PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Plattsburgh State head women's ice hockey coach Kevin Houle, who guided the Cardinals to their fifth NCAA Division III national championship in six years and their seventh overall this past season, has been named the 2018-19 USCHO Division III Women's Coach of the Year, as announced Tuesday by USCHO.com.
This marks the third USCHO Coach of the Year honor for Houle, who also earned the distinction in 2015-16 and 2013-14.
In 2018-19, the Cardinals went 29-2-0 overall (16-0-0 NEWHL) and finished the season on an 18-game winning streak. Plattsburgh State captured its second Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL) title in the two-year history of the league this year and was the first Division III women's ice hockey team to win four games in the NCAA Tournament, capping off the run with a 4-0 victory over Hamline University in the national championship game. That marked just the second shutout in the history of the tournament final.
Houle, who just finished his 16th season behind the Cardinal bench, has built Plattsburgh State into a consistent national power. The Cardinals have qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament semifinals for eight consecutive years and have won all seven of their national championships, the most in Division III women's ice hockey history, since 2006-07.
With his .868 winning percentage (397-50-25), he is tied with Ross McCurdy from the University of New Hampshire (1978-92) for the highest mark in the history of college women's ice hockey across all divisions, and his 397 wins are the third-most in the history of Division III women's ice hockey. Houle will look to become just the sixth coach in NCAA women's ice hockey history to reach the 400-win plateau when the 2019-20 season begins.