Jordy Knoren is stepping up to help get the Central Maine Community College women’s hockey team going.

Jordy Knoren, who has been leading the Central Maine Community College men’s hockey team since 2021-22, will also be the women’s program’s head coach for its first season this winter. CMCC Athletics photo

Knoren was hired as the program’s first coach in June, in addition to his role as head coach of the school’s men’s hockey team.

“I knew that they really hadn’t found a coach yet,” Knoren said. “(Athletic Director) Dave Gonyea kind of was in touch with (candidates) all summer and just kind of realized that they just couldn’t find anybody to really get the program going yet. Then, I obviously talked a lot with my family and figured that I’ve kind of been involved in the men’s program building, so I kind of know what it takes.”

Knoren played for the CMCC men’s team in its inaugural season in 2016, and it 2019 was hired as an assistant coach. he has been the head coach since 2021, and this past season led the Mustangs to their first American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III national tournament appearance.

CMCC men’s team assistant coaches Jack Rioux, Dana Taylor-Fifield and Isiah Dubois will help Knoren coach the women’s team.

The school announced it was starting a women’s program in May 2023. Gonyea said Knoren will likely lead the team for one season.

“We didn’t advertise,” Gonyea said of the search for a coach of the women’s team. “We talked to a few people. We didn’t find what I consider a good fit. And the fact is, Jordy is a young man that’s very much into hockey. I thought he could do both roles at least for a year, and we’ll see how that goes.

“I don’t think the women’s program would be as intense as the men’s program right now. We have to build on it. I think we’ve got about 12 females right now. So we’re going to try to put something together for a year and kind of see where it goes.”

Knoren said the late start to recruiting has made building the women’s team more difficult than the men’s team.

“I think this was really harder just because, at least right now, in this stage, because we haven’t played a game yet, and I only took it over mid-June,” Knoren said. “So, only really two months before training camp starts. Obviously, a lot of seniors in high school have committed to other schools by June. So, it was really hard to just try to find the players that we really wanted, then the players that I thought would be a good fit. Obviously, some had committed to different schools, so that was the hard part.”

Gonyea said hockey followed a similar path to other sports CMCC offers.

“Well, you know, I’ve been here 33 years, and, you know, we started men’s basketball, obviously, and we chased it with women’s basketball,” said Gonyea, who also coaches the men’s basketball team. “We started men’s soccer, and we chased it with women’s soccer. We started baseball, and we chased it with softball. Now we have hockey, and men’s hockey has been successful. Now, we’re chasing it with women’s hockey.

“It’s a natural flow of what we’re trying to do. At the end of the day, CM really wants to be the preeminent community college in the Northeast, and we’re working on that — we’re up to 13 programs.”

The Mustangs also offer golf, cross country and track and field for men and women, as well as women’s volleyball and esports.

CMCC has made inroads in its recruiting through high schools in the Lewiston-Auburn area by getting five area standouts in the past few months, including Kylee Spugnardi and Sophia Castagna of Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland, Fiona Landry and Tatum Hunt of Lewiston and Lauren Hanlon of St. Dom’s.

Knoren said some players already planned to attend the Central Maine CC before committing to play for the women’s team. The hockey team helped others consider the school.

“I think we signed Kylee Spugnardi, and she was in between a different school, and we kind of gave her the feel about CM, that there were some classes that would transfer to the school that she wants to go to in the future,” Knoren said. “So she really wanted to play hockey, so that’s why she decided that she could come to CM. She’ll be a great player.”

Gonyea said the CMCC women’s program gives players from the area, and the state, a chance to continue playing after high school. Unlike boys, there’s no junior hockey before college for girls, and the only women’s college hockey options in the state are the five NCAA programs at the University of Maine, University of Southern Maine, University of New England, Bowdoin College and Colby College.

“I think that (adding) women’s hockey is just a great opportunity for a lot of kids out there, because if you’re a women’s hockey player in high school in Maine, there are not a lot of options for you,” Gonyea said. “We’re going to create an option for them because we think there’s a market out there to do it.”

The women’s team is still looking for a conference to join. The school hopes to find one soon, but conferences have reached out because of the men’s team’s success this past season. The men’s team is a member of the Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association’s Colonial Conference.

MEN’S TEAM GETTING NOTICED

Knoren said competing in the ACHA nationals in the spring has boosted recruiting for the men’s team, and helped the program build a schedule with more prominent opponents.

“This year, we have Colorado Schools of Mines coming up here in October to play two games against our men’s team,” Knoren said. “So that’s just a huge success. We’re going to go to a Pennsylvania showcase. We’ll play some New York teams and some Pennsylvania teams. We were invited to the Missouri State (University) showcase, but we weren’t able to make that work this year. But just a lot of teams that now kind of know about our school and are willing to play us.”

Colorado School of Mines went 20-3 last season, while Missouri State also went to the ACHA Division III national tournament in the spring.

Among the players committed to joining the men’s team next year are Dylan Blue of Lewiston High School and Aaron Higgins, who grew up in Lewiston before moving to Falmouth. Blue was a key part of the Blue Devils’ state championship team last winter and was a Travis Roy Award finalist.

Higgins played for the Maine Nordiques Academy and was a Travis Roy finalist in 2023. He spent last year at Liberty University, an ACHA powerhouse.