University of Minnesota Athletics
WHK: Halldorson Signs a Three-Year Contract
8/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
“We are excited to have Laura signed through the end of the 2008 season,” Maturi said. “She is one of the elite coaches in women’s hockey and certainly has brought prestige to Minnesota by winning back-to-back national championships the past two years.”
“It’s an honor to continue as the head coach of the Gopher women's hockey team,” Halldorson said. “I have been blessed with incredible student-athletes as well as talented and dedicated staff over the years. In my opinion, there is no better place to coach or play collegiate women's hockey than here at the University of Minnesota.”
Halldorson led the Golden Gophers to their second consecutive NCAA championship this past March. As her team went 25-1-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and 36-2-2 overall, Halldorson was voted by her peers as the 2005 WCHA Coach of the Year. Since becoming the head coach of the Gophers, Minnesota has won three national championships and has been named the AHCA National Coach of the Year in 1998, 2002 and in 2004. She is the only coach to earn the award multiple times. Since the inception of the hockey program in 1997-98, Halldorson holds a 226-44-20 record (.814 winning percentage).
Halldorson's Coaching Accomplishments • Won back-to-back NCAA championships in 2004 & 2005 • Has made four consecutive appearances at the 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four • Coached Patty Kazmaier Award winner Krissy Wendell • Posted 20-win seasons in each of her eight seasons at Minnesota • Won the regular season WCHA title in 2000-01and swept the WCHA regular season and tournament championships in 2001-02, 2003-04 and 2004-05 • Led Gophers to AWCHA tournament in each of first three seasons • Led her team to the 2000 AWCHA title, the first women’s team in Minnesota history to gain a national championship • Evaluator, 1990, 1991 and 1998 U.S. National Teams • Assistant Coach, U.S. Junior National Team, 1995 • Assistant Coach, U.S. National Under-22 Team, 1999 • Assistant Coach, U.S. Women’s Select Team, Three Nations Cup, 1998 • Assistant Coach, gold medal team, 1998 USA Hockey Women’s Festival • Head Coach, silver medal team, 1999 USA Hockey Women’s Festival Honors and Awards • AHCA National Coach of the Year, 2004, 2002 and 1998 • WCHA Coach of the Year, 2001, 2002 and 2005 • President of American Women’s Hockey Coaches Association, 1991-94 • New England Hockey Writers’ Women’s Coach of the Year, 1996 • ECAC Women’s Hockey Co-Coach of the Year, 1996 • Minneapolis/University Rotary Club Citizen of the Year, 2000
