Ben Russell '20 enters his third season as part of the full-time Cornell men's hockey team coaching staff. The 2024-25 season will be Russell's second as an assistant coach. In addition to his assistant coach duties, Russell will also served as the program's director of hockey operations.
This is Russell's second stint with Cornell after he spent all four years of his undergraduate studies serving as an assistant director of hockey operations. Russell helped coordinate video, analyzed film, prepared scouting reports, and incorporated advanced analytics into game preparation. He also helped coordinate and manage the Big Red's elite prospect camp.
Prior to his return to East Hill, Russell spent two seasons on the staff at St. Olaf, a Minnesota-based Division III school, under head coach Eddie Effinger, helping the 2021-22 team to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. They did that with one of the youngest rosters in collegiate hockey, as 84 percent of its points came from first-year players with top 10 program marks for goals, assists and points. Russell's first year behind the bench was shortened to two games due to the global pandemic.
Along with his time coaching, Russell has also built his résumé with internships with the American Hockey League's (AHL) Syracuse Crunch and USA Hockey, which included serving as an assistant coach at the 2023 USA Hockey BioSteel Boys 17 National Festival in Amherst, N.Y.
Russell graduated from Cornell in 2020 with a degree in industrial and labor relations and a minor in business.
