Melissa Samoskevich - Women's Ice Hockey Coach - Princeton University Athletics

Melissa Samoskevich

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
pwihtigers@princeton.edu

For recruiting related emails please use: pwihtigers@princeton.edu

Melissa Samoskevich, an IIHF World Champion with Team USA, joined the Princeton women's hockey staff as an assistant coach in July 2023.

"We are so excited to have 'Samo' joining our coaching staff," Princeton head coach Cara Morey said upon Samoskevich's hiring. "She was a dominant player in ECAC Hockey and with the U.S. national team and will bring her coaching experience from Penn State and Quinnipiac to help our team. She has a great hockey mind and strong connection with our players from her days at Shattuck St. Mary's. Samo is a future star in NCAA coaching and we're thrilled she's coming to the Tigers!"

In the 2022-23 season, Samoskevich finished her third year on a collegiate staff, serving as the Director of Player Development and Operations at her alma mater, Quinnipiac. The Bobcats went 30-10 in Samoskevich's season on the bench, making the ECAC Hockey semifinals and earning an at-large NCAA tournament bid on the way to making the regional final.

"During my time at Quinnipiac, I saw up close how consistent Princeton is in getting talented players to join the program and then developing them through their college careers," Samoskevich said upon her hiring. "Princeton was always a challenge to play against and Baker Rink was a fun venue to play in, so I'm looking forward to being on the Tiger bench and making Baker home."

Samoskevich spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons at Penn State as an assistant coach under former Tiger head coach Jeff Kampersal '92, helping the Nittany Lions to an overall record of 34-13-7 and 24-5-5 in College Hockey America over those two years.

Following her final season at Quinnipiac, Samoskevich was named to the U.S. team for the 2019 IIHF Women's World Championship in Finland, playing in all seven games as the Americans put together an undefeated run to win the gold medal for the fifth consecutive tournament. Samoskevich had two goals during the pool-play round, one each against host Finland and Russia.

The 2019 IIHF Worlds were just the most recent time Samoskevich was called to wear the red, white and blue, also having represented Team USA at a pair of U18 Women's World Championships. In 2014 in Hungary, with Kampersal coaching the Americans, Samoskevich had a pair of helpers during the pool-play round as the U.S. won silver, and in 2015 in Buffalo, the U.S. won gold with Samoskevich having a six-goal tournament including a hat trick against Russia to close an unbeaten run through pool play and two goals in a semifinal win over the Czech Republic.

After graduating from Quinnipiac in 2019 with a history degree, Samoskevich began her professional career by playing part of the 2019-20 season professionally in Sweden with Brynäs IF. Later that season, she returned to the U.S. to play first with the PWHPA's New England team and then with her home-state Connecticut Whale in the NWHL/PHF. Samoskevich has continued her tenure with the Whale through the team's most recent season, which wrapped in March 2023.

During her undergraduate career at Quinnipiac, Samoskevich scored 54 goals, good enough to graduate third in program history, and 55 assists, good for fifth on the Bobcats' list, for 109 points, fourth-most in program history. Samoskevich was an ECAC Hockey all-rookie honoree in 2016 while helping the Bobcats to the ECAC tournament title.

From Newtown, Conn., Samoskevich, who prepped at Shattuck St. Mary's before playing at Quinnipiac, is the oldest of three hockey-playing siblings. Sister Maddy is in the Quinnipiac hockey Class of 2024, and brother Mackie, selected 24th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers, helped Michigan to the Frozen Four in 2022 and 2023 before beginning his professional career in the Panthers' organization in the spring of 2023.