Meghan Duggan, a two-time Olympic silver-medalist and standout performer for USA Hockey, is returning to the collegiate ranks as a new assistant coach for the defending National Champion Clarkson University Women's Hockey team, the school announced today.



Duggan joins Head Coach Matt Desrosiers and newly hired Assistant Coach Britni Smith in guiding the Golden Knights.



"I am very excited to welcome Meghan to our staff here at Clarkson," said Desrosiers. "With her wealth of experience as a player and proven leadership abilities she will certainly be a great mentor to our players. Meghan's passion and work ethic will be contagious to not only the players on our roster, but also to the young women we are recruiting.



"She is a great ambassador of Women's Hockey and will prove to be an excellent role model for young females in our community. I am looking forward to getting Meghan on campus so we can sit down as a staff with Britni and start planning how we will defend our National Championship. I personally am excited to learn from Meghan and Britni as they both have a lot to share."



A two-time Olympic silver-medalist with USA Women's Hockey, Duggan has extensive experience with the United States National program. She skated in both the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, serving as USA's captain at this past Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. A native of Danvers, MA, Duggan also represented the U.S. at five Women's World Championships, capturing a gold medal four times (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013) and one silver (2007).



"I'm honored to join the Clarkson University Women's Hockey Coaching Staff and excited to work with such a talented group of players," stated Duggan. "I would like to thank Matt Desrosiers and the athletics department at Clarkson for the opportunity to coach while continuing to train and compete for the U.S. Women's National Team and in the CWHL. I'm eager to get started and look forward to helping the Golden Knights move forward with another successful season."



An all-star forward in college for four seasons (2006-09, 2010-11) at the University of Wisconsin, Duggan helped to lead the Badgers to three NCAA National Titles (2007, 2009, 2011). She graduated (Biology '11) as the leading scorer in Wisconsin's history with 238 points on 108 goals and 130 assists in 159 career games. Duggan was honored with the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in NCAA Division I Women's Hockey in her senior campaign.



She has also played professionally in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), skating with the Boston Blades since 2012.



Duggan has served as an instructor with the Canadian Hockey Enterprise – Just for Girls Hockey Camp in Lake Placid since 2010, and at the Scott Fusco Summer Hockey Camp (2010-12). She has also been involved with Special Olympics, Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for Humanity, Sled/Wheel Chair Hockey and Athletes in Action along with numerous motivational speaking engagements.



Duggan and Smith replace Shannon Desrosiers and Matt Kelly, who both stepped away from the Clarkson program after helping to lead the Green and Gold to the University's first-ever NCAA Championship title this past March.



With Golden Knights Women's Hockey since its beginning as a Division I program in 2003, Shannon Desrosiers resigned her position as co-head coach this past May to spend more time with her growing family after 11 seasons with the program. A six-year assistant coach for the Knights, Kelly has taken a position as the head scout for the U.S. Women's National Team.



Clarkson begins defense of its title in 2014-15 when the 12th season in the program's history begins in early October. The Golden Knights will face a challenging 34-game regular-season schedule, featuring the 22-game ECAC Hockey slate, eight contests against teams from last year's NCAA Tournament and four meetings against archrival St. Lawrence University. Clarkson, which will host 15 games at Cheel Arena, will also play in it's first-ever in-season tournament.



The Knights get things rolling with a home-and-home, non-league series against St. Lawrence. Clarkson raises its NCAA Championship banner when it hosts the Saints on Saturday, October 4 in the home-opener at Cheel after facing its rival in Canton the previous night. As part of the banner-raising celebration, the game will be free and open to the public.