University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey head coach Maura Crowell's coaching resume is getting rather lengthy very quickly.

Crowell was named the 2017-18 USA Under-18 National Team associate head coach Wednesday, the first time the third-year Bulldog skipper has been an associate  head coach in the USA Hockey program.  No stranger to the international hockey scene, Crowell was an assistant coach for the 2016 United States Women's National Under-18 World Championship gold medal winning squad that earned gold in St. Catherines, Ontario. In addition to serving as an assistant at the 2010 Women's National Festival in Lake Placid, N.Y., since 2007, Crowell has served as a coach at U-14, U-16 and U-17 USA Hockey National Development Camps in Rochester, N.Y. and St. Cloud, Minn.

"It's a great honor to serve on the U-18 National Team staff again," said Crowell.  "I look forward to helping the players fulfill their dreams of winning gold in 2018."

Under Crowell, the Bulldogs blossomed this past season, posting a 25-7-5 overall record and the program's first NCAA Quarterfinal game at home since 2010.  For her efforts during the 2016-17 season, Crowell was named the USCHO Division I Women's Coach of the Year, as well as the the CCM/AHCA Division I Women's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year Award for 2017.  Crowell was also crowned the 2016-17 WCHA Coach of the Year after UMD earned 19 WCHA wins in 2016-17, the program's highest since the 2010-11 season, and finished third in the ultra-competitive WCHA (and just three points out of second place).  Crowell helped UMD back into the national rankings, and the Bulldogs reached as a high as second in both the USCHO.com and USA TODAY/ USA Hockey Magazine national polls for six weeks before resting in fifth in both final season polls.  The Bulldogs were also runners-up in the 2017 WCHA Final Face-Off tournament to the University of Wisconsin, UMD's first trip back to the tournament's final game since the 2012 season.

On Crowell's watch, UMD had two All-Americans in the 2016-17 season (Lara Stalder and Sidney Morin), as well as run on league awards, including 2016-17 WCHA Player of the Year (Stalder), Defensive Player of the Year (Morin) and WCHA Student Athlete of the Year.  UMD also had five players placed on All-WCHA Teams, and tacked on a program-record 10 WCHA Scholar Athletes in 2016-17, as well as a program-high 16 WCHA All-Academic Team members.