Minnesota Whitecaps head coach Ronda Engelhardt and team part ways
In her first year as the Whitecaps' sole head coach, Engelhardt led the women's hockey team to the title game, but the Whitecaps were 10-11-3 in the regular season.
The Minnesota Whitecaps and head coach Ronda Engelhardt have parted ways, the Premier Hockey Federation team announced Wednesday in a news release.
Engelhardt was hired as co-head coach by then-head coach Jack Brodt before the team's inaugural season in the professional women's hockey league in 2018. Engelhardt was named the Whitecaps head coach before this past season.
The Whitecaps ended the regular season 10-11-3 before falling 4-3 to the Toronto Six in overtime in the Isobel Cup championship game.
"We want to thank Ronda for her five seasons as a coach with the Minnesota Whitecaps," said Bobby Long, director of hockey operations with NLTT Hockey Ventures, LLC. "The organization will be conducting a search over the next few months to fill the head coach's role with the Whitecaps."
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- Jeremiah Carter, the director of athletic compliance at the University of Minnesota, was named the senior associate athletic director for Name Image and Likeness/Policy and Risk Management. Carter played football for the Gophers from 1998 to 2002.
- Graduate student Matthew Wilkinson and redshirt junior Kostas Zaltos were named the Big Ten track and field athletes of the week for their performances last week at the Raleigh (N.C.) Relays and the Clyde Hart Classic, respectively. Wilkinson took second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8 minutes, 29.35 seconds) — his time is the best among college runners nationally. Zaltos won the hammer throw (240 feet, 8 inches) in Waco, Texas. His distance is second in the NCAA.
- Minnesota Crookston baseball pitcher Jake Dykhoff, a redshirt senior from Wadena, Minn., was named the National College Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division II national pitcher of the week. He shut out Concordia (St. Paul) 12-0 Saturday on a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts in seven innings, tying a program record for strikeouts in a single game.
- Minnesota State Mankato junior defensemen Akito Hirose (Vancouver) and Jake Livingstone (Nashville) signed with NHL teams.
Two 14-2 teams meet on “Sunday Night Football” at Ford Field with the division crown and playoff position on the line. Check back here often for live updates and analysis.
