By Patrick McHugh, News staff

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Women’s hockey head coach Dave Flint is taking his coaching prowess to the national level.

Flint was named an assistant coach of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team last Thursday. He and Jodi McKenna, head coach at Wesleyan University, will be assistant coaches under Mark Johnson of the University of Wisconsin, who was named the head coach of the team.

This will not be Flint’s first foray into coaching the U.S. National Teams. On February 27 he was named an assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team that competed in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s Championship in Hameenlinna, Finland. The U.S. team defeated Canada 4-1 to win gold and claim the world’s number one ranking April 12.

Prior to being an assistant on the U.S. National Team, Flint was an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s Select Team that won gold for the Four Nations Cup in 2008. Flint was also a goaltending consultant for the U.S. Women’s National Program all of last season.

Flint said he was thankful for the opportunity to coach a national team once again.

‘I am very grateful to Michele Amidon, Mark Johnson and USA Hockey for providing me with such a tremendous opportunity, and to Peter Roby and Northeastern University for being so supportive,’ Flint said in a statement on the Northeastern athletics website. ‘I look forward to working with a great coaching staff as well as the best female hockey players in the world.’

The players of the 2009-10 U.S. Women’s National Team will be selected in August. The team’s big tournament will be the 2010 Olympic Winter Games scheduled for February in Vancouver. To prepare for the 2010 Olympics the team will compete in the Hockey Canada Cup August 31 to September 6 in Vancouver, the Qwest Tour in nine cities from September 2009 to February 2010, the 2009 Four Nations Cup during November in Finland, and with three exhibition games against the Canadian National Team.’

During Flint’s absence, assistant coaches Linda Lundrigan and Laura McAuliffe will coach the Northeastern women’s squad.

Northeastern athletic director Peter Roby said he is excited for Flint and believes the Northeastern team will not be adversely affected without Flint.’

‘We are all very excited for Dave, and Northeastern is proud to have him representing the university and our women’s hockey program as a coach for our nation’s Olympic team,’ Roby said in a statement. ‘The appointment is a testament to the quality of coach he is, and the experience and exposure that he will get as a result will be great assets both to the women’s hockey program and to Northeastern. Linda and Lauren are great coaches, and I am confident in their ability to run the team and keep it moving in a positive direction in Dave’s absence.