Joel Johnson abruptly resigns as St. Thomas women’s hockey coach
The former U.S. Olympics coach was just starting his fourth season in St. Paul.
Joel Johnson, the former U.S. Olympics head coach from White Bear Lake, resigned abruptly as St. Thomas’ women’s hockey coach on Monday, according to a statement released by the school.
Johnson, who led Team USA to a silver medal in the 2022 Games, was just beginning his fourth season with the Tommies and resigned on the heels of a three-game losing streak.
Assistant coach Bethany Brausen has been named the team’s interim head coach. Neither Johnson nor St. Thomas vice president and athletics director Phil Esten immediately returned a request for comment.
The Tommies are 5-8-1 overall and 2-7-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. They’re scheduled to play No. 1 Wisconsin this weekend in Madison.
Johnson was a Gophers associate head coach on track to become the U.S. OIympics coach when he was hired by St. Thomas to guide the Tommies as they made the leap from NCAA Division III hockey to top-level Division 1 in June 2021.
Brausen was the team’s acting head coach while Johnson coached the U.S. team at training camp in Blaine and in Beijing that first year, in 2021. The Tommies went 5-27-1 that first season; since then, they’re 23-63-3.
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