Kevin Houle, who led Plattsburgh State to its first-ever Women’s NCAA Division III Championship, has been voted by his peers as the Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year. The Cardinals went 27-0-2, setting a school record for wins and winning percentage while ranking number one in the country for most of the season.

The Cardinals won their fourth straight ECAC-West Division regular season championship and captured their second straight ECAC-West tournament title. The record-setting season was all the more impressive in that Plattsburgh skated only two seniors.

Houle, who is 96-16-6 in four seasons at the school, captured the NCAA title by virtue of two heartstopping wins on home ice. The Cardinals defeated Amherst, 3-2, in the semifinals, and then bested threetime defending NCAA champion Middlebury, 2-1, in the final. Houle is a 1986 graduate of Boston College, where he lettered for four years for coach Len Ceglarski.

The runner-up for this year’s award was Jim Plumer of Amherst College. Other finalists for the award were John Bazzachini, St. Olaf; Joe Cranston, Wisconsin-River Falls; Diane Dillon, Oswego State; David Flint, Saint Anselm; Bill Mandigo, Middlebury College; Anne Ninnemann, Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Coach of the Year Award is chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association and will be presented on April 28 at the Coach of the Year Celebration in Naples, Florida, as part of the annual AHCA Convention.