Mike Ayers

Michael Ayers (born January 16, 1980) is an American ice hockey coach and former goaltender who was an All-American for New Hampshire. That fall, he began attending the University of New Hampshire and served as the team's third goaltender as a freshman. After Ty Conklin left in 2001, Ayers split time in goal with senior Matt Carney and helped the team finish atop the Hockey East standings. The two goalies were platooned through the Hockey East Tournament with Ayers in net for the Wildcats championship game victory. UNH got the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament and Ayers got in goal for the team's semifinal match. Unfortunately, the team was outplayed by conference rival Maine and Ayers allowed 7 goals on 40 shots.

For his junior season, Ayers took over as the primary netminder and produced his best season yet. He set program records for wins, save percentage and shutouts, leading the team to a second consecutive conference title. Ayers backstopped the Wildcats to a conference championship and the team earned the third overall seed. In his second postseason run, Ayers was a clutch player for UNH, allowing 4 goals through three games, and led the program to only its second championship game. Facing down defending champion Minnesota, Ayers turned aside 29 of 30 shots through 40 minutes and had the Wildcats tied with the Gophers. However, the wheels came off in the third. Ayers surrendered three goals in a just over five minute span and New Hampshire lost the game 1–5. Ayers did return for his senior season, but both he and the team declined. While he finished with respectable numbers, they weren't enough to get him back onto the All-American team. New Hampshire did receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season, but the team lost its opening match. While the ending was disappointing, Ayers did finish as the program's all-time wins leader (since broken).

After graduating with a degree in kinesiology, Ayers began playing professionally. He spent most of his first season in the ECHL and slowly worked his way up into the AHL. His numbers slid in his third season and he only saw limited minutes before finishing the season in Europe. He returned to the ECHL for one final season before ending his playing career in 2008.

Ayers began his second career after a short time off, becoming the goaltending coach for the Iowa Chops mid-season. He stayed with the team until the end of the year while pulling double-duty as a goaltending director for FHIT, a youth hockey organization in Minnesota. After leaving the Chops, Ayers founded his own goaltending academy, MVP Goaltending. He operated the business for just over two years. In the fall of 2009, he returned to the college ranks as an assistant for St. Cloud State. He attempted to hold three positions simultaneously, but left FHIT in November to focus on the newer positions. He remained an assistant coach and ran his goalie clinic until August 2011 when he joined USA Hockey full time as a goaltending coach. Among other duties, he served as an assistant on the US U-18 teams at the world championships in 2012 and 2013, winning a gold and silver medal respectively.

In 2013, he was lured back to college hockey, this time as an assistant for Boston College under Jerry York. Since then, he's helped develop two NHL goaltenders, Thatcher Demko and Spencer Knight. Prior to the 2020 season, Ayers was promoted to Associate Head coach, a position he continues to hold as of 2021.

Statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1997–98 Thayer Academy US-Prep — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1998–99 Trinity-Pawling School US-Prep — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Dubuque Fighting Saints USHL 55 16 35 3 3188 196 0 3.69 .904 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 New Hampshire Hockey East 5 0 0 0 26 2 0 4.68 .875 — — — — — — — — 2001–02 New Hampshire Hockey East 20 14 3 1 1129 46 0 2.44 .915 — — — — — — — — 2002–03 New Hampshire Hockey East 41 27 8 6 2499 91 7 2.18 .926 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 New Hampshire Hockey East 36 17 14 5 2101 100 5 2.86 .899 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Dayton Bombers ECHL 51 15 28 6 2937 142 0 2.90 .913 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 1 0 0 0 19 2 0 6.02 .750 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 2 1 0 1 3 0 0 1.45 .952 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Dayton Bombers ECHL 25 8 14 2 1434 82 0 3.43 .894 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Syracuse Crunch AHL 23 12 8 1 1239 55 3 2.66 .919 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Norfolk Admirals AHL 2 0 0 0 31 2 0 3.86 .913 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Pensacola Ice Pilots ECHL 9 2 6 1 483 32 0 3.98 .892 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 SønderjyskE Ishockey Oddset Ligaen 14 — — — — — — 2.98 .901 13 — — — — — 2.10 .928 2007–08 Leksands IF Allsvenskan 13 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 21 10 8 1 1137 64 1 3.38 .896 — — — — — — — — NCAA totals 102 58 25 12 5,755 239 12 2.49 .914 — — — — — — — — ECHL totals 106 35 56 10 5,991 320 1 3.20 .903 — — — — — — — — AHL totals 28 13 8 2 1,413 62 3 2.63 .919 — — — — — — — —

Awards and honors Award Year All-Hockey East Second Team 2001–02 All-Hockey East First Team 2002–03 AHCA East Second-Team All-American 2002–03