Gopher Women’s Coach Signs Three-Year Contract

Laura Halldorson, coach of the two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota women’s hockey team, signed a three contract on Tuesday. Halldorson, who just completed her eighth season at the helm of the program, is now committed to Minnesota through the 2007-08 season.

“We are excited to have Laura signed through the end of the 2008 season,” said Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi. “She is one of the elite coaches in women¹s hockey and certainly has brought prestige to Minnesota by winning back-to-back national championships the past two years.”

“It¹s 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 WCHA 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).