Plymouth State University

Craig Russell begins his 16th season as head men’s ice hockey coach and 26th year overall with the program in 2025-26. Russell played four seasons in a Panther uniform, served five years as assistant coach and two as associate head coach before becoming the program’s eighth head coach in 2010.
 
Russell has enjoyed remarkable success during his 15 seasons at the helm. His 261 career wins are the 17th most among active D-III coaches in the fewest seasons of anyone in the top-20. He boasts an overall record of 261-97-30 (.711), and has led PSU to 12 MASCAC regular season titles and seven MASCAC Tournament championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. PSU has advanced to the MASCAC Tournament title game in 11 of his 14 seasons.
 
Russell’s Panthers established a program-best record for the second straight season after going 24-3-2 in 2023-24. The team skated the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory, topping #13 Cortland State, 5-2, at Hanaway Rink. It was just the team’s third home NCAA Tournament game. Will Redick ’26 led the nation in goals and points, becoming the program’s second All-American, while four Panthers were chosen as New England All-Stars by the New England Hockey Writers Association.
 
Despite an influx of injuries to key players, PSU went 19-7-0 last winter, blanking Anna Maria, 5-0, in the regular season finale to earn an eighth-straight MASCAC regular season title. The Panthers were upset in the opening round of the MASCAC Tournament, ending a streak of five-straight tournament titles.
 
The 2022-23 season was historic in its own right. Russell recorded his 200th career win and became the program's winningest head coach, while the Panthers set a record for wins in a season (23-4-1), boasted a team-best 19-game winning streak and went a perfect 18-0-0 in MASCAC regular season play. PSU hosted UNE in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Panthers were ranked as high as #8 in the USCHO.com weekly poll. Russell was honored as MASCAC Coach of the Year for the second straight season and fifth time of his career, while Myles Abbate ’23 was awarded several postseason honors, including AHCA First Team All-American, New England Hockey Writers Association DII-III Co-Most Valuable Player, New England Hockey Journal D3 Men's College Player of the Year, MASCAC Player of the Year for the second straight season, and the school's first winner of the Joe Concannon Award.
 
In 2011-12, Russell guided the Panthers to their first MASCAC regular season and tournament titles in the then 40-year history of the program. He duplicated the feat in 2014-15 and then became the first team to five-peat as tournament champions with titles every season from 2018-19 through last year, excluding the COVID-canceled 2020-21 season.
 
Russell has had at least one athlete earn All-MASCAC First Team honors every season except 2019-20, when the team had two Second Team All-Stars and the Rookie of the Year. In the 2012-13 season, PSU had five of the six players to earn First Team All-Conference recognition. All told he has coached 33 First Team All-Stars, 18 Second Teamers, three Rookies of the Year and five Players of the Year. Additionally, several of Russell's players have gone on to sign professional contracts at the conclusion of their collegiate careers.
 
A 2003 graduate of Plymouth State, Russell played four seasons for the Panthers, serving as alternate captain as a senior. He was an on-ice and bench assistant coach for seven years as well as chief recruiter.
 
A native of Northfield, Vt., Russell joined the Panther staff as an assistant in 2003 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2008. In that role he helped lead the Panthers to an 86-80-12 record with four post-season berths (three ECAC, one MASCAC), before taking the reins as head coach.