BC Women’s Hockey Head Coach Katie Crowley Named To US Hockey Hall of Fame

The US Hockey Hall of Fame announced today that Boston College Women’s Hockey head coach, three-time Olympic medalist, six-time IIHF medalist, and all-around ice hockey legend Katie (King) Crowley will be inducted into its class of 2023. She joins Dustin Brown and Jamie Langenbrunner as 2023 player inductees, as well as longtime NHL executive Brian Burke and referee Brian Murphy

Katie Crowley, then Katie King in her years playing with Team USA, is one of the pioneers of the women’s game on the international stage and, simply put, one of the greatest players in the history of United States ice hockey. She was a critical piece of the 1998 Nagano team that claimed the first ever women’s hockey Olympic gold, putting up 4 goals and 4 assists in the team’s 8 games. She would go on to play in two more Olympics, earning silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City and completing the set with a bronze in 2006 in Torino, and is tied for first as the all-time leading American Olympic scorer with 14 goals scored.

Her illustrious career included six IIHF Women’s World Championship tournaments as well, earning silver with the USA in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004, before finally helping the US break through for its first World Championship gold in 2005 in its 9th attempt. All in all, she ranks third all-time for Team USA Women’s Hockey with 278 career points on 153 goals and 125 assists.

Prior to her international career, Coach Crowley played her college hockey at Brown University, where she remains to this day Brown’s all-time leading scorer. She went on to earn a Master’s degree at BC in 2016, cementing her status as a true Eagle.

She first joined Boston College as an assistant coach in 2003 before being named head coach for the 2007-2008 season. In that time, she’s lead the Boston College program from sub-.500 seasons to national power, including six Frozen Four appearances and three Hockey East championships. Her Eagles are the only Hockey East team (men’s or women’s) to finish in the top four of the league standings in every one of the last 14 seasons.

Coach Crowley is one of the most respected figures in the nation as a two-time national coach of the year (2015 and 2016), and currently stands as Boston College’s longest active tenured head coach. It goes without saying that with one of the most eye-popping 30 year resumes in the history of the sport, it was a matter of when, not if, she would be recognized as a Hall of Famer.

The 2023 US Hockey Hall of Fame Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December 6th in Boston.