Laura Schuler Head Coach First season at NU: 2004-05 Alma Mater: Northeastern '94

Women's Hockey 2007-08 •TEAM PAGE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | TEAM STATS

Laura Schuler recently completed her fourth season as head coach at her alma mater, Northeastern University. In her first three seasons at the helm of the Husky women’s hockey team, Northeastern has shown significant improvement in on-ice performance. The Huskies will look to climb the Women’s Hockey East standings in 2008-09 behind another excellent recruiting class and a very solid group of returning players. The 2007-08 team recorded an overall record of 7-24-3 and a conference mark of 6-14-1. Despite the sixth-place finish in Women’s Hockey East, the Huskies continued to improve as the season progressed behind a very young core of skaters. Four of the top five scorers on the team were underclassmen, representing Schuler's first two recruiting classes. Freshman Kristi Kehoe led the team in scoring and was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie team along with teammate Leah Sulyma, who became a standout goaltender in Hockey East. With a proven and successful recruiting strategy and a program on the rise, the Huskies will only get better in the years to come. The former Husky star and Olympian has experience in creating and revitalizing programs, as Schuler came to Northeastern before the 2004-05 season following three years at UMass Boston. There, she started the women’s hockey program and oversaw its transition from a club sport to a Div. III varsity program. She earned ECAC East Coach of the Year honors after leading the Beacons to a 13-12-1 record and an ECAC semifinal appearance in their first varsity season of 2003-04. At UMass Boston, Schuler spent the 2001-02 season recruiting varsity-caliber players. In the 2002-03 season, the team competed as a club sport, although it played mostly varsity teams, and posted a 9-7-1 record. The following season, the program was raised to varsity status and compiled a 13-12-1 record. Schuler guided the Beacons to a 7-3 mark over the final 10 games of the season, including a 3-2 win over nationally-ranked Rensselaer and an upset 6-4 victory over the Rochester Institute of Technology in the ECAC East quarterfinals. Four of her players were named ECAC East All-Conference, and Andrea Ciarletta was named ECAC East Rookie of the Year. From 1998-2000, Schuler was head coach of the Stouffville Midget AA and New York Rangers Midget AA girls hockey teams, both based in Ontario. She was the director of operations for Schuler’s Hockey Excel from 1995-2001. She was hired by boys’ and girls’ AA and AAA travel teams to run practices and provide specialty and technical instruction. She held camps and programs throughout the year and was responsible for all business affairs. Schuler, who graduated from NU in 1994, played on the Canadian National team for 11 years and in 1998 won a silver medal for Canada in the first-ever Olympic women’s ice hockey competition in Nagano, Japan. During her tenure, the Canadian National team also won World Championship titles in 1990, ’92 and ’97 as well as several other world-class tournaments, including the Four Nations Cup and Pacific Rim Tournament. While Schuler played for Northeastern from 1989-93, the Huskies compiled a 74-24-5 record and qualified for the playoffs every year. She was elected team captain as a senior. Over her career, Schuler netted 64 goals, 57 assists and 121 points, numbers that rank among Northeastern’s all-time best. She led the team with 20 goals, 13 assists and 33 points during the 1990-91 season. Schuler earned her bachelor’s degree in Cardiovascular Health and Exercise from Northeastern. After graduation, she continued her studies in Exercise Science at the University of Toronto, where she also played hockey and was voted All-Conference in both 1996 and ’97. Schuler has worked as an exercise specialist, designing and prescribing exercise and rehabilitative programs. Schuler is a native of Scarborough, Ontario, and attended Woburn High School, where she captained the ice hockey, field hockey, volleyball and soccer teams. She resides in West Roxbury.