Matt Loen

Matt Loen (born November 9, 1972) is an American ice hockey coach and former player who was the NCAA Division III coach of the year.

Career Loen attended the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire from 1991 and joined the ice hockey program. After his freshman campaign, he became one of the top scorers for the Blugolds and helped to lead the team in scoring as a senior. He earned a professional contract after graduating and continued his career in the minor leagues. In 1997, a 100-point season helped promote him to the top level of the minor leagues. Loen stayed at the AAA level for half a season around 2000. Afterwards, he returned to the lower level and finished playing in 2003.

A few years later, Loen returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. He spent two years in the position before replacing Luke Strand as head coach. In his sixth season, Wisconsin–Eau Claire won 20 games for the first time in program history and reached the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in 36 years. The Blugolds stunned tournament favorite St. Norbert in the quarter final round and then won the National Championship. Loen was named as the national coach of the year for this turnaround.

The following year, Wisconsin–Eau Claire was a founding member of the WIAC's ice hockey division. The Blugolds continued to perform well under Loen and recorded at least 15 wins in each of the next seven seasons. Despite a pair of conference titles, UWEC was unable to return to the national tournament until 2020. The championship was cancelled before a game could be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Loen continued to coach the team and the Blugolds won a league title in 2022.

Statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular Season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1991–92 Wisconsin–Eau Claire NCHA 170110————— 1992–93 Wisconsin–Eau Claire NCHA 269142312————— 1993–94 Wisconsin–Eau Claire NCHA 2715254036————— 1994–95 Wisconsin–Eau Claire NCHA 2719375610————— 1995–96 Madison Monsters CoHL 683639752664372 1996–97 Madison Monsters CoHL 7347591061652352 1997–98 Madison Monsters UHL 503453872055274 1997–98 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 9033020000 1998–99 Madison Monsters UHL 4726356130————— 1998–99 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 210110————— 1999–00 Madison Kodiaks UHL 3519274630————— 1999–00 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 457916431232 2000–01 Kalamazoo Wings UHL 722136576811012 2000–01 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 10110————— 2001–02 Tacoma Sabercats WCHL 521734513050224 2002–03 Rockford IceHogs UHL 762252744830116 NCAA totals 97 43 77 120 58 — — — — — UHL/CoHL totals 421 205 301 506 238 20 12 9 21 16 IHL totals 55 7 13 20 4 5 1 2 3 2

Head coaching record