• Alaska Anch
• Bemidji St
• Colo College
• Denver
• Mich Tech
• Minnesota
  • Men's
  • Women's
• Minn-Duluth
  • Men's
  • Women's
• MSU, Mankato
  • Men's
  • Women's
• North Dakota
  • Men's
  • Women's
• Ohio State
• St. Cloud
  • Men's
  • Women's
• Wisconsin
  • Men's
  • Women's

• The WCHA
• WCHA Store
• Teams
• Audio / Video
• Releases/Features
  • Men's
  • Women's
• Schedules
  • Men's
  • Women's
• Standings/Stats
  • Live Scoreboard (M)
  • Live Scoreboard (W)
  • Mobile Scoreboard (M)
  • Mobile Scoreboard (W)
  • Team Pages
• Rosters
• Tickets
• Site Map

Head Coach Don Lucia

On April 9, 1999, the University of Minnesota tabbed Don Lucia as the 13th head coach in Golden Gopher Hockey history. Nearly four years to the day later, Lucia led Minnesota to its second straight NCAA Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., with a 5-1 win vs. New Hampshire.

Entering his 19th season as a head coach, Lucia has established himself as one of the nation's premier collegiate coaches. Lucia, 47, has guided the Golden Gophers to a stellar 162-77-21 (.663) mark during his six seasons. In 18 seasons overall as a head coach, Lucia has compiled a 441-232-50 (.645) record. That mark places Lucia fifth in career winning percentage and sixth in career victories among active NCAA Division I coaches.

Joining the legendary Herb Brooks, Lucia became the only other head coach in Golden Gopher history to lead his team to more wins in each of his first three seasons. After Minnesota finished 20-19-2 in his first year, the Golden Gophers reached the NCAA Tournament in 2000-01 for the first time since 1998 when Minnesota went 27-13-2. His third campaign saw the team win its first NCAA Championship in 23 years with a 4-3 overtime win vs. Maine at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. That team posted an impressive 32-8-4 record. In 2002-03, the Golden Gophers took home their fifth national title, posting a 28-8-9 record along the way. With that NCAA crown, Lucia became one of just four coaches in NCAA history to lead his team to back-to-back national titles.

In 2003-04, the Maroon and Gold succeeded in raising another banner to the Mariucci Arena rafters with Minnesota's second straight 2004 WCHA Final Five Championship. The Golden Gophers struggled in the early going, but rebounded to post a 27-14-3 record.

Last season, Minnesota exceeded all expectations, posting a third-place finish in the WCHA and making its 19th appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four. Picked to place fifth in the WCHA, Lucia led the Maroon and Gold to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. With the Frozen Four appearance, Lucia matched the legendary John Mariucci with three appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four. That mark is one behind Herb Brooks' four appearances and three behind Doug Woog's six.

In addition to a Hobey Baker Award winner and 13 All-Americans, Lucia has coached 41 All-WCHA players, 16 All-WCHA defensemen, seven Hobey Baker Award finalists and five WCHA Defensive Players of the Year. He has coached the only two players to ever win the league's defensive player of the year honor twice in their careers (Leopold and Eric Rud, Colorado College).

Prior to his arrival at Minnesota, Lucia led his previous employer, Colorado College, to an overall record of 166-68-18 (.694) in six seasons in Colorado Springs, Colo. Tied with former Wisconsin Head Coach Jeff Sauer as the winningest coach in Colorado College history, Lucia guided Colorado College to a record of 23-11-5 record and the WCHA regular-season title in 1993-94, his first season as head coach of the Tigers. Colorado College had struggled to a mark of 8-28-0 the season before Lucia took over the reins of the program and had not experienced a winning season in the previous 13 campaigns. The league title in 1993-94 was Colorado College's first in 37 years.

Lucia, who guided Colorado College to an unprecedented three straight outright regular-season league titles in his first three years behind the bench, has taken his troops to the NCAA playoffs in 10 of the last 11 campaigns, including an appearance in the 1996 championship game and 1997 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals. Lucia was honored at the conclusion of the 1993-94 season as the 44th recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year. He is one of just six coaches in NCAA history to lead two different schools to the Frozen Four.

Under Lucia's guidance, Colorado College won a school-record 33 games in the 1995-96 campaign. Lucia was also named WCHA Coach of the Year that same season, and added a second league coach of the year trophy at the conclusion of the 1996-97 season. He coached nine All-Americans in his six-year tenure at Colorado College - the Tigers had nine total All-Americans in the previous 22 combined seasons before Lucia's arrival in Colorado Springs.

