Ben Russell is in his second season as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf College men's hockey program in 2021-22 after joining head coach Eddie Effinger's staff on August 26, 2020.
In his first season on the Hill, St. Olaf was limited to two games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, defeating Saint Mary's by a 3-2 margin before falling to Hamline by the same score four days later.
Russell came to St. Olaf following four seasons as the assistant director of hockey operations at NCAA Division I Cornell University, where he was part of a program that finished the 2019-20 season as the No. 1-ranked team in the country by USCHO.com.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Ben join our hockey program,” Effinger said. “His tireless work ethic and passion for the game will prove invaluable to our staff and will serve as a great example for our student-athletes. In addition, Ben’s work at Cornell has prepared him to effectively coach our student-athletes at St. Olaf. I have no doubt Ben will prove to be a tremendous asset for our athletic department and our campus. We are very excited to welcome Ben to St. Olaf.”
During Russell’s four seasons at Cornell, the Big Red compiled a record of 94-28-15 (.741), which includes a mark of 61-14-13 (.767) in the ECAC. Cornell won at least 21 games in each of the last four seasons and ended 2019-20 with the nation’s best winning percentage (.862), marking the second time in the last three seasons the program has accomplished that feat.
The Big Red made three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including being a regional finalist in 2019, and were positioned to make it four in a row before the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. In Russell’s time on staff, Cornell also won three ECAC regular season titles and three Ivy League championships.
Prior to Cornell, Russell served as the hockey operations assistant for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL), an assistant camp director for the Cornell Hockey Elite Prospect Camp, and as a video coordinator for USA Hockey.
Russell graduated from Cornell in 2020 with a bachelor of science in industrial labor relations and a minor in business.
