Photo by: Kylie Macziewski
St. Cloud State Athletics Announces Finalists for Women’s Hockey Head Coach, Open Forum for Selection Process
5/6/2022 9:53:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Three finalists will meet with public in open-forum discussion on May 9 and 11
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State University Director of Athletics Heather Weems has narrowed down the search for the next women's hockey head coach to three finalists, as announced on Friday. Included as part of the selection process, each of the three finalists will participate in a 30-minute open forum with the community next week. The open forum will be held in the Husky Den of the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center at the times listed below.
A two-time Olympic medalist, two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and 2005 NCAA First Team All-American, Molly Engstrom has spent the last three seasons as the Huskies assistant coach. With Engstrom on the bench, three Huskies earned All-WCHA honors and 44 earned All-Academic honors, including 13 from the 2021-22 team.
A two-time member of the United States women's hockey team at the Winter Olympics, Engstrom won a bronze medal with Team USA in 2006 at the Turin Winter Games and a silver medal in 2010 at the Vancouver Winter Games. She received the Best Defenseman award at the 2010 Winter Games. She was also a member of Team USA at six IIHF World Women's Championships from 2004 to 2011, helping Team USA win IIHF World Championships in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011, along with silver medals in 2004 and 2007.
Engstrom has served USA Hockey in various roles since July 2018 and has been an IIHF U18 High Performance Camp Coach/Ambassador since April 2016. She played professional hockey from 2007-18, playing for various teams across the U.S. and Sweden, and served as the girls' varsity hockey head coach and assistant athletic director at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. from 2014-2016.
A 2007 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Engstrom played collegiate hockey in the WCHA with the Badgers. She received First Team All-America honors in 2005 and was also named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and was selected as a Patty Kazmaier Award top-10 finalist in 2005. She went on to receive a Masters of Sports Administration from the Russian International Olympic University in 2014.
Brian Idalski
A seasoned veteran as a college, professional and Olympic coach, Brian Idalski is currently the head coach of the KRS Vake Rays in Russia's Women's Hockey League. Idalski has guided the Rays to a 77-17 mark in three seasons with a playoff championship in 2019-20 and a regular season championship in 2020-21. He was selected to coach in the league's all-star game was named the league's coach of the year for the 2019-20 season.
Idalski was chosen to coach China's Women's Olympic team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, leading the team to two victories in pool play with the competition's top-ranked penalty kill unit. He spent the 2018-19 season as the Director of Hockey Activities at Culver Academy, leading the academy to its first ever national championship in his lone season there.
Idalski was the head coach of the North Dakota women's hockey program from 2007-18, compiling five 20-win seasons while leading the Fighting Hawks to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. In Grand Forks, he coached 10 Olympians, 26 national team members from eight countries, three All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans, four Patty Kazmaier Top-10 finalists, two NCAA Great Eight Award winners and 62 WCHA Scholar Athletes. Prior to UND, he was an assistant for St. Cloud State for the 2006-07 season.
Prior to SCSU, he led the women's program of his alma mater, Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001-06, leading the team to a NCAA D-II runner up finish in 2004 and a third-place finish in 2006. He captured three conference regular season titles and four conference tournament championships while in Stevens Point, and was a two-time conference coach of the year award winner. Prior to Stevens Point, he made coaching stops for the Columbus Cottonmouths in the CHL (1999-00) and the men's hockey team at UWSP (2000-01).
As a player, Idalski played for UWSP from 1991-95 where he was a two-time captain and helped lead the team to a 1992 NCAA D-III runner-up finish and the 1993 NCAA D-III National Championship.
Erik Strand
Wisconsin-Eau Claire Women's Hockey head coach Erik Strand has built his alma mater into a consistent national contender at the Division-III level in his seven seasons at the helm of Eau Claire. Strand has led the BluGolds playoff championships in 2018 and 2019, regular season championships in 2020 and 2021 and four NCAA Tournament appearances (2018-20, 2022). He has earned four WIAC Coach of the Year honors during his time in Eau Claire, taking home the conference's top coaching honor in 2016, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Prior to his tenure as the women's hockey head coach, Strand was an assistant coach for the men's hockey program from 2006-15, as he helped the BluGolds capture the 2013 NCAA Division-III national championship. Eau Claire also won the 2013 NCHA regular season and 2014 WIAC playoff championship titles with Strand on the bench.
