St. Lawrence University Athletics

Awards & Honors

• 2012 AHCA National Coach of the Year
• 2012 ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year

"The only way to describe Wellsy would be to say that he is 'simply the best.' He is more than just a coach; he cares, he takes the time to get to know his players, he is innovative and he adjusts his game plan or strategies based around the type of team he has that year. He is amazing in all categories. He is the type of coach that make you believe that tying up a 3-1 game with 54 seconds left is 'doable,' and it is! If you want to grow as a person and a player, he will take you to the next level guaranteed. Wellsy and his staff are the real SLU experience, they bring the best out of their players!” — Karell Emard '11 M'12

Chris Wells took over the reins of the St. Lawrence University women's hockey team prior to the 2008-09 season. Now in his 15th at the helm, Wells entered the 2022-23 season with a career mark of 242-183-64 (.569).

In his opening campaign, Wells continued the program's tradition of winning, as he guided the team to the 2009 NCAA Tournament and a 24-11-3 record. In 2012, he led the program to its first ECAC Hockey Tournament title and was named the 2012 AHCA National Coach of the Year. En route to the championship, Wells and his staff, which earned ECAC Hockey Coaching Staff of the Year honors, guided the 2011-12 team to an 18-3-1 stretch from December to March, as the Saints swept Dartmouth in the conference quarterfinals before topping Harvard in overtime in the semifinals. St. Lawrence clinched the ECAC Hockey title and Wells' second career NCAA berth behind a 3-1 win over No. 3 Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Wells coached the team back to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, leading the team to a second-place finish in the ECAC Hockey standings and a 26-6-4 record. The Saints set a program record with a 17-game unbeaten streak (15-0-2) to start the season.

Wells returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach for the men's hockey team in the 1999-2000 season after a stint behind the bench at Western Michigan University. He was named Associate Head Coach of the men's hockey team in January of 2003.

A 1992 graduate of St. Lawrence and one of the heroes of the 1992 ECAC championship team, he earned the Brian P. Doyle Memorial Trophy as a senior. He scored the overtime game winner in a come-from-behind semifinal win over RPI in the 1992 ECAC tournament.

Wells began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Colgate University following a European professional career. He has also served the University as director of St. Lawrence summer sport programs and a co-director of the Saint Summer Hockey School.

Chris and his wife, Kate, are the parents of two daughters, Laura '23 and Sarah and a son, Bobby '25.