Men’s hockey coach Terry Skrypek retires

caption (Shane Kitzman/TommieMedia)
Men's hockey coach Terry Skyrpek announces his retirement Monday afternoon. (Shane Kitzman/TommieMedia)

After amassing 419 victories in 23 seasons for the St. Thomas men’s hockey program, coach Terry “Skry” Skrypek is retiring.

The coach who has never experienced a losing season in 40 years at both St. Thomas and Hill-Murray High School announced his decision Monday afternoon during a press conference at the University of St. Thomas.

“It’s always been fun,” Skrypek said. “It’s time for someone else to step in and keep the tradition going.”

Skrypek helped the St. Thomas men’s hockey program surpass 1,000 all-time victories – the first current Division III program to do so. The 2005 National Coach of the Year said he took pride in making model citizens of his hockey players.

“He taught us how to be fair and honest,” senior Parker Burgess said.

Skrypek taught players plenty about winning as well.

He tallied 815 career victories coaching at the high school and collegiate levels.

He also is only the second Minnesota coach to win 300 or more games and a state championship at the high-school level, plus win more than 400 college games, reach an NCAA championship and be named National Coach of the Year. The other coach to do that is former St. Thomas baseball coach Dennis Denning, who retired last December.

“Dennis knew it. I just knew it,” Skrypek said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a couple years, and I know Dennis probably had the same thing, and it hit him all of a sudden and I think it hit me all of a sudden.”

Skrypek said that he plans to stay involved in some way with the sport he loves but is looking forward to having more time for other things in life.

“I like to fish with my son. We have a boat together,” Skrypek said. “I can spend more time with my wife. We can go to a show on a Friday or Saturday night which we haven’t done in ages.”

St. Thomas finds itself with a large hole to fill at the coaching position, and Skrypek was quick to praise assistant coach Jeff “Duke” Boeser as a potential candidate.

“I think Duke would be a great coach,” Skrypek said. “He’ll coach with passion and I think that’s huge. Duke will do a great job.”

Boeser played his college hockey at St. Thomas and has coached all 23 seasons with Skrypek.

“He’s one of my best friends,” Boeser said. “I’ve learned everything about the game from Skry.”

Players who attended the news conference also spoke about lessons learned from Skrypek and pointed to him as the reason for the program’s continual success.

Senior Matt Letourneau said Skrypek has taken the program “from something that wasn’t that respected across the country to a national powerhouse. So much of his success comes from getting good people and people with character on his team.”

Senior Joe Schraeder said he enjoyed playing for Skrypek. “He always taught us to have a good attitude coming to the rink,” he said.

Skrypek’s retirement from St. Thomas will take effect June 30, and the university expects to announce his replacement soon.

Shane Kitzman contributed to this report.

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu