunteer coach he will not carry a great deal of responsibilities this season, says Berry, who notes that he will be at games and practices, and will be involved in the team on a day-to-day basis, but his focus will be mostly on the goaltenders.
“He’ll do group goalie movements and goalie drills during the week and also in practice he’ll monitor and communicate and watch the goaltenders as far as technique and video.”
Hrynkiw notes that he is grateful for every opportunity he has had in hockey, and says he has had a great support system along the way, and would like to thank his Bronco Billets Malcolm and Carol Eaton.
“They made my time there an absolute joy ride.”
