Men's Hockey: Terry Skrypek Retirement Part 1 | University of St Thomas

St. Thomas' Terry Skrypek, who had a winning formula and no losing seasons, announced his retirement today after a distinguished 40-year Minnesota coaching career. Skrypek was associated with 815 victories in 1,117 games at the prep and college level of hockey, including 419 wins over the last 23 seasons at the University of St. Thomas. Skrypek was named the National Coach of the Year in 2005. He took St. Thomas teams to the NCAA championship games in both 2000 and 2005. "The timing just feels right for a change," Skrypek said. "I look at this as a new beginning. I've been in hockey all my life, so I'd like to stay connected in some way. I could be helping as a volunteer coach with youth hockey or maybe mentoring some young coaches, who knows." The St. Paul native never finished worse than third place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. His Tommie teams won 22 of a possible 46 conference regular-season and playoff championships. Under Skrypek, the Tommies made the conference playoffs all 23 seasons and reached the finals 20 times. They also made the NCAA playoffs 11 times. Skrypek never had a losing season in 48 years in hockey, from his high school career at Cretin to his college career at St. Marys. He was a Hill-Murray assistant for three years (1970-73) and Pioneers head coach the next 14 years (1973-87). His teams won 88% of their games (325-44-3) and 13 of a possible 14 conference crowns. Skrypeks H-M teams also played in four Minnesota state hockey championship games and won the 1983 crown. That Pioneer team won four post-season games by one goal and set a season scoring record (8.7 goals per game) that still stands as it capped of a 28-0 season. En route to the unbeaten season, Hill-Murray rallied from a 7-2 deficit in its final regular-season game and edged Rochester John Marshall in overtime. Skrypeks teams earned a reputation for playing their best hockey late in the season. In postseason play, his Hill-Murray teams compiled a 61-16 record, while his St. Thomas teams went 42-29-6. "Coaching for me has never felt like work -- it's been a labor of love," Skrypek said. "I always look forward to coming to the rink every day. I always just tried to get me players to compete hard at all times. We want to win, but we wanted to win the right way. I never looked at the big picture during that time and dwelled on all the team successes, but I guess I always focused at that current season and tried to bring that team through to its potential." With his help, both the Hill-Murray and St. Thomas hockey programs have achieved the rare feat of surpassing 1,000 all-time victories. The Tommies were the first current Division III program to reach that milestone. In his 23-year era, St. Thomas went 419-197-46 (.670), including a stellar 275-70-23 (.780) record in conference regular-season play. Skrypeks Tommie teams never finished out of the top three in the MIAC hockey standings - 13 championships, eight runner-up places, and just two third-place finishes. He also guided St. Thomas to nine playoff titles, including the 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010 postseason crowns on the road as a No. 2 or 3 seed. Skrypek coached 25 All-Americans in his 23 seasons, including 2000 Division III Player of the Year Steve Aronson. He's also coached seven MIAC Player of the Year recipients. Hes a member of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame as well as the Athletic Hall of Fames at Cretin High, St. Marys University and the University of St. Thomas. Skrypek is one of just two Minnesota coaches along with his friend and ex-UST colleague Dennis Denning to win 300 or more games and win a state championship at the high-school level, and also win 400 or more games, reach an NCAA championship game, and be named National Coach of the Year in college. St. Thomas will have an announcement soon on the process to name its next head hockey coach. Skrypek will retire from UST effective June 30.

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