The career in hockey of Dave Shyiak includes a couple of pretty big connections to former St. Cloud State assistant coach Gibbons. Gibbons retired after last season and Shyiak was hired to replace him in May.

But the two go back farther. Gibbons was an assistant coach for Northern Michigan from 1983-88. One of the players that Gibbons recruited to play for the Wildcats was ... you guessed it, Shyiak, who played junior hockey for the Humboldt Broncos before playing forward for Northern Michigan from 1987-91.

After a season of pro hockey, Shyiak coached in juniors for the Kimberly Dynamiters and Merritt Centenials before getting back to college hockey as a coach. He was an assistant coach for Northern Michigan from 1995-2005, the head coach at Alaska-Anchorage from 2005-13 and Western Michigan from 2014-20.