Minnesota is known as the State of Hockey, and has a long history of talented athletes, big games and longtime rivalries. Thanks to Sheila Brown, there’s also a place for girls and women in the state of hockey.

Brown served as the athletic director at St. Catherine University from 1994-2005. In 1994, the Minnesota State High school League became the first state high school association in the country to sanction girl’s ice hockey. In 1995, Augsburg became the first Minnesota college or university to officially add women’s ice hockey as an intercollegiate sport.

Brown, who passed away in 2005, watched as the number of high school girls playing hockey started at 454 from 35 different schools and then took off, and she also watched as Augsburg launched its program. She started working with the United States Olympic Committee to secure a half-million dollar grant for ice hockey program development in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).

In the fall of 1997, the MIAC was awarded the funds from the USOC, and eight institutions were able to start women’s hockey programs because of it. That number has grown to 10 varsity ice hockey programs in the years since, and, thanks to Brown’s foresight and leadership, the conference has become a strong contender in the Division III ice hockey field each year.

Because of her contributions to growing the sport, each year the MIAC presents the Sheila Brown Award to a senior women’s hockey player who has made a long-term contribution to her team’s success and has consistently competed with good sportsmanship.

While hockey was her big project during her time at St. Kate’s and in the MIAC, Brown was passionate about giving women opportunities to excel at all sports. She brought varsity basketball back to St. Kate’s in 1995, and also added varsity soccer in 1997. She served as the Chair of the MIAC Athletic Directors, and the beginning of the expanded MIAC playoff system started during her tenure. She was instrumental in making sure playoff policy was written and then modified and adjusted as needed – all to allow more women, and more teams, the opportunity to excel.