Bemidji State has announced that Amber Fryklund has been named the sixth head coach in Beavers women’s hockey history.
Fryklund replaces Jim Scanlan, who stepped down earlier this week.
“It is an honor to be named head coach of our women’s hockey program at Bemidji State University,” said Fryklund in a statement. “I want to thank President Hoffman and director of athletics Britt Lauritsen for this opportunity and for their support of our program. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead our special group of student-athletes and excited about the future of Beaver Women’s Hockey.”
Fryklund has served on the BSU women’s hockey coaching staff for 10 seasons, including four as associate head coach. She rejoined the Beaver coaching staff this past season after a three-year teaching career as an assistant professor of Human Performance, Sport and Health at Bemidji State.
Aside from performing her on-ice coaching duties, Fryklund has supervised numerous responsibilities including but not limited to organizing and presenting video analysis, recruiting student-athletes, oversee student-athlete success in the classroom and coordinating team travel.
Since joining the Beavers coaching staff in 2011, Fryklund has helped guide the Beavers to two 20-win seasons and two WCHA Final Face-off appearances. She has also aided in the mentoring of 105 student-athletes including WCHA co-player of the year Zuzana Tomcikova, WCHA defensive player of the year Ivana Bilic, 14 All-WCHA honorees and two All-Americans (Tomcikova, Brittni Mowat).
Fryklund was a member of the Beavers from 2000 to 2003 where she recorded 122 points off 59 goals and 63 assists in just three seasons. She still sits as the program’s all-time leading scorer and is the program’s leading goal scorer and is second in assists. She became the first player in program history to reach 100 career points and is one of just three to accomplish the feat. Fryklund was also Bemidji State’s first-ever all-WCHA selection with a second team nod in 2002 and earned the recognition twice in her career.
She was inducted into the Bemidji State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
Following her collegiate playing career, Fryklund taught Physical Education within the Duluth Public Schools and Marshall School systems in Duluth, Minn., for eight years. She also co-coached the Duluth Northern Stars from 2003 to 2009 and was an assistant coach with the Proctor-Hermantown-Marshall Mirage high school girls team from 2009 to 2011.
In addition to her commitment to Bemidji State, Fryklund has devoted her skills and time to the development of girl’s hockey through the Minnesota Hockey and USA Hockey developmental programs. She has served as development director of Minnesota Hockey’s High Performance Girls 15 Program as well as associate coach in chief for female coach development.
She has also worked numerous USA Hockey Developmental Camps and was a coach at the USA Top 66 Player Selection Camp in 2017. Earlier this year, Fryklund was named to the coaching staff of the 2025 Under-18 Women’s National Team that will compete at the 2025 IIHF U-18 Women’s World Championship in Vantaa, Finland, where she will serve as an assistant coach.
Fryklund has served on numerous committees during her career, including the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Hockey Rules Committee and the Bemidji State Title IX Committee.
Originally from Hibbing, Minn., she received her Bachelor of Science degree in physical education teaching K-12 from Bemidji State in 2003 and her Master’s Degree in educational leadership from Minnesota Duluth in 2007. She received her Doctorate Degree in Higher Education Administration from St. Cloud State in 2019.
