League: MACHA GOLD
University of Arkansas DII
The University of Arkansas Men’s Hockey team is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and the 2024-25 season will be the team’s 18th season of competition. This will be the teams first season competing at the ACHA Division II level. The team is proud members of the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA). The team’s schedule can be viewed here. All home games are played at The Jones Center for Families in Springdale, AR.
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Ryan Urban
The 2024-25 season will be Assistant Coach Ryan Urban’s third with the Razorback Hockey Program. During his second year with the program, he helped guide the team to their fifth consecutive Nationals Appearance. For the 2024-25 season, Coach Urban will lead the forward group. He is from Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, where he played hockey growing up.
Coach Urban played club hockey for the Penn State University Ice Lions while getting a degree in Chemical Engineering. During his five-year career, Coach Urban helped the team to make nationals 4 out of his 5 years. The Ice Lions also won multiple Mid Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association championships during his playing career. In his final year playing at Penn State, Coach Urban served as captain, and was able to win his final collegiate game at the national tournament in his hometown rink. Unfortunately, the team fell short due to a tie breaker and did not advance to the semi-finals that year. Additionally, Coach Urban was selected to the ACHA DII Tournament team to represent the league in international competition. The Select Team competed in Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany.
Prior to college, Coach Urban played for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers at the AAA level, and eventually for the West Chester Quakers at the AA level, in which he captained his U18 team for two consecutive years. His U18 team made the national tournament twice. Coach Urban also played varsity for his high school all four years and captained the team his senior year. As a forward, Coach Urban was able to lead his high school league in points multiple years, as well as win the honor of Player of the Year. Coach Urban helped lead his team to a Flyers Cup Championship, and he was selected to the Flyers cup tournament team his junior and senior years.
Outside of Hockey, Coach Urban loves to golf, play tennis, and spend time out with his wife Lauren, daughter Olivia, and his dog Molly.
Jingxian Wu
Program Director Jingxian Wu returns to the Razorback Hockey Staff for his fourth season with the program. Director Wu is actively involved in collegiate and youth hockey programs at the Northwest Arkansas region. In addition to overseeing the Razorback Hockey program, he also serves as U8 and U10 coaches for the NWAHA Ice Hogs. Director Wu currently holds a Level III Coaching Certification with USA Hockey.
Aside from hockey, Director Wu holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri (2005). He is currently a Professor and Associate Department Head with the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Arkansas (UofA). He is also the Founding Director of the Intelligent Information Processing Lab at UofA. He has served as Editors/Associate Editors for a number of prestigious international journals, and he was awarded a Distinguished Lectureship by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society in 2018. He has published nearly 200 papers at international journals and international conferences, and holds 2 international patents. His professional information can be found on his personal website.
Keller Sims
Head Coach Keller Sims returns to the Razorback Hockey Coaching Staff for his eighth season. Hailing from Wichita Falls Texas, Coach Sims enjoyed a successful hockey career in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where he would finish his career playing three seasons in the Texas Brahmas system before enrolling at the University of Arkansas.
Since taking over coaching duties in the 2017-18 season, Coach Sims has helped lead the Hogs on a unprecedented run of success, including six nationals appearances in seven years. Coach Sims helped lead the team to the programs best finish, National Runner Up in 2021, in addition to the programs first two Frozen Four appearances. In addition to their national success, Coach Sims’ Razorbacks have also had tremendous success at the conference level: 2017-18 SECHC Champions, 2019-20 Pacific Region #1 Seed, 2021-22 MACHA South Division Champions, 2021-22 MACHA Conference Regular Season Champions, 2021-22 MACHA Conference Tournament Champions, 2022-23 MACHA Conference Tournament Runner Up.
As a result of leading his team to a 29-3-2 record and conference title, Coach Sims was rewarded with the highest honors from his peers, the ACHA National Coach of the Year. In addition, Coach Sims was named MACHA Silver coach of the year. To start the 2024-25 season, Coach Sims has been named the Director of Hockey Operations for Arkansas Hockey. In this new role, he will serve as Head Coach for the DII team as well as overseeing hockey operations, scheduling, coaches, and recruiting for the entire program. As of the completion of the 2023-24 season, Coach Sims boasts a regular and post season record of 160-41-3 (78.43%), including a record of 12-3-3 in the national tournament.
Coach Sims holds a Bachelor of Science with a major in kinesiology from the University of Arkansas (’13) and a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (’19). Away from the rink, Coach Sims is a licensed Physical Therapist in the state of Arkansas and has a passion for helping individuals who are affected with amputation, serving as the head physical therapist for the amputee program at Encompass Heath and Rehab Fayetteville. In his spare time, he enjoys to golf, exercise, and spend time with his wife Cailtyn, and sons Nash and Parker.