Previous to his stint at Colorado College, Lucia spent six years (1987-93) as head coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he posted four winning seasons and an overall record of 113-87-10. In his first year (1987-88) as head coach, the Nanooks claimed the final championship of the now-defunct Great West Hockey Conference, and Lucia was named GWHC Coach of the Year.

Lucia has been a collegiate coach for 24 seasons overall, spending six years as an assistant following his graduation from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. He began his career at Alaska Fairbanks (1981-85) before moving to the University of Alaska Anchorage for two seasons (1985-87). He lettered three times as a defenseman at Notre Dame, where he served as assistant team captain his senior year.

As a prep athlete, Lucia helped Grand Rapids High School claim two Minnesota State High School Hockey Championships (1975 and 1976) as well as a pair of third-place finishes (1974 and 1977). He earned all-state recognition as a linebacker in football and as a defenseman in hockey his senior year. He also served as captain of the hockey team during his final prep campaign. He later was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League. Lucia and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of two daughters, Alison (age 22) and Jessica (20), as well as two sons, Anthony (18) and Mario (12). The Lucia family makes its home in Plymouth, Minn.

Head coach Laura Halldorson has accomplished more in her eight seasons at the University of Minnesota than most coaches have in a lifetime. Afterwinning back-to-back national championships in 2003-04 and 2004-05, and three in her stint at Minnesota, Halldorson has established herself as one of the premier women's hockey coaches in the country.

Halldorson and her coaching staff led the Maroon and Gold to an astonishing 36-2-2 overall record and a 25-1-2 mark in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association a year ago. Both established the most wins in a season and in conference action since the start of the program in 1997-98. Following the near perfect conference season, Halldorson was voted by her peers as the WCHA Coach of the Year, her third award, her second honor in five years. The Gophers then went on to win the WCHA Championship, their second straight, with a 3-2 overtime win over Wisconsin.

Following the WCHA Championship, Halldorson led the Gophers to a 6-1 win over Providence in the NCAA Regional, advancing her team to its fourth-straight NCAA appearance. The Gophers defeated Dartmouth, 7-2 in the semifinal game, scoring five goals in the first period. Halldorson and the Gophers capped off a memorable season, winning their second consecutive national championship over Harvard, 4-3 on March 27 in Durham, N.H. From beginning to end, the Gophers were ranked No. 1 the entire 2004-05 season and ranked in the top five in every category, including winning percentage, power-play and offensive scoring. To this day, the women's hockey team remains the only Minnesota women's team to win a national championship.

Halldorson also coached Patty Kazmaier top three finalists Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, with Wendell garnering the honors at season's end. Wendell became not only the first player from Minnesota to win the award, but from the WCHA to receive the honor as the top player at the collegiate level. Along with a Patty Kazmaier winner, the Gophers had four players garner All-America honors, the most in a single season.

Prior to her latest national championship feat, Halldorson led the team to a 30-4-2 overall mark and a 19-3-2 WCHA record in the 2003-04 campaign. The Golden Gophers swept the WCHA honors, winning the regular season championship and the WCHA Final Five with a 4-2 win over Minnesota Duluth. Not only did Halldorson earn a national and WCHA championship, she was also named the American Hockey Coaches Association's Coach of the Year, her third honor since 1998. She is the only Division I women's coach to receive the honor more than once. Under Halldorson's tutelage, the 2003-04 Gopher edition went undefeated in the first half of the season posting a 13-0-1 record. The Maroon and Gold were the top team in the country for 18 of the 23 weeks in both the U.S. College Hockey Online and USA Today/American Hockey Magazine polls. On March 28, 2004 Halldorson and the Golden Gophers defeated Harvard, 6-2, to win their first NCAA Championship and her second national championship in four years.

The 2002-03 season marked another milestone for Halldorson. On November 2, 2002 Halldorson won her 200th career game. Now with 285 career wins to date, Halldorson ranks second among Division I coaches in wins, establishing a 285-119-29 record. Of her 285 wins, 226 of her wins and only 44 of her losses came in seven years with the Maroon and Gold.

Halldorson led Minnesota to its second straight NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2002-03 with a 27-8-1 record, 19-4-1 mark in conference action. During the season, Halldorson coached three All-WCHA first-team players, the WCHA Rookie of the Year in Natalie Darwitz, the Defensive Player of the Year in Ronda Curtin as well as two first team All-Americans in Darwtiz and Curtin.

