Woodbury's Wes Bolin has been named the 2022-23 Coach of the Year in Class 2A by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association. Courtesy photo
Woodbury’s Wes Bolin in Class 2A and Northfield’s Mike Luckraft in Class 1A were named the state’s coaches of the year on Saturday by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association.
Bolin, in his 19th year leading the Royals and 40th overall as a head coach, guided Woodbury to 12-14-1 record this season that included an upset victory over Stillwater in the Section 4AA quarterfinals. No. 7 seed Woodbury beat the No. 2 seed Ponies 1-0.
Woodbury also won its own Thanksgiving tournament and the South St. Paul Premier tournament championship in late December.
Bolin has more than 500 career victories.
Luckraft guided Northfield to a 23-7-0 record and its second state Class 1A tournament appearance in program history. He has a 161-70-9 record in nine seasons leading the Raiders.
Steve Aronson of Minnetonka in Class 2A and Jeff Lagoo of South St. Paul were named assistant coaches of the year.
Coaches of the year and assistant coaches of the year were also named in all eight Class 1A and 2A sections by the MHCA.
MHCA 2022-2023 Coaches of the Year
| SECTION 1 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Matt Erredge | Rochester John Marshall |
| Class AA Assistant | Pete Moehnke | Rochester John Marshall |
| Class A Head Coach | Mike Luckraft | Northfield |
| Class A Assistant | Scott Cloud | Northfield |
| SECTION 2 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Sean Goldsworthy | Minnetonka |
| Sean Bloomfield | Chanhassen | |
| Class AA Assistant | Steve Aronson | Minnetonka |
| Zack Friedli | Chanhassen | |
| Class A Head Coach | Sean Fish | Orono |
| Class A Assistant | Gregg Malmgren | Orono |
| Charlie Smothers | Waconia | |
| SECTION 3 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Matt Funk | Cretin-Derham Hall |
| Chris Sikich | Apple Valley/Burnsville | |
| Class AA Assistant | Chris Rudh | Park Cottage Grove |
| Class A Head Coach | Phil Paquette | Luverne |
| Class A Assistant | Chris Denhoed | Luverne |
| SECTION 4 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Wes Bolin | Woodbury |
| Cole Leitch | Tartan | |
| Class AA Assistant | Matt Larson | East Ridge |
| Class A Head Coach | Brandon Ferraro | Two Rivers |
| Class A Assistant | Jeff Lagoo | South St Paul |
| SECTION 5 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Tom Potter | Champlin Park |
| Class AA Assistant | Calvin Spencer | Champlin Park |
| Class A Head Coach | Joey Hanowski | Little Falls |
| Class A Assistant | John Morgan | Little Falls |
| SECTION 6 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Pat O’Leary | Wayzata |
| Class AA Assistant | Josh Harding | Edina |
| Class A Head Coach | Josh Meyers | Alexandria |
| Mike Donaghue | Fergus Falls | |
| Class A Assistant | Noah Fletcher | Prairie Center |
| SECTION 7 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Steve Pitoscia | Duluth East |
| Class AA Assistant | Casey Kudler | Duluth East |
| Class A Head Coach | Eric Rewertz | Hibbing/Chisholm |
| Class A Assistant | Aaron Jamnick | Hibbing/Chisholm |
| SECTION 8 | ||
| Class AA Head Coach | Ryan Hacker | Sartell-St.Stephen |
| Class AA Assistant | Thomas Johnson | Buffalo |
| Class A Head Coach | Jay Hardwick | Warroad |
| Class A Assistant | Michael Tviet | Warroad |
| Class AA Head Coach: Coach of the Year | Wes Bolin | Woodbury |
| Class AA Assistant: Coach of the Year | Steve Aronson | Minnetonka |
| Class A Head Coach: Coach of the Year | Mike Luckraft | Northfield |
| Class A Assistant: Coach of the Year | Jeff Lagoo | South St Paul |
Northfield's Mike Luckraft has been named Coach of the Year in Class 1A by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association. Photo by Jeff Lawler, LegacyHockeyPhotography.com
More than 400 interviews
Hundreds of vintage photos
Chapter for every year
Top 10 Charts
Dozens of vignettes
Statistical Leaders
Tourney Time Teasers
O What a Relief
- By David La Vaque 06/09/2020, 5:45pm CDT
Tom Hanks boosted 1982 tourney hoopla
- By Loren Nelson 04/17/2020, 2:30am CDT
Jefferson Militia in full force in 1981
- By David La Vaque 03/17/2020, 1:30pm CDT
Danger Zone
- By Loren Nelson 03/04/2020, 2:30pm CST
The Heartbreak Kid
- By David La Vaque 01/24/2020, 10:30am CST
The Full Nelson
Fountain of Youth
- By Loren Nelson 12/08/2022, 1:45pm CST
Watch List
- By Loren Nelson 11/07/2022, 8:00pm CST
Now You See It ...
- By Loren Nelson 01/04/2022, 12:30pm CST
The Real Hockeytown
- By Loren Nelson 11/22/2021, 10:30pm CST
Drama Kings
- By Loren Nelson 11/18/2021, 12:45pm CST
