St. Thomas has announced the hiring of Bethany Brausen and Marty Sertich as assistant coaches with the Tommies preparing for their first season of Division I competition in 2021-22.
Brausen won two NCAA championships playing for Minnesota and also coached the last five seasons at Minnesota as an assistant.
A St. Thomas women’s assistant coach the last four seasons, Sertich has Division I and professional playing experience on the ice.
“I am incredibly excited to have Bethany and Marty join us as we move forward into a new chapter of the women’s hockey program here at St. Thomas,” first-year St. Thomas coach Joel Johnson said in a statement. “Both Bethany and Marty bring extensive experience along with unique gifts and talents on and off the ice that will be a great complement to our department and ultimately lead to a tremendous experience for our student athletes.
“The University of St. Thomas is committed to comprehensive excellence, and I can’t think of two better people who demonstrate that commitment.”
Brausen joined the Minnesota coaching staff in 2016-17 after competing for the Gophers from 2010 to 2014.
As a two-time captain at Minnesota, Brausen contributed to back-to-back national championship teams in 2012 and 2013, along with Minnesota’s national runner-up team in 2014 in her senior year. She helped the Gophers post a 139-17-5 (.879) record during her four-year career, including an NCAA-record 62-game winning streak. She played in 161 career games while recording 51 points on 16 goals and 35 assists.
She is currently pursuing her PhD in Organizational Leadership Policy and Development.
Sertich brings continuity plus his extensive hockey background as a recruiter, instructor and an elite player. He retired in 2016 after a 10-year professional playing career in Europe and in the AHL. He was college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award winner as a junior while at Colorado College in 2005, and also made All-America and was voted the WCHA Player of the Year in his Tiger career.
He was part of a St. Thomas staff that guided the 2018-19 Tommies to a late-season No. 1 national ranking, a school-record 25 victories, and a D-III Frozen Four appearance.
