For her efforts in leading the University of Minnesota to 28 wins and two league crowns, Laura Halldorson has been chosen by her peers as the National Women's Ice Hockey University Division Coach of the Year. Halldorson becomes the first women to win this award twice (1998).

The Gophers compiled a record of 28-4-6 during the 2001-2002 season, winning both the WCHA regular season and tournament championships. Ranked #1 in the country for much of the year, Minnesota finally succumbed to a hot Brown University squad in the NCAA semifinals, 2-1.

Halldorson, a 1985 graduate of Princeton University, was a three-time All-Ivy player before beginning her coaching career at Colby College. Her seven-year record in Waterville, Maine was 59-75-9. The Plymouth, MN, native became Minnesota's first head coach in 1997 and her five-year mark with the Gophers is 133-30-15. Her 192 wins ranks her fourth among active women's coaches.

The runner-up in this year's University Division Coach of the Year balloting was Margaret Degidio-Murphy, head coach of the NCAA runners-up from Brown University.