Harvard announced Thursday that Laura Bellamy will be the next women’s hockey head coach.
Bellamy, a 2013 Harvard graduate, takes over for Katey Stone, who retired in June.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Bellamy back to lead Harvard women’s ice hockey,” said Harvard director of athletics Erin McDermott in a statement. “Laura brings a deep commitment to coaching and mentoring student-athletes excelling on the ice, in the classroom, and engaged in the community. We look forward to watching her coach in the rink that meant so much to her as a player.”
Bellamy brings extensive hockey knowledge and coaching talent to Cambridge, where she will take on a head coaching role for the first time.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to work with an impressive group of student-athletes at a place I know and love,” said Bellamy. “It is a great honor to return to the program, institution, and community that had such a transformative impact on me during my college years and is filled with people who encouraged and supported me on the ice and off. My aim is to advance this program by providing our student-athletes with a world-class experience and striving for national prominence in NCAA women’s ice hockey.”
Bellamy returns to Harvard after eight seasons on staff at Minnesota Duluth. After arriving as an assistant coach in 2015, Bellamy was elevated to the associate head coach role prior to the 2019-20 season. During her eight years in Duluth, Bellamy helped transform the Bulldogs into a national power, securing four NCAA tournament berths and two Frozen Four appearances, and a finish as the national runner-up in 2022. UMD was consistently ranked inside the national top 15 under and earned its highest ranking in program history after earning a No. 4 ranking this past season.
A noted developer of talent, Bellamy coached 10 Olympians, two Patty Kazmaier top-3 finalists, seven All-Americans, two Hockey Humanitarian Award finalists, 26 all-WCHA selections, three WCHA student-athletes of the year, one WCHA player of the year, two WCHA defenders of the year and two WCHA goaltenders of the year during her time in Duluth.
Her efforts did not go unnoticed as in 2022, she was named the AHCA national assistant coach of the year.
After her graduation from Harvard in 2013, Bellamy chose to stay in Cambridge and begin her coaching career with the Crimson. The Duluth, Minn., native led all video coordination, scouting and training efforts for Harvard, helping lead the team to a run of success during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. In just three years in her role, Harvard earned two NCAA tournament bids and finished as the national runner-up in 2015 after making the Frozen Four.
A former standout herself, Bellamy remains one of Harvard’s best goaltenders in its 45-year history. She holds the program record for lowest goals-against average in a season (0.92 in 2012-13) and is second in career shutouts (19) and third in wins (60). Additionally, the two-time captain received first team all-Ivy recognition in 2012-13.
Bellamy’s coaching expertise has also been on display in the international hockey scene as shown in her participation in USA Hockey. The program has invited Bellamy to coach at the USA Hockey Player Development Camp annually since 2014. She also participated as a coach at the USA Hockey Women’s National Team Goaltending Camp from 2017 to 2019.
An ambassador and advocate for women’s ice hockey, Bellamy has served on several committees, including the AHCA Women’s Hockey Bracket Expansion Committee that met in 2021, and successfully expanded the NCAA tournament field from eight to 11 teams.
Bellamy is excited and thankful to be coming back to coach her alma mater.
“I would like to thank Erin McDermott, Tim Troville, and the rest of the search committee for the tremendous opportunity to lead Harvard Women’s Ice Hockey,” said Bellamy.