Although many marked the 2001-02 season as a rebuilding year, the Golden Gophers gained their second straight WCHA regular season championship posting a 28-4-6 season. Under Coach Halldorson, the Gophers went on a 24-game unbeaten streak from Nov. 2 to Feb. 17. During that span, Minnesota went 20-0-4, sweeping six series from WCHA opponents. Minnesota won its first WCHA tournament championship claiming victories against Ohio State in the semifinals and Wisconsin in the championship. The Maroon and Gold capped off the season with the top seed at the NCAA Frozen Four. The Gophers finished third at the national championship, marking the program's fourth appearance at nationals. Halldorson ended her season with coaching honors at both the league and national level. Halldorson received the WCHA Coach of the Year award and was named the National Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association, her second such honor.

In 2000-01, Halldorson led the team to a 23-9-2 record and an 18-4-2 WCHA mark to put the Gophers on top of the WCHA in the regular season. The team came up just shy of the inaugural NCAA Championship, ranking fifth overall in the nation. Halldorson received the WCHA's Co-Coach of the Year, an award she shared with St. Cloud State's Kerry Wethington.

The 1999-2000 season saw the beginning of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Despite finishing second in the conference in both the regular-season and playoffs, Minnesota claimed the AWCHA national title and, in just three seasons, Halldorson and the Gophers reigned supreme in the world of women's college hockey.

In the second year as head coach, Halldorson led her team to 29 wins in the 1998-99 season, capped off by a third-place showing at the AWCHA National Championship. Along with the third-place finish, Halldorson collected her 100th win on Feb. 9, 1999 in a 5-0 shutout against Cornell University.

Upon her hiring in 1996, Halldorson went to work immediately. With a year to recruit before her team took the ice for its first game, she set out to put together a roster consisting of 23 players who would end the season with a 21-7-3 record and a fourth-place showing at the AWCHA.

After spending her first year at Minnesota without a team, Halldorson's first Gopher squad took the ice Nov. 2, 1997 and played in front of a women's intercollegiate hockey record crowd of 6,854, winning its inaugural game 8-0 over Augsburg College.

By the end of that first season, Halldorson and her Golden Gophers had finished fourth in the first-ever women's ice hockey national championship. For her efforts, Halldorson was named the first American Hockey Coaches Association Women's Coach of the Year.

Halldorson established herself at Colby College, where she led the White Mules, one of only two non-Division I schools at the time in the 12-team Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, to a 12-9-1 overall record in 1995-96. In the process, she earned ECAC Co-Coach of the Year honors as well as being named the New England Hockey Writers' Coach of the Year. While at Colby, she recruited and coached U.S. National Team members Meaghan Sittler and Barb Gordon.

Halldorson was instrumental in the development of the ECAC women's hockey league and served as chair of the ECAC Women's Ice Hockey Committee and President of the Women's Hockey Coaches Association from 1991 to 1994. Now in her second decade as a collegiate head coach, Halldorson has helped spur growth in the sport. She was instrumental in women's hockey becoming a championship sport in the NCAA.

At the national level, she was the assistant coach for the gold medal-winning team at the 1998 USA Hockey Women's Festival and served as assistant coach for the U.S. Women's Select Team that competed in the Three Nations Cup in Finland in December, 1998. Halldorson was a head coach at the 1999 USA Hockey Women's Festival and was an assistant coach for the national Under-22 team in 1999. She served as an assistant coach of the U.S. Junior National Team in 1995 and worked with USA Hockey's girls' and women's national development camps since 1991.

Halldorson was a member of the Women's Olympic Evaluation Committee, helping to choose the team that won the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

A native of Plymouth, Minn., and a 1981 graduate of Wayzata High School, Halldorson played four years at Princeton, where she was a co-captain and all-conference performer while leading the Tigers to three Ivy League titles.

A member of the 1987 U.S. National Women's Team and three national club championship teams with the Minnesota Checkers, Halldorson returned to her alma mater in 1987 to begin her collegiate coaching career.

Following two seasons as an assistant at Princeton, she took over at Colby, where she spent seven seasons building a program that turned a 5-12-2 record in her first season into a 12-9-1 mark in her last season.

Halldorson graduated from Princeton in 1985 with a degree in psychology. After receiving her bachelor of arts degree, she returned home to coach volleyball, softball and basketball in the Wayzata school district from 1985 to 1987.