With Saturday's 7-2 win at UW-Stevens Point, Falcon women's hockey Coach Joe Cranston earned his 200^th career win.

Cranston is in his 13^th year at UWRF and is the only coach in Falcon women's hockey history. The popular head coach has molded the Falcons into one of the nation's elite teams. The Falcons entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the USCHO.com poll.

Cranston has led the Falcons to the NCAA playoffs in 2003, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2009 and 2010 teams also won the NCHA playoff championships. The 2009 and 2011 teams won the regular season NCHA title and the 2009 team advanced to the NCAA semifinals.

Saturday's win gives the Falcons a 6-0 overall and NCHA record. UWRF has outscored its opponents, 33-13, this year.

"The 200 wins is a nice milestone," said Cranston. "We have some great players here and it's a great accomplishment for the program." 

Last year's team finished the regular season undefeated with a 22-0-3 record. The Falcons advanced to the NCHA playoff title game for the fourth straight year. UWRF finished 24-2-4 overall and the 24 wins set a single season record.

The 2010 team finished with a 20-4-6 overall record and went on the road to win the NCHA playoff title with a 4-1 win over Adrian in the semifinals and a 2-1 win over Superior in the finals.?The 2009 team finished with a 20-7-3 overall record and were a near perfect 15-2-1 in NCHA play. Cranston was named the NCHA Coach of the Year for the third time and was the runner up for the American Hockey Coaches Association Coach of the Year award that year.

The Falcons won the 2009 playoff championship with a 6-2 semifinal win over Lake Forest and a 5-3 win over Stevens Point in the finals. UWRF advanced to the NCAA playoffs and went on the road to beat the No. 1 team in the country, Gustavus Adolphus, 2-1, to advance to the finals.

Cranston now has a 200-102-30 career record at UWRF. Entering the 2011-12 season, In all of women's college hockey, he is 11th in winning percentage (.641) among all coaches. His 194 wins is third among Div. III active and all-time coaches.

Cranston reached a career milestone early in the 2007 season. When the Falcons defeated Bethel, 2-1, on Nov. 10 it was Cranston's 100th career win. He now has a 123-40-19 record in NCHA regular season games.

Cranston's masterful coaching has helped him win the 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2011 NCHA Coach of the Year awards. He was a finalist for the AHCA Div. III Coach of the Year award in each of those four seasons.

Cranston has been the leader of the Falcon program since its inception in 1999. He has led the Falcons to national and regional prominence. His teams have finished no lower than third place in the highly competitive Northern Collegiate Hockey Association.

Cranston has led the Falcons to more overall and NCHA wins than any other current coach in the league. His teams have won more NCHA playoff games than any other active NCHA coach. Cranston has led the Falcons to a 19-8 record in NCHA playoff games.

He has coached the Falcons to 11 straight winning seasons. Nine times players he has coached have been named All-Americans. Fifty-seven of his players have earned All-NCHA recognition and 44 players have earned NCHA All-Academic honors. In 2011 19 of the team's 26 players were named to the WIAC Scholastic Honor Roll.

The 2007 Falcons surprised most observers with their second place finish in the NCHA regular season. UWRF finished 9-4-2 in league play and finished just one point out of first place. The Falcons were second in goals for and third in goals against in the NCHA.

In 2005 the Falcons reached the NCHA playoff championship game for the fourth time in the league's six-year history. UWRF beat Superior, 5-4, in overtime to reach the finals.

The Falcons had another banner year in 2004 finishing 17-9-1 overall and 11-4-1 in the NCHA. The Falcons advanced to the NCHA playoffs and won the third place game.

UWRF had its best season ever in the school's seven-year history in 2003. They finished 20-6-4 overall and won the NCHA regular season title with a 12-1-3 record. They went on to win the NCHA playoff championship for the second time. The Falcons then got the team's first ever berth into the NCAA Div. III playoffs. In a first round game the Falcons beat St. Thomas, 5-1, and advanced to the NCAA semifinals. In Elmira, N.Y., the Falcons lost to the eventual national champions, Elmira, 2-1 in the semifinals.

In 2002 the Falcons finished 13-11-3 overall and 8-6-2 and finished third in the NCHA. UWRF won a first-round NCHA playoff game to reach the league playoff championship game for the second straight year. UWRF lost a close 2-1 decision to UW-Stevens Point in the title game in Stevens Point. In 2001 the Falcons finished 19-7-1 and finished second in the NCHA regular-season standings. Cranston then led the Falcons to the NCHA Playoff Championship. UWRF beat UW-Stevens Point, 4-1, in the playoff semifinals and then the Falcons topped regular-season champions, UW-Superior, 2-1 in the title game.