Wisconsin-Eau Claire has announced the hiring of Mike Janda as an assistant coach for the men’s hockey team.
Janda joins the Blugolds coaching staff after spending the past three seasons at UW-Stout where he helped the Blue Devils reach their first winning season since 2019 in 2023.
“This is an unreal day for Blugold hockey,” said UWEC head coach Matt Loen in a statement. “Mike is a tremendous coach, recruiter and person and his experiences in youth, junior and college hockey speak for itself. Being familiar with the WIAC made it an easy choice to add Mike to our staff. He will be a huge addition to our program as we chase another national championship.”
Before UW-Stout, Janda spent eight years with the San Jose Jr. Sharks program in San Jose, Calif. With the Jr. Sharks, Janda served as the director of coaches and was also in charge of player development and advancing players on to junior and college hockey. He coached players of all ages with the Jr. Sharks program but primarily focused on 16U and 18U boys teams.
Janda also served as the director of coaches with the California Amateur Hockey Association and Northern California Hockey and has spent five summers working the USA Hockey National Development Camp. Janda has also coached in the NAHL with the Springfield Jr. Blues and the Chippewa Steel.
Prior to coaching, Janda played at the Rochester Institute of Technology, earning his bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing. He also enjoyed success on the ice which included two regular-season conference championships, one postseason conference championship and a trip to the Frozen Four in 2010.
