After building the University of Minnesota women’s hockey program from a fledging program, head coach Laura Halldorson has proven that the Golden Gophers are one of the most successful women’s hockey teams in the country. Now in her second decade of coaching at the U of M, Halldorson looks to continue the program’s success both on and off the ice. Not only has she won three national championships, she guided her team to five-straight NCAA Frozen Four appearances from 2002-06, more then any other program in the country. Dating back to the start of the program, Halldorson has led the Maroon and Gold to eight appearances in the national tournament over the past 10 years.

Although the Gophers did not make it to the Frozen Four in 2007, Halldorson led Minnesota to a third-place finish in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Gophers  defeated Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs and defeated Minnesota Duluth, 3-2 in overtime to advance the Gophers into their fifth-straight WCHA Championship game. The Gophers' season, however ended with a 3-1 loss to Wisconsin in the title game with a record of 23-12-1 overall and 17-10-1 in conference office. The Gophers remained a top 10 ranked team, finishing the season as ninth overall.

Many expected the 2005-06 season to be a rebuilding year after losing four to graduation and three U.S. Olympians in Natalie Darwitz, Lyndsay Wall and Krissy Wendell. However, Halldorson and her team finished in a tie for second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and played in the WCHA Championship game. After going 17-8-1 through January, Minnesota finished the season with a 12-3-0 record in February and in March went 5-3 against ranked opponents during that time. Minnesota was one of eight teams selected to compete in the NCAA Regionals and defeated Princeton, 4-0, to advance to the program’s fifth-straight NCAA Frozen Four appearance. Halldorson and the Gophers upset No. 1 New Hampshire to advance to the NCAA Championship game and finished second in the nation.

In 2004-05, 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 WCHA. 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 since the inception of the league in 2000. 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 Frozen Four 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 statistical 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 honor at season’s end. Wendell became not only the first player from Minnesota, but also 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 third national championship in six years.

The 2002-03 season marked another milestone for Halldorson. On November 2, 2002, Halldorson won her 200th career game. With 285 career wins to date, Halldorson ranks second among Division I coaches in wins, boasting a 314-130-30 record. Of her 314 wins, 255 of her wins and only 55 of her losses came in nine 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, including a 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 Darwitz 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 her 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 in the AWCHA Championships.

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.