Two-time Olympic gold medalist Caroline Oullette left an indelible imprint on the University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey program during her remarkable playing career. Now she's back with the Bulldogs again, but this time it's in a different capacity -- as an assistant coach. The announcement of her hiring was made today by UMD head coach Shannon Miller.



Ouellette, 27, replaces Ira \"Mimmu\" Turunen, who, after a seven-year association with the Bulldogs (including the last three seasons in an assistant coaching role), is leaving at the end of this month to become a public relations assistant in UMD's Office of University Relations.



\"While we are sorry to be losing a such a fantastic individual in Mimmu, we are excited to have someone of Caroline's status join us,\" said Miller, who will begin her eighth season behind the UMD bench this fall. \"Caroline immediately brings credibility to our program in that she is an alumnus of UMD, a NCAA champion, a world champion, and an Olympic champion. She'll work very closely with our players as a mentor and role model and will be a great asset to UMD athletics.\"



Despite skating at UMD for just three seasons, Ouellette collected 92 goals and 137 assists for 229 points in a mere 97 games. -- good for third place on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring charts. As a senior forward in 2004-05, she captained the Bulldogs to a 26-6-2 overall record and an NCAA quarterfinal playoff berth en route to receiving NCAA All-American recognition for the second time in as many years . In addition, Ouellette was chosen the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's Student-Athlete of the Year -- a UMD first -- and a repeat finalist for the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Award as the most outstanding player in women's college hockey in both 2004-05. A three-time All-WCHA selection (first team in 2004-05 and 20002-03 and second team in 2003-04) and member of the WCHA's All-Rookie Team in 2002-03, Oullette reigned as the NCAA's top point (2.38 per outing) and assist (1.47 apg) as a junior and, one year earlier, landed the Most Valuable Player Award at the NCAA Frozen Four after host UMD laid claim to its third straight national title.



Ouellette's success at the international level is equally as impressive. The Montreal, Quebec native helped lead Canada to gold medal finishes at both the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games. This past winter, she skated in a team-high 47 games for Canada's national team, racking up 40 points on 17 goals and 23 assists in the process. Ouellette was part of four International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships gold medalist (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004) and brought home a silver in 2005.



\"My coaches at UMD had such a profound impact on me as a both an athlete and a person,\" said Ouellette, a two-time WCHA All-Academic Team pick and the 2004-05 E.L. \"Duce\" Rasmussen Award recipient (UMD's top female scholar athlete). \"They instilled in me a passion and desire to one day teach the game of hockey.



\"I feel very honored and privileged to start my coaching career at UMD and work under Shannon Miller, who is the best coach I ever been associated with. UMD is a school which really cares about athletics and women's hockey so this is truly an ideal situation for me and I couldn't be happier about coming back.\"



Ouellette, a 2005 CoSIDA third team Academic All-American, graduated from UMD in May 2005 with bachelor degrees in criminology and women's studies.