Ken Pauly of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in Class 2A and Bruce Plante of Hermantown in Class 1A have been named the Coach of the Year in their respective divisions by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association.

Pauly led the Red Knights to a 25-6-0 record and the state Class 2A championship, navigating a turbulent season that included a paralyzing injury to sophomore Jack Jablonski.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s was the only non-No. 1 seeded team in its section to reach the state tournament, and the Red Knights were not among the state tournament’s four seeded teams.

Pauly led the Red Knights to state Class 1A titles in 1999 and 2001. He guided Benilde-St. Margaret’s to a third-place finish in Class 2A in 2008. He has a 12-2 coaching record at the state tournament.

Plante guided the Hawks to a perfect regular season and to the state Class 1A championship game for the third straight season and fourth time in six years. Hermantown lost to St. Thomas Academy in the title game to finish as the runner-up for the third consecutive season.

Plante led Hermantown to an unbeaten season culminated by a state Class 1A title in 2007.

Ken Jones of Two Harbors and Terry Johnson of Duluth East won assistant coach of the year awards.

Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato in Class 1A and Eden Prairie in 2A won the academic state championships. The Class 2A honor is the third straight for the Eagles, while it was the second straight championship for the Dragons.