Scout Bio
Brian Idalski was named the sixth head coach in the history of St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey on May 19, 2022. The 2022-23 campaign marks his 16th as a collegiate head coach, carrying a 277-177-50 record into his first season leading the Huskies. He has coached 10 Olympians, 26 national team members from eight countries, three All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans, four Patty Kazmaier Top-10 finalists, two NCAA Great Eight Award winners and 62 WCHA Scholar Athletes throughout his career.
Idalski was chosen to serve as the head coach for China at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. His team earned two wins in pool play and operated as the top penalty kill in the Olympics at 90.0% with nine kills on 10 chances. Under his guidance, goaltender Jiaying Zhou posted the best save percentage at .955 with 85 stops on 89 shots.
Prior to joining St. Cloud State, Idalski spent three seasons as the head coach of the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays in the Zhenskaya Hockey League. He guided the Rays to a 77-17 record, two regular season championships and the 2020 ZhHL Cup – becoming the first non-Russian team to win the league’s championship. Idalski was named ZhHL Coach of the Year in 2020 and 2022 along with being selected to coach in the 2019-20 ZhHL All-Star Game.
Idalski spent the 2018-19 season as the Director of Hockey Activities at Culver Academy in Culver, Indiana, leading the program to its first USAH Tier-I Nationals appearance.
Introduced as the University of North Dakota Women’s Hockey head coach in April of 2007, Idalski was the architect of a major turnaround. He compiled five 20-win seasons while leading the Fighting Hawks to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013, inheriting a team that went 3-31-2 prior to his arrival and rebuilding UND as a national power. His teams were consistently ranked in the Nation’s Top-10 while producing a record of 169-156-39 in 10 seasons.
With Idalski at the helm, UND saw the program’s first-ever Olympian in Susanne Fellner (2006 Olympics, German National Team), first-ever active student-athlete Olympians in Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux (2010 Olympics, U.S. National Team) and first-ever recruited Olympian in Michelle Karvinen (2010 Olympics, Finnish National Team). During his time in Grand Forks, Idalski served as the Vice President of the American Women’s Hockey Coaches Association and the Governor of the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Idalski led UND to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in 2011-12 and 2012-13, finishing runner-up in the WCHA Tournament in 2013 and 2014. North Dakota finished fourth or higher in each of their final seven campaigns, with Idalski directing a .500 record in WCHA play through his 10 seasons leading the program.
In 2006-07 Idalski served as an assistant coach on the St. Cloud State bench – a season in which the Huskies went 12-18-7, one of only 10 campaigns with double-digit wins in the program’s 24-year history. He led the defenders, coordinated advance scouting and oversaw the Huskies’ recruiting efforts. His recruiting class was headlined by legendary SCSU goaltender Ashley Nixon, who graduated second all-time in saves, fourth in save percentage and fifth in goals against.
Before his first stint at St. Cloud State, Idalski enjoyed a highly successful five-year tenure as head women’s hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he amassed a 108-21-11 (.811) record and was a four-time finalist as American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) National Coach of the Year.
Idalski guided UW-Stevens Point to an NCAA Division III runner-up finish in 2003-04, a third-place national finish in 2005-06 and a national quarterfinal finish in 2004-05. He led the Pointers to three Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) regular season championships (2002, 2005, 2006), four NCHA playoff titles (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006) and was twice named NCHA Coach of the Year (2002, 2005). During his time at UW-Stevens Point, Idalski tutored three All-Americans, six Academic All-Americans and 17 All-NCHA selections.
UW-Stevens Point appeared in two DIII Frozen Fours under Idalski and became the first team to finish the NCHA regular season undefeated in 2004-05.
A four-year letterwinner at UW-Stevens Point from 1991-1995, Idalski was a member of the Pointers’ NCAA Division III runner-up team in 1992 and was a sophomore on the 1993 Division III national championship team. In 97 career games as a defenseman, he tallied five goals and 20 assists.
Following his Pointer playing days, Idalski went on to play professional hockey for two years with the Madison Monsters of the United Hockey League from 1995-1997. He then played two seasons with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Central Hockey League from 1997-1999, and won the 1998 CHL regular season and playoff championship. After his professional playing days, Idalski spent the 1999-2000 season as the full-time assistant coach with the Cottonmouths.
Idalski has also been involved for several years as an instructor at the USA Hockey National Development Camps and other instructional hockey camps throughout North America.
A Warren, Michigan native, Idalski and his wife Nicole, have four sons – Beau, Jason, David and Mitchel.