Scout Bio
Josh Sciba returns for his seventh season at the helm of the Union College women's hockey program in 2022-23, continuing to lead steady improvements program-wide playing in the toughest conference in Division I women's hockey.
In addition to his time at Union, Sciba brings experience coaching at the international level. He served as an assistant coach on USA Under-18 Team at the 2019 and 2020 IIHF World U-18 Championships, helping to lead Team USA to a gold and silver medal. In August, he will move up to serve as an assistant coach with Team USA at the 2022 IIHF Women's Hockey World Championships in Denmark.
In 2019-20, Union continued to take steps toward consistent competitiveness both on and off the ice. The team posted a 5-14-3 mark in ECAC Hockey play, setting a new program standard for points in conference play and remaining in contention for a postseason berth until the penultimate week of the regular season before eventually landing ninth, the program's highest-ever finish. Highlights from the season included the team's first-ever victory over Quinnipiac University, a hard-fought tie against #4 Cornell University, as well as a weekend sweep of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that included the program's first Mayor's Cup victory at the Times Union Center.
In year two of the Sciba coaching era, the Dutchwomen improved to a 7-22-5 overall record and a 5-15-2 conference record. The seven wins tied for the second most wins in a single season in the history of the program, while the 12 conference points were a record until 2019-20. On October 27-28, Union defeated Brown and Yale by a combined 9-4 margin to sweep a ECAC weekend for the first time ever. At the conclusion of the season, Sciba was named a top-three finalist for the ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year award.
In his first season in Schenectady, the Dutchwomen finished with a record of 5-28-1, including their first ever victory over Harvard University. Sciba registered his first victory as head coach on Oct. 8, 2016 when Union defeated Penn State 4-2 at Messa Rink. The team then won back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 2014 when it beat RIT 2-1 in Rochester. Sciba registered his first conference win at Harvard on Jan. 14 when the Dutchwomen won in overtime in Cambridge.
Before coming to Union, Sciba served as the assistant coach at Colgate University from 2012-16. In his final season, Sciba helped lead the Raiders to a program-record 22 wins and a No. 8 ranking in the final USCHO.com national poll. He also constructed and managed Colgate's power play, which finished the year ranked seventh in the nation (21.0 percent). As the recruiting coordinator for the Raiders, Sciba recruited and committed five Hockey Canada Under-18 players, one USA Hockey Under-18 player, one Czech Republic Under-18 player and one Swiss National Team player, all of which were firsts in program history.
Prior to Colgate, Sciba spent one season as the head women's hockey coach at Niagara University after serving as the assistant coach for three years. Under his tutelage, the Purple Eagles had five players named to the College Hockey America All-Rookie Team and four players named All-Conference.
Sciba earned his Bachelor's degree from Notre Dame in 2007, where he compiled 72 points in 141 career games for the Fighting Irish. During his time in South Bend, the team won a Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular season title, a CCHA Playoff Championship and played in two NCAA tournaments. Prior to attending Notre Dame, Sciba was an assistant captain with the USA National Team Development Program Under-17 Team and Under-18 Team. After college, Sciba played one year of professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).