MD1 Head Coach Gary Astalos Becomes Quickest Adrian Coach to Reach 50 Wins
With the 5-1 victory over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies this past weekend, MD1 head coach Gary Astalos has picked up his 50th win behind the bench for the MD1 Bulldogs.
In only his second season as the Bulldogs bench boss, Astalos has led the Bulldogs to their first #1 ranking in 5 years and led them to their best record to date of 33-3 in the 2016-17 season and a top 4 finish at the National Tournament last season. This past year marks the first time that the Bulldogs made a Final Four appearance in the MD1 National Tournament, leading to the Bulldogs being included on the National Championship trophy placard for the first time in the program's then-ten year history. You can read more about Coach Astalos and his leadership with the MD1 team in this feature story that I wrote last season.
Not only has Coach Astalos been a fantastic leader behind the bench with the Bulldogs, his efforts to increase the fanbase of the MD1 team has been quite noticeable to anyone in attendance at any games this past season and a half. Astalos has made efforts to get the community involved with the team with promotions like Boys and Girls Club Night, Military Apprecitation Night, Youth Hockey Night and Adult League Night at home games. The stands during MD1 games are now full or nearly there on a weekly basis no matter the opponent.
With his 50th win in his 54th game coached for the MD1 Bulldogs, Astalos becomes the quickest Adrian College Hockey coach to achieve the feat of 50 career wins. Legendary Men's NCAA Coach Ron Fogarty was formerly the quickest to 50, winning his 50th game in his 56th game.
Astalos now joins the likes of Fogarty, Adam Krug, Rob Hodnicki, Brett Berger, Chad Davis and Dan Phelps as Adrian coaches to reach 50 career wins.
Coach Astalos and the Bulldogs are back at Arrington Ice Arena on January 13th and 14th when they face off against Syracuse University.