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Maturi gives Frost green light to head women’s hockey team

Athletics Director Joel Maturi said the search was exhaustive and Brad Frost was the best man for the job.

A month and a day after the conclusion of the Minnesota women’s hockey team’s season, Brad Frost was finally able to remove interim from his title.

On Wednesday, Frost was named the University of Minnesota women’s hockey head coach by Athletics Director Joel Maturi after leading the Gophers as interim head coach during the 2007-08 season.

“I’m ecstatic,” Frost said. “To have it officially be done is both a relief and something I’m really excited about.”

Frost took the reins in August 2007 after former head coach Laura Halldorson retired.

The transition was almost seamless, as Frost led Minnesota on an immensely successful ’07-’08 campaign.

Under his direction, the Gophers were ranked as high as No. 4 in the country and earned an at-large NCAA berth after a second-place regular season finish in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Minnesota finished the year with a 27-7-4 record, which included a 21-game unbeaten streak and a 17-game conference-win streak.

Minnesota finished the year with a 27-7-4 record, which included a 21-game unbeaten streak and a 17-game conference-win streak.

Frost also coached seven all-WCHA players, and juniors Gigi Marvin and Rachael Drazan, both first team selections, recently returned from competing with the U.S. National Team at the World Championships.

Frost’s exploits earned him WCHA Coach of the Year and a spot as a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year.

Despite this impressive list of accomplishments, however, Maturi urged that the choice of Frost as head coach was anything but hasty.

“Many people think the obvious thing would have been to name Brad immediately,” Maturi said. “But we really felt it was the proper thing for this program to try to find out who else might be interested in this very successful and very visible program.”

After the search, however, the job remained with Frost. And when Maturi sat down with Frost, he made clear that the search was exhaustive.

“I wanted to make sure Brad knew he was the best choice for the job,” Maturi said. “I think if we had named him immediately he would never know that. I would never want him to doubt himself and quite frankly, as an athletic director, I didn’t want to ever doubt myself. I now feel very comfortable in the choice that we’ve made.”

Frost should be comfortable as head coach as well, especially because he’s bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in Gophers women’s hockey history.

Minnesota’s Ms. Hockey award winner, Sarah Erickson, and senior goalie Alyssa Grogan will join the squad, along with Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, members of the U.S. Select Team, and Anne Schleper, who played with Erickson and Grogan on the U.S. Under-18 Team.

And while the incoming class may look forward to playing under Frost, Minnesota’s returning team members are delighted to have him back as well.

“It’s a pretty exciting announcement and I’m sure he’ll do a phenomenal job like he did this past year,” Marvin said.

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