Entering his 30th season at Benilde-St. Margaret’s and 33rd season as a head coach in 2022-23 is Ken Pauly, who is in his second stint behind the Red Knight bench.
The 2012 Mariucci Award winner, as the state’s Class AA coach of the year, Pauly has 36 years of high school hockey coaching under his belt, including 33 seasons at BSM.
A Red Knight assistant coach for three years, Pauly took over the reins of the Red Knights in 1990 and began building one of the elite programs in the state, leading the team to Class A state titles in 1999 and 2001.
Pauly was the Red Knights’ head coach for 14 years before taking over at Minnetonka in 2004. He stayed on with the Skippers for three seasons before returning to BSM for the 2007-08 season.
Upon returning to BSM, he took the team to its first Class AA state tournament, claiming third-place honors in 2008, and won the program’s first AA title in 2012.
During his 29 years as the Red Knights’ bench boss, Pauly has amassed three state titles, 15 conference championships and has compiled a 503-237-27 record, making him the winningest coach in the program’s 62-year history.
From 2004 to 2007 he was the head coach at Minnetonka, where his Skippers won the 2006 Classic Lake Conference title and advanced to Class AA state tournament for just the second time in the school’s history, and its fourth state tournament appearance overall, claiming the consolation title.
He was named the Section 6AA coach of the year for his efforts and was also named Minnetonka High School’s 2006 Coach of the Year.
In his 32 years as a head coach, Pauly has put together a 547-268-34 record. He ranks 10th in career victories among Minnesota coaches and second among active coaches. He passed Gene Sack, who coached the first Benilde hockey team in 1958-59, during the 2015-16 campaign on the state’s all-time wins list.
His 300th career win came at the St. Louis Park Rec Center, Jan. 8, 2009, when the Red Knights defeated St. Louis Park, 4-1. His 300th win at BSM came Jan. 29, 2011, as the Red Knights defeated Holy Angels, 8-6.
Pauly became the 19th coach in state history to record 400 career victories on Nov. 29, 2013, when BSM knocked off Duluth Denfeld, 7-2.
He won his 400th career game as the Red Knights’ head coach when Peter Heimbold scored with three minutes, 22 seconds to play in regulation and Cade Gleekel scored with 24 seconds remaining in overtime to give BSM a 2-1 win at 16th-ranked Farmington.
On Jan. 16, 2020, Pauly became the 14th coach in state history to record 500 career victories when the Red Knights posted a 6-3 win at Bloomington Jefferson.
Pauly has also worked with USA hockey’s development program, where he served on the Regional 16- and 17-year-old staffs at the Olympic Training Centers in Marquette, Mich., St. Cloud, Minn., and Lake Placid, N.Y.
School | Season | W | L | T | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BSM | 1990-91 | 18 | 5 | 0 | .783 |
BSM | 1991-92 | 13 | 8 | 2 | .609 |
BSM | 1992-93 | 10 | 12 | 0 | .455 |
BSM | 1993-94 | 13 | 12 | 0 | .520 |
BSM | 1994-95 | 11 | 11 | 2 | .500 |
BSM | 1995-96 | 14 | 7 | 2 | .652 |
BSM | 1996-97 | 6 | 16 | 2 | .292 |
BSM | 1997-98 | 18 | 6 | 1 | .740 |
BSM | 1998-99 | 26 | 2 | 0 | .929 |
BSM | 1999-00 | 23 | 7 | 0 | .767 |
BSM | 2000-01 | 22 | 9 | 0 | .710 |
BSM | 2001-02 | 11 | 14 | 1 | .442 |
BSM | 2002-03 | 18 | 8 | 1 | .685 |
BSM | 2003-04 | 17 | 7 | 2 | .692 |
Minnetonka | 2004-05 | 8 | 15 | 2 | .360 |
Minnetonka | 2005-06 | 20 | 10 | 1 | .661 |
Minnetonka | 2006-07 | 16 | 6 | 4 | .692 |
BSM | 2007-08 | 27 | 4 | 0 | .871 |
BSM | 2008-09 | 21 | 7 | 0 | .750 |
BSM | 2009-10 | 17 | 7 | 3 | .685 |
BSM | 2010-11 | 22 | 5 | 0 | .815 |
BSM | 2011-12 | 25 | 6 | 0 | .806 |
BSM | 2012-13 | 22 | 6 | 0 | .786 |
BSM | 2013-14 | 15 | 9 | 3 | .611 |
BSM | 2014-15 | 15 | 10 | 2 | .593 |
BSM | 2015-16 | 25 | 1 | 1 | .944 |
BSM | 2016-17 | 7 | 18 | 1 | .288 |
BSM | 2017-18 | 12 | 12 | 2 | .500 |
BSM | 2018-19 | 20 | 8 | 0 | .714 |
BSM | 2019-20 | 18 | 8 | 2 | .679 |
BSM | 2020-21 | 15 | 6 | 0 | .714 |
BSM | 2021-22 | 22 | 6 | 0 | .786 |
Totals | 32 Seasons | 547 | 268 | 34 | .664 |
BSM Totals | 29 Seasons | 503 | 237 | 27 | .673 |
In 2009, Pauly won his second Minnesota Wild 3M Excellence in Coaching Award, an honor he also received in 2007 while coaching Minnetonka.
A lifetime member of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association, he served over 10 years on the MHCA’s Executive Board; three of those as President, and he currently sits on the Herb Brooks Foundation’s Board of Directors.
He and his wife, Anne-Marie Dominguez, an English teacher at BSM, are the parents of two children, Caroline ('19) and A.J. ('22).