Steve Sertich enters his fifth season as head coach of the BSU women’s hockey program. At the end of the 2009-10 regular season, Sertich was honored as the 2010 WCHA Coach of the Year as the team soared to new heights never-before-seen at Bemidji State. Finishing tied for fifth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with a 12-19-7 overall record (9-12-7-3 WCHA), the team claimed its first-ever playoff victory. The team eventually won its playoff series and made the debut trip to the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF in Minneapolis, before bowing out after losing to the eventual National Champions Minnesota Duluth.

In the spring on 2010, Seritch was inducted into the Minnesota High School Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame. The honor, which is bestowed by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association, is given to coaches that have outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the state of Minnesota.

Under his tutelage, the BSU women’s hockey team has posted its most conference wins in a single season, with nine in both 2009-10 and 2006-07. Sertich has also coached two Olympians while at Bemidji State, Nina Ziegenhals who played for Team Germany in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and Zuzana Tomickova who played for Team Slovakia in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver

During summer 2008, Sertich served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s Under-22 Select team that played in the annual three-game Women’s Under-22 Series with Canada, which took place from Aug. 20-23.

Sertich came to Bemidji State University after spending 13 years as the head varsity coach at Roseville Area High School. He coached the Roseville boys’ team from 1993-2003, leading it to a 156-71-11 record and two Minnesota State tournament appearances. Under Sertich’s guidance, Roseville finished third in the 2002 tournament and second in 2003. He led Roseville to Suburban East Conference Championships in 2002 and 2003. Sertich earned four Coach of the Year honors, as he was named Section 3AA boys’ Coach of the Year in 1999, Section 2AA Boys’ Coach of the Year in both 2002 and 2003, and Class AA Coach of the Year in 2003.  

In 2003, Sertich moved to head coach of the Roseville girls’ varsity team and in three seasons led the program to a record of 62-21-2. The Roseville girls finished fourth in the 2006 state tournament and captured Suburban East Conference titles in both ‘04 and ‘05. Sertich was named the 2004 Section 2AA Girls’ Coach of the Year. Sertich began his coaching career in 1976 as the head boys’ varsity coach at Northfield (Minn.) High School, and over the next 20 years he would hold a variety of head and assistant coaching positions at the high school, college and national levels.  

After one year at Northfield, he moved on to Virginia (Minn.) High School as head boys’ varsity hockey coach for one year, was an assistant with Team Midwest in the U.S. National Development Program at the 1979 Olympic Sports Festival, spent one year as an assistant at Colorado College in 1982-83, and served three years as an assistant coach at Palmer (Colo.) High School from 1983-86.

He returned back to Minnesota in 1987 as the assistant boys’ varsity coach at Blaine (Minn.) High School and later served as an assistant at Richfield (Minn.) High School. In 1997, he was an assistant for Team Minnkota with the U.S. Development Program Select 17 program.
Sertich also has extensive camp coaching experience, starting as the director and head coach of the Minnesota Hockey Satellite Training Program in Roseville from 1995-2003. In addition, he has been the director of the Roseville Summer Hockey School since 2000 and the director and head coach of the Roseville Hockey Satellite Training Program since 2003.

Sertich began his playing career with the Colorado College Tigers in 1970 and assembled a standout four-year career, during which he played 125 games and scored 162 points (75G, 87A). He had 53 points (28G, 25A) as a junior in 1972-73 and 61 points (25G, 36A) as a senior in 1973-74.

Sertich was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1973-75, and played on a team which trained in Bemidji. He was also a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, which finished fifth at the Innsbruck, Austria games. The U.S. team recorded wins over Finland and Poland en route to a 2-3 finish in Group A.

He also played two years in the German Professional League, spending the 1974-75 season as captain for Fussen and two seasons from 1978-80 playing for Nurnburg.  

In May 2007, Sertich became the Vice President of Board of Directors for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum located in Eveleth, Minn. Some of his responsibilities as Vice President of Board of Directors includes making decisions on marketing and purchasing endeavors, along with planning and making decisions for specific operations taking place throughout the year. Currently, Sertich is working on organizing the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum game which will be held in Eveleth. The first Hall of Fame game will take place Oct. 18 of this season, when the Beavers face the University of Wisconsin at the Hippodrome.

Sertich is a 1974 graduate of Colorado College with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and humanities. He received a master’s degree in elementary education from Minnesota State in 1999.

Sertich’s son, Marty Sertich, played for Colorado College from 2002-06 and scored 181 points (61G, 121A) during a stellar four-year career. He won the 2005 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given to the most outstanding player in college hockey, and was a finalist for the award in 2006. He was First-Team All WCHA and WCHA Player of the Year in 2005 and was a second team All-WCHA selection in 2006. Marty is currently in the National Hockey League, playing in the Colorado Avalanche organization.