Michael Souza (born January 28, 1978) often referred to as Mike Souza, is a former Italian-American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who currently is the head coach of the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

men's ice hockey team.

Playing career

Souza was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Souza attended the

from 1996 to 2000. He is a cousin of fellow UNH player

Paul Thompson Paul Thompson may refer to: Education *Paul Thompson (professor) (born 1951), British management professor at the University of Strathclyde *Paul B. Thompson (philosopher) (born 1951), American philosopher at Michigan State University *Paul H. Tho ...

. In 1997 Souza was drafted 67th overall by the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. At UNH, Souza was noted for his speed and skating skill. In 1999 UNH reached the championship game of the 1999 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. In the championship game Souza scored a key goal in the third period to force overtime. Maine won in overtime, however. In 2000 Souza was a member of the

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

All Star team. After leaving UNH he played in the AHL for three seasons with the

Norfolk Admirals Norfolk Admirals has been the name of two professional ice hockey franchises: *Norfolk Admirals (AHL), a team which played in the American Hockey League from 2000 to 2015 *Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) The Norfolk Admirals are a professional ice hockey ...

and the

Bridgeport Sound Tigers The Bridgeport Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who own the franchise. The team started in 200 ...

. In 2001 and 2002 he attended the Chicago Blackhawks' training camp. The next two seasons Souza split his time between the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

and the AHL, playing for the Florence Pride and

Reading Royals The Reading Royals are a professional ice hockey team that currently plays in the ECHL. The team participates in the North Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. The Royals play their home games at the Santander Arena located in downtown R ...

of the ECHL, and the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks ...

, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Bears have played in the American Hockey League (AHL) since the 1938–39 season, making it the longest continuously operating member club of the league still ...

of the AHL. In 2005 Souza began to play in Europe. In the 2005–06 season Souza played for the

Kölner Haie The Kölner Haie (English: ''Cologne Sharks'') are an ice hockey club based in Cologne, Germany, that plays in the professional Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). The team was one of the founding members of the DEL. The ''Kölner Haie'' play their ho ...

of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

EHC Basel EHC Basel are a professional Swiss ice hockey team based in Basel, Switzerland. The team currently plays in the Swiss League, the second tier of ice hockey in Switzerland. The team plays their home games at St Jakob Arena. EHC Basel was founded ...

of the Swiss

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

, and

EHC Olten EHC Olten is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Olten, Switzerland. It plays in the Swiss League, the second tier ice hockey league in Switzerland. It has claimed two Swiss League Championships, gaining promotion to the National League ...

of the Swiss

National League B The Swiss League, also known as the Sky Swiss League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League (ice hockey), National League. The winners of the league each ...

. In 2006, he moved to Italy to play in the Serie A. He played with

SG Cortina Sportivi Ghiaccio Cortina is a professional ice hockey team from Italy. They play their home games at ''Stadio Olimpico del Ghiaccio'', located in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Veneto. They currently play in the Alps Hockey League and formerly the Serie A. ...

for four seasons before moving to the

Bolzano-Bozen Foxes Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The g ...

in 2010.

International career

By playing in Italy, Souza later gained Italian citizenship and participated at the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2010 IIHF World Championship The 2010 IIHF World Championship was the 74th IIHF World Championship, an annual international ice hockey tournament. It took place between 7 and 23 May 2010 in Germany. The games were played in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, SAP Arena in Mannh ...

as a member of the

Italy men's national ice hockey team The Italian men's national ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Italy, and is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio (FISG), a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Tournament record Olympic Ga ...

Coaching career

Souza retired in 2011 and became an assistant ice hockey coach with Brown University. In 2013, he became an assistant coach with the University of Connecticut, and in 2015 he joined the staff at the University of New Hampshire. On March 14, 2018, Souza officially took over as the head coach of the Wildcats, replacing the retiring Dick Umile.

Career statistics

Awards and honors

Head coaching record

References

External links

Official Biography, New Hampshire Wildcats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Souza, Michael 1978 births American men's ice hockey forwards Bolzano HC players Bridgeport Sound Tigers players Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Florence Pride players Hershey Bears players EHC Basel players Ice hockey coaches from Massachusetts Italian ice hockey players Kölner Haie players Living people New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey players Norfolk Admirals players EHC Olten players Sportspeople from Wakefield, Massachusetts Reading Royals players SG Cortina players Ice hockey people from Middlesex County, Massachusetts University of New Hampshire alumni American people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent American people of Italian descent Ice hockey players from Massachusetts