Finlandia ousts hockey coach
After more than eight seasons of coaching, Joe Burcar was relieved of his head coaching duties with Finlandia University’s men’s hockey team Monday morning.
According to a Finlandia University press release, Burcar was removed for institutional policy violations.
“It has to do with operational policies,” athletic director Chris Salani said. “I can’t go into it much more than that.”
Salani said that Burcar’s removal was not for any actions that took place over the weekend (Finlandia lost a pair of games at Marian), but instead was a recurring problem that the university investigated.
“Decision-making has been careful and it will continue to be so for the betterment of our student athletes and our program,” Salani said. “It’s a difficult situation, but our priority is our student athletes.”
No players on the team are involved with Burcar’s dismissal.
“This has nothing to do with the team members themselves or, for that matter, what they do on the ice,” Salani said.
Salani has assumed interim head coach responsibilities, and had his first meeting with the team Monday afternoon.
“It’s a tremendous shock to these young men,” Salani said. “I can’t say that any of them would ever expect anything like this to occur.”
Salani said the team was off from team activities Monday, and will not practice until Wednesday.
“There’s time needed here for everyone to digest the information,” he said. “Given the circumstances, I’m mindful of (the players’) mindsets as student athletes, that’s something I’m going to be very sensitive to.”
Salani will take over as head coach with Ross Rinkinen, Jason Moilanen and Brian Hannon all continuing duties as assistant coaches.
“I’ve talked with all three,” Salani said. “I’ve asked them all to remain on in their capacities, and as of right now, they are.”
Salani played two half-seasons of hockey at Michigan State University before helping out as a volunteer coach for a season. He was also a member of the football team during his time in East Lansing. Afterwards, he spent more than two seasons with the Division I University of Massachusetts (Amherst) hockey program as an assistant coach while seeking a master’s degree in sports management.
Salani’s latest coaching venture was as the first coach of the women’s team at Finlandia. Salani’s two seven-win seasons still stand as the program’s best. He finished with a career record of 21-68-8.
The hockey team will be another duty added to Salani’s already-busy schedule.
“Given all my responsibilities, this is going to just be an additional task that I’ll have to manage,” he said. “Certainly given my background, I’ll be able to handle it.
“I’ve been fortunate in the past to have a Division I background both as a player and a coach.”
Burcar finishes his career at Finlandia with a 104-96-11 record during eight complete seasons and six games into the 2009-2010 campaign.
The Lions are off this weekend before playing at Northland on Dec. 4.
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