Ashleigh Brykaliuk will embark on her third-straight season in 2026-27 after her return to the Bulldog coaching staff in 2024 after stepping away in June of 2021 to play for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the PHF from 2021-2023.
Since she's returned, Brykaliuk has helped UMD to three NCAA Tournaments and helped the Bulldogs produce 11 draft picks over her tenure. With Brykaliuk as an assistant, UMD has also produced four first time Olympians (Nina Jobst-Smith, Thea Johannson, Tindra Holm and Ida Karlsson) and a two-time All-American in Eve Gascon.
Brykaliuk first joined the UMD coaching staff of her alma mater in the spring of 2018 after a professional hockey career in China. During the 2020-21 season, Brykaliuk became just the fourth former UMD player to play in both a NCAA Quarterfinal game and coach in one, and was the third former player to coach in an NCAA Frozen Four after helping the Bulldogs get back to college hockey's biggest stage in 2021.
A native of Brandon, Manitoba, Brykaliuk graduated from UMD in May of 2017 with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. As a student-athlete, she captained the Bulldogs into the 2017 NCAA Quarterfinals, helping UMD earn its first home NCAA Tournament contest since 2010. Brykaliuk was a two-time All-WCHA Second Team honoree, earning the award in both 2016-17 and 2015-16. Brykaliuk had back-to-back 40-plus point seasons as a junior and a senior, and finished her career as the 12th highest scorer in UMD history. Over 146 career games, Brykaliuk scored 62 goals and added 83 assists for a whopping 145 points -- nearly a 1.00 point per game average.
A two-time team captain, Brykaliuk recorded the second-longest scoring streak in UMD history -- a 19-game, 26 point run that lasted from Oct. 29, 2016 through Feb. 11, 2017. Brykaliuk was also a two-time WCHA All-Academic Team selection in both 2016-17 and 2015-16. Just this past winter, Brykaliuk was selected to the UMD Women's Hockey 25th Anniversary Team. Overlapping with her time as a Bulldog, Brykaliuk was a member of Team Canada's U18 and National Development program from (2013-15).
