Patrick Kelliher
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- Title:
- Head Coach
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- Phone:
- 847-735-5294
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- Email:
- kelliher@lakeforest.edu
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The 2020-21 season will be Patrick Kelliher's 11th on the Forester coaching staff and seventh as head coach.
Under Kelliher's direction, the 2019-20 Foresters earned the program's first NCAA Division III Tournament berth in nearly three decades. Their 18-6-3 overall record was also the program's best mark since 1991 and the team's 14-4-2 mark in the NCHA is a school record. Lake Forest finished just two points shy of a regular season conference title and qualified for the NCHA Harris Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in Kelliher's six seasons.
Defenseman Mark DerManulian was named Second Team West All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association after finishing 2019-20 with more assists (22) than any Forester in 14 years. He was joined on the All-NCHA Team by Lake Forest forwards Josh Giacomin and Aaron O'Neill, who combined for 27 goals and 34 assists on the season. In addition, goaltender Boyd DiClemente finished with 17 victories, the most in recorded program history.
Kelliher has led the Foresters to an 86-59-16 overall record and a 65-40-9 mark in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play during his six seasons as head coach. He has coached seven different players to all-conference honors, including NCHA Players of the Year Jack Lewis (2016-17) and Leo Podolsky (2014-15), and three of his Foresters have been recognized on the NCHA All-Freshmen Team. Lewis and Podolsky were also named First Team West All-Americans by the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Lake Forest has broken or tied 15 program records in the last five years, including a 15-game unbeaten streak that was the longest in the nation during the 2014-15 season. Kelliher's teams have been ranked as high as sixth in the country and have played 37 games against opponents ranked among the top 15 at the time of the contest.
In addition to their exploits on the ice, the Foresters have earned a total of 71 spots on the NCHA All-Academic Team during the last six seasons and led the league with a program record 18 in 2018-19.
Kelliher spent his first four years at the College assisting the head coach in all phases of the program. He helped lead Lake Forest to a 12-and-a-half-game improvement over a three-season span and the team won at least 15 games in back-to-back years for the first time since the late 1970s.
The Lake Forest defense, which Kelliher has overseen since he came to the College, has been a key component in the team’s success over the years. The Foresters have allowed no more than 3.0 goals per contest in seven of the last eight seasons and fewer than 2.5 scores per game three times, including each of the last two years. In addition to the team’s defense, Kelliher has run the Forester penalty kill unit, which has often ranked among the top 20 in the nation and was 18th in 2019-20.
Kelliher graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in May of 2010 and was a member of the Saints’ hockey program for four years. He was awarded the Dr. James S. Street Seventh Player Award as a senior for unsung contributions to the success of the Saints’ team.
A native of Rochester, New York, Kelliher now lives in Buffalo Grove with his wife Liz and their daughter Peyton.
