Duluth native Connolly named new women’s assistant coach with Bulldogs

Minnesota-Duluth has added Duluth native Chris Connolly to the women’s staff as a new assistant coach.

A four-year letter-winner at Boston University from 2008 to 2012, Connolly won an NCAA national title with the Terriers in 2009.

“I’m really excited to announce the hiring of Chris Connolly,” said Bulldogs head coach Maura Crowell in a statement. “Chris has just finished his professional playing career in Europe and is eager to get back to Duluth and make it his home again. He brings his success as a student-athlete and experience playing internationally to our program, and we are happy to welcome him to the Bulldog hockey family.”

Connolly, a graduate of Duluth Marshall High School, comes to UMD with an extensive hockey resume, including a four-year professional hockey career that spanned Finland, Sweden and Germany. Most recently a member of the Iserlohn Roosters of the German Hockey League from 2013 to 2016, Connolly also played for Leksands IF of the Swedish Hockey League in 2014.

A silver medalist with the Finnish Hockey League’s Tappara in 2012-13, Connolly won a Deutschland Cup championship with the United States in 2012.