St. Cloud State women’s hockey head coach Brian Idalski has been named the first-ever head coach of PWHL Vancouver.
“We are excited for Brian and his future in the PWHL,” said St. Cloud State director of athletics Holly Schreiner in a news release. “It is always great to have Husky connections at that level. We will immediately begin the process to fill Brian’s vacant position.”
“I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to join an organization and city like Vancouver and want to thank Cara and the league for their trust and belief in me,” added Idalski. “The PWHL has had a huge impact on the global game, and to be a part of that – with expansion helping push it even further forward – is an unbelievable feeling. I’ve been associated with a lot of players across the PWHL, either coaching them personally or against them over the years, so this role brings me full circle with an eagerness to work with the league’s world-class talent. The team that Cara (Morey) has assembled is fantastic and I embrace the challenge that comes with our high expectations.”
The 2022-23 USCHO national coach of the year departs St. Cloud after three seasons in which he helped turn the program around, bringing the Huskies back into national prominence. Under Idalski, SCSU went 50-50-9 and recorded three of its eight highest single-season win totals in program history and set numerous other individual and team records.
In his debut season in 2022-23, Idalski led the Huskies to 18 wins, tying the program record for single season wins. SCSU also established a new record of 36 conference points (reset again in 2023-24 with 39), earning a point from all seven conference opponents for the first time in 13 years. The Huskies finished fifth in the WCHA, their best finish since 2015-16 and first season with a .500 or better record since 2009-10. SCSU received its first national ranking since 2009 and has remained among the country’s top 15 teams consistently ever since.
Also in 2022-23, Idalski was a CCM/AHCA national coach of the year finalist and was named co-WCHA coach of the year. He was the first St. Cloud State hockey coach – men’s or women’s – to be named a national coach of the year and just the second women’s coach ever to earn conference honors.
In 2024-25, Idalski became just the second coach in program history to amass 50 wins and was the first to do so in three seasons or less. He also became the first coach in program history to beat Minnesota on the road (0-60-2 prior) and was just the second coach to post three consecutive 15-plus win seasons.
Prior to his time with the Huskies, the Warren, Mich., native won two ZhHL titles in three years between 2019-22 at the helm of the KRS Vanke Rays where he coached recent PWHL Vancouver signees Michela Cava and Hannah Miller. Idalski was also the head coach of the Chinese national women’s team for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Idalski spent the 2018-19 season as the director of hockey activities at Culver Academy in Culver, Ind., leading the program to its first USA Hockey Tier I national tournament appearance.
No stranger to the WCHA, Idalski spent 10 seasons as the head coach of North Dakota women’s hockey – building the program into a perennial national power. Idalski produced a 169-154-39 (.521) record in Grand Forks with a 124-124-32 mark in conference play, reaching 50 points four times in addition two NCAA tournament appearances, two WCHA tournament finals and seven WCHA quarterfinal series wins. North Dakota finished .500 or better in each of their final seven seasons, going 144-89-25 (.607) overall with a 104-69-23 (.590%) across that span.
Idalski recruited and coached six All-Americans, five WCHA outstanding student-athletes of the year, one WCHA rookie of the year and 25 all-WCHA selections during his tenure at North Dakota. Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, Michelle Karvinen and Shelby Amsley-Benzie earned All-American honors under Idalski’s direction while Karvinen was named WCHA rookie of the year in 2011-12. Amsley-Benzie developed into one of the greatest goaltenders in collegiate hockey during her four years with Idalski, earning All-American honors in addition to being named a Patty Kazmaier top-10 finalist. Idalski and his staff’s successful recruitment of the Lamoureux sisters was instrumental in the program’s rapid turnaround as Jocelyne and Monique both earned two All-American nods while the former led the WCHA in scoring as a junior.
North Dakota enjoyed five 20-win seasons under Idalski, finishing below .500 just three times in his tenure with seven winning campaigns. His club earned a reputation for accountability on and off the ice, opportunistic offense and a rugged defense – recording 51 shutouts in his tenure while allowing less than 25 shots on goal per game in four of their final five seasons. All-WCHA forwards Michelle Karvinen, Josefine Jakobsen, Amy Menke and Becca Kohler flourished alongside the All-Americans Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux. On the defensive end, Idalski helped develop Halli Krzyzaniak into a three-time All-WCHA selection and two-year captain before she became the program’s first-ever NWHL draft pick – taken in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, one spot ahead of Menke.
In addition to his time on the bench in Grand Forks, Idalski served as VP of the American Women’s Hockey Coaches Association and as the governor of the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Idalski spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach on the St. Cloud State bench under first-year head coach Jeff Giesen – a season in which the Huskies went 12-18-7, one of only 11 campaigns with double-digit wins in the program’s 25-year history. He led the defenders, coordinated advance scouting and oversaw the Huskies’ recruiting efforts. His recruiting class was headlined by legendary SCSU goaltender Ashley Nixon, who graduated second all-time in saves, fourth in save percentage and fifth in goals against.
Earning his first head coaching role in 2001-02 with Wisconsin-Stevens Point women’s hockey, Idalski quickly established himself as a rising star by going 108-21-11 (.881) in five seasons leading the Pointers. He was named NCHA coach of the year in 2002 and 2005 while being named a finalist for the AHCA national coach of the year award four times, guiding UW-Stevens Point to four NCHA tournament championships and three NCHA regular-season championships. The Pointers made three NCAA tournament appearances under Idalski, appearing in the 2004 national championship game and taking third at the 2006 tournament.
Idalski oversaw four 20-win seasons at Stevens Point and went 58-9-6 (.836%) in conference play, guiding his club to the NCHA’s first-ever undefeated regular season in 2004-05. Three Pointers earned All-American honors under Idalski and 17 added all-NCHA accolades.
First joining the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant with UW-Stevens Point men’s hockey in 2000-01, Idalski broke into the coaching world in 1999-00 as an assistant on the Columbus Cottonmouths bench in the Central Hockey League.
Idalski enjoyed a long playing career as a defenseman, spending two seasons with Columbus in the CHL and two with the UHL’s Madison Monsters. The gritty blueliner helped Columbus earn the 1998 CHL regular-season and postseason championships as a rookie.
He played his collegiate hockey at UW-Stevens Point, appearing in 97 games and leading the Pointers to a pair of NCAA tournament finals, including the program’s 1993 national championship.
