The reigning Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year, Ryan Soderquist enters his eighth season as Bentley University’s head hockey coach in 2009 after leading the Falcons to arguably the finest season in program history last season.

Soderquist took a team that was picked to finish ninth in the Atlantic Hockey preseason poll last season, and guided the Falcons to a 19-17-2 record, a 10-win turnaround from 2007-08. That improvement was the biggest turnaround in Atlantic Hockey and the third biggest in Division I hockey, trailing only the national champions Boston University and Ohio State, another NCAA Tournament team. The 19 wins are second most in school history and the most since Bentley began competing in Division I. 

Soderquist also led Bentley to 15 wins in Atlantic Hockey play and a fourth place finish, the team’s most wins since joining the conference at its inception in 2003. Bentley advanced to the Atlantic Hockey Tournament semifinals for the third time after earning home-ice advantage for the quarterfinals and beating Canisius two games to one.

Along the way, Soderquist and the Falcons had a season full of highlights. In the second game of the season, Bentley defeated Rensselaer on the road in overtime for the school’s second ever win over an ECAC school. They won at Mercyhurst for the first time since 2003 and defeated the Lakers at home later in the season, giving the Falcons their first season series victory over Mercyhurst since both clubs joined Atlantic Hockey.

The month of January saw Bentley earn its highest profile win ever with a 3-1 triumph at Maine, the team’s first over a Hockey East school. In February, Bentley defeated then-No. 20 Air Force for the program’s first over a ranked team. 

In March, Soderquist led Bentley to a two games to one victory over Canisius in the quarterfinals. The season though came to an end in the semifinals when they were eliminated by the eventual champions and NCAA Tournament East Regional Finalists Air Force.

Bentley’s success did not go unnoticed, as Soderquist was named by his peers as the Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year. As a result, he was named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, given to the top coach in NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey.

Soderquist also presided over the careers of three of the highest scoring players in program history. Dain Prewitt, Anthony Canzoneri and Jeff Gumaer finished their careers as the first three 100-point scorers in the school’s Division I history. Prewitt and Gumaer became the fourth and fifth members of Bentley’s 60-goal club last season, and the first two to do it solely at Division I.

He has also shown the ability to develop young players. Three of his players, goalies Joe Calvi and Kyle Rank, and forward Erik Peterson, have been named to the Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie team the last two years. 

The success last season is nothing new to the Stoneham, Mass., native. In his fourth season at the helm in 2005-06, Soderquist took the Falcons all the way to the Atlantic Hockey championship game, their deepest foray into the postseason since joining Division I in 1999. That season, Bentley beat Army in the quarterfinals and upset second-seeded Mercyhurst in the semifinals, both in thrilling double-overtime games, to advance to its first-ever Division I conference championship game.

With 15 wins in 2005-06, Soderquist’s team equaled the mark he set in his first year as head coach in 2002-03, which at the time was the most ever for Bentley at the Division I level. 

In fact, Bentley had as many wins in Soderquist’s first season as the Falcons had in the previous three. His fellow coaches recognized Soderquist for this turnaround with his selection as the 2002-03 MAAC Hockey League Coach of the Year.

In Soderquist’s first several seasons on the job, he led Bentley to accomplishments that no other team in program history had done. In his first season, the Falcons swept Army for the first time, including two victories at Tate Rink, a rink that Bentley had never won in prior to Soderquist’s appointment. He also guided Bentley to its first wins at Canisius, Mercyhurst, RIT and its first-ever win against Connecticut. In 2006, Soderquist’s squad became the first Falcon team to defeat an ECAC Hockey team at the Division I level with a win at Princeton. 

His teams have made it to at least the conference quarterfinals in six of his seven years, after Bentley did not make the playoffs the two previous seasons prior to him taking the job. They have pulled off playoff upsets away from home three times. 

Soderquist, a 2000 graduate of Bentley and the school’s all-time leading scorer, was named the head hockey coach at his alma mater on March 7, 2002, becoming the youngest head coach in Division I hockey. He had spent the 2001-02 season as an assistant under Jim McAdam. 

As a senior in 1999-2000, Bentley’s first in Division I, Soderquist wrapped up a sparkling career with 19 goals, 29 assists and 48 points in 28 games. All of which are still single-season program records at the Division I level. He finished his career with 84 goals and 89 assists for 173 points, 24 higher than Bentley’s former standard-bearer, John Maguire ’84. The 84 goals is also a school record and the 89 assists is tied for second on the all-time list.  As a sophomore in 1997-98, he set the program’s single season record for points with 59 and goals with 33. Both records still stand.

The recipient of numerous honors during his career, Soderquist was Bentley’s captain for two seasons and a first-team All-Conference honoree. As a senior, he led the conference in points per game and assists, and was second in total points.

Soderquist is a graduate of Arlington Catholic High School. He also spent a postgraduate year at Winchendon Prep. He received his bachelor of science degree in marketing in May 2000.