The wait is over. In a press conference held Monday in McPhee Center, athletic director Scott Kilgallon named Matt Loen as the permanent head coach of men’s hockey team.
“One of the things I’m really pleased with from a hockey perspective, coach Loen served as our interim coach, and he wound up making history leading the program to a series win in the Peters Cup,” Kilgallon said. “But when we hire people, particularly at the Div. III level, we want to make sure the coaches we have are also great role models. Coach Loen is fantastic in that regard, I think he’s going to do a great job with our student athletes in the classroom and off the ice.”
In his first year as head coach, Loen led the team to an 11-16-1 record overall and a 6-7-1 mark in the NCHA. The record was good enough to secure a fifth seed in the playoffs. The Blugolds upset UW-Superior in the first round to advance for the first time in school history.
“It feels great, I’m excited, after the season we had last year I’m excited to continue the process that we started three years ago,” Loen said. “I think that basically sums it up, I’m pretty excited.”
Junior Greg Petersen said he is happy Loen got the position.
“Personally, I absolutely love it. I think he has the program going in the right direction, and he’s been playing hockey his whole life.”
Petersen said he thought it would have been a long shot for anyone else to get the position, and that Loen was a “shoo-in.”
Loen took over as interim head coach after Luke Strand took a position with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League. Loen is also a Blugold alum. He played for the team from 1991 until 1995. He was a two-time All-NCHA pick and one of four Blugolds to be named to the American Hockey Coaches’ Association All-American first team.
“Being here in the early ’90s and coming back, not much has changed, so it’s fun to be back here and to be on the other side of the fence as a coach versus a player.”
Loen is tenth on the all-time scoring list for the Blugolds, with 120 points on 42 goals and 77 assists. He scored 56 points as a senior, which is the fifth best single season production in school history.
After leaving the university, Loen spent eight years playing professional hockey, playing for several teams, including the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL, and the Madison Kodiacks of the UHL. He racked up 575 points in 500 games.
Loen said he thinks part of the success of this season comes from the fact that he knew most of the recruits before they started the hockey season.
“I knew all of them, all of the recruits coming in, and for us to stay together and keep our systems going in the right direction, I think that’s going to bode well for us in the future,” Loen said.
Loen added the team is going to try and build on the success of last year, and he is recruiting in a tough conference.
“It’s a tough world out there, with our conference but with our success this year, that’s going to help us in the future, recruiting wise.”