Strand graduated from Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2002 with a degree in Management Information Systems. In addition to coaching, he has spent his professional life in the sales and banking industries at various companies in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.
- Molly Engstrom – Monday, May 9 – 1:30 PM
- Brian Idalski – Wednesday, May 11 – 9:15 AM
- Erik Strand – Wednesday, May 11 – 2:30 PM
A two-time Olympic medalist, two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and 2005 NCAA First Team All-American, Molly Engstrom has spent the last three seasons as the Huskies assistant coach. With Engstrom on the bench, three Huskies earned All-WCHA honors and 44 earned All-Academic honors, including 13 from the 2021-22 team.
A two-time member of the United States women's hockey team at the Winter Olympics, Engstrom won a bronze medal with Team USA in 2006 at the Turin Winter Games and a silver medal in 2010 at the Vancouver Winter Games. She received the Best Defenseman award at the 2010 Winter Games. She was also a member of Team USA at six IIHF World Women's Championships from 2004 to 2011, helping Team USA win IIHF World Championships in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011, along with silver medals in 2004 and 2007.
Engstrom has served USA Hockey in various roles since July 2018 and has been an IIHF U18 High Performance Camp Coach/Ambassador since April 2016. She played professional hockey from 2007-18, playing for various teams across the U.S. and Sweden, and served as the girls' varsity hockey head coach and assistant athletic director at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. from 2014-2016.
A 2007 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Engstrom played collegiate hockey in the WCHA with the Badgers. She received First Team All-America honors in 2005 and was also named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and was selected as a Patty Kazmaier Award top-10 finalist in 2005. She went on to receive a Masters of Sports Administration from the Russian International Olympic University in 2014.
Brian Idalski
A seasoned veteran as a college, professional and Olympic coach, Brian Idalski is currently the head coach of the KRS Vake Rays in Russia's Women's Hockey League. Idalski has guided the Rays to a 77-17 mark in three seasons with a playoff championship in 2019-20 and a regular season championship in 2020-21. He was selected to coach in the league's all-star game was named the league's coach of the year for the 2019-20 season.
Idalski was chosen to coach China's Women's Olympic team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, leading the team to two victories in pool play with the competition's top-ranked penalty kill unit. He spent the 2018-19 season as the Director of Hockey Activities at Culver Academy, leading the academy to its first ever national championship in his lone season there.
Idalski was the head coach of the North Dakota women's hockey program from 2007-18, compiling five 20-win seasons while leading the Fighting Hawks to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013. In Grand Forks, he coached 10 Olympians, 26 national team members from eight countries, three All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans, four Patty Kazmaier Top-10 finalists, two NCAA Great Eight Award winners and 62 WCHA Scholar Athletes. Prior to UND, he was an assistant for St. Cloud State for the 2006-07 season.
Prior to SCSU, he led the women's program of his alma mater, Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001-06, leading the team to a NCAA D-II runner up finish in 2004 and a third-place finish in 2006. He captured three conference regular season titles and four conference tournament championships while in Stevens Point, and was a two-time conference coach of the year award winner. Prior to Stevens Point, he made coaching stops for the Columbus Cottonmouths in the CHL (1999-00) and the men's hockey team at UWSP (2000-01).
As a player, Idalski played for UWSP from 1991-95 where he was a two-time captain and helped lead the team to a 1992 NCAA D-III runner-up finish and the 1993 NCAA D-III National Championship.
Erik Strand
Wisconsin-Eau Claire Women's Hockey head coach Erik Strand has built his alma mater into a consistent national contender at the Division-III level in his seven seasons at the helm of Eau Claire. Strand has led the BluGolds playoff championships in 2018 and 2019, regular season championships in 2020 and 2021 and four NCAA Tournament appearances (2018-20, 2022). He has earned four WIAC Coach of the Year honors during his time in Eau Claire, taking home the conference's top coaching honor in 2016, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Prior to his tenure as the women's hockey head coach, Strand was an assistant coach for the men's hockey program from 2006-15, as he helped the BluGolds capture the 2013 NCAA Division-III national championship. Eau Claire also won the 2013 NCHA regular season and 2014 WIAC playoff championship titles with Strand on the bench.
Strand graduated from Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2002 with a degree in Management Information Systems. In addition to coaching, he has spent his professional life in the sales and banking industries at various companies in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.
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