Head coach Heather Linstad enters her eighth season at the helm of the University of Connecticut women’s ice hockey program. Recruited to build the women’s ice hockey program at UConn from scratch, Linstad has laid a solid foundation to the development of a highly competitive team. Not only has the women’s ice hockey team improved continuously over her tenure, Linstad has also guided the Huskies into a superior level of competition as a charter member of the Hockey East Conference.

As a head coach, Linstad has collected 240 career victories, the fourth-highest in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey history among active coaches.

Last winter was her most successful season in Storrs as the Huskies set school benchmarks for most wins overall (17), most Hockey East wins (12) and most ranked wins (four). The Huskies beat or tied five of the eight teams selected for the NCAA Tournament, in the process handing eventual Frozen Four participant Boston College its only two home losses all season. The season saw Jaclyn Hawkins break the school's career records for goals, assists and points as she was one of four different Huskies to pick up awards at the annual Hockey East banquet. UConn placed two others on the All-Hockey East team as Natalie Vibert and Brittany Wilson both picked up first team honors. Dominique Thiabult was named to the league's All-Rookie team and was one of three different Huskies to be named Hockey East Rookie of the Week during the season. UConn also peaked at a record No. 8 in the national polls and advanced to the Hockey East Semifinals.

In the 2004-05 season, the Huskies earned a record of 16-12-8, including going 11-5-4 against Hockey East opponents for a third-place league finish. UConn closed out the season with a No. 10 ranking by USCHO.com and No. 9 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll. The 2004-05 year marked the first season that the Huskies made an appearance in the Hockey East Championship game and set numerous program records, both individually and as a team. Linstad’s players were honored by both the Hockey East Conference and USCHO for their play throughout the season, culminating in Hawkins being named both Hockey East and USCHO Rookie of the Year.

Linstad’s players have also excelled in the classroom, collecting 42 conference academic awards over the past six years. Eight members of the 2004-05 team were named to the Hockey East All-Academic team and senior Lisa Beck followed up her 2003-04 Hockey East Top Scholar Athlete Award by earning the highest GPA among any league defender and tying for the Top Scholar Athlete with a 4.0 average. Fifteen Huskies from the 2003-04 squad were named to the Hockey East All-Academic team, with nine earning the honor in 2002-03 and five each of the past two years.

Recently, Linstad was honored for her 15 Years of Service in USA hockey. She has made a big impact on USA hockey throughout the years, starting in 2003, where she addressed the Master’s Symposium in Pittsburgh and spoke at the Level 4 Symposium in Lake Placid, N.Y. Linstad has been selected five times in her career to coach at the USA National Hockey Festival in Lake Placid, including the 1997 festival which was an Olympic selection year. She coached at the USA Hockey Junior Development Camp for athletes ranging from 14-18 years-old. In 2007, Linstad coached at the USA Hockey U-16 select camp in Rochester, N.Y. She also was a part of the USA Rocky Mountain District Camp during 1996-2002 and 2004.

In July of 1996, Linstad was the head coach for the Australian National Team in Sydney, directing the first women’s ice hockey Australian national camp. During the 2005-06 season, she was the head coach of the Hockey East All-Star team which competed against the US Olympic team.

While under Linstad's tutelage, the women's ice hockey program has made a positive impact on the community, raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness. In 2007, the Huskies, in association with the Hockey East Conference, raised $4,300 for the cause. In addition, in 2005 the Huskies adopted a Hartford family for Christmas as they helped provide the family with everyday essentials and toys for their children. In 2006, Linstad's program created a Christmas evening for a YMCA girls home. The team supplied a tree, ornaments, lights and gifts while sharing pizza and memories with the girls. Along with these programs, the Huskies have also spent time in the Hartford community reading to a variety of youth groups in the area.

Linstad, a native of Chelmsford, Mass., compiled a 161-71-27 overall record in eight years as head coach of the Northeastern University women’s ice hockey program. While at NU, Linstad’s teams won four Beanpot titles and earned one of the four berths in the first-ever collegiate women’s hockey national championship tournament (AWCHA) in 1998. In 1997, Linstad led NU to the ECAC Championship while boasting a school-record 27-win season. In 2000, she was inducted into the Chelmsford High School Hall of Fame.
 

A 1989 graduate of Providence College with a degree in business administration, Linstad was a three-sport performer for the Friars, playing ice hockey for four seasons, women’s soccer for three and adding softball as a third sport for one season. A three-year PC ice hockey captain, Linstad scored 76 goals and added 72 assists as a collegian, placing her ninth on the PC all-time points list, fifth in goals and seventh in assists. She was awarded the 1989 ECAC Player of the Year Award and holds the distinction of being the only person to win both ECAC Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors.

Linstad currently resides in Vernon, Conn. with her black lab, Sydney.