Craig Dahl addressed his team in preseason meetings with this question: If you’re in a race from St. Cloud, Minn., to somewhere in South Carolina, what’s the first thing you’re going to do? The St. Cloud State coach got a variety of answers, including get a map, make a plan, get gas, find someone to … Read more
Minnesota-Duluth is the coaches’ preseason pick to win the WCHA, while Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Brückler topped voting for preseason player of the year honors. The coaches poll, conducted by the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, put the Bulldogs atop the rankings for the first time. UMD, which returns 73.5 percent of its scoring from last year’s … Read more
In a league that graduated a large class at the end of the 2003-04 season, the Mavericks are an anomaly with 20 veterans on the roster for the upcoming campaign. While that can be a positive — experience, maturity — these are the same Mavericks responsible for last year’s last-place finish. The kindest way to … Read more
What can you say about a campaign that ended just one puckwidth away from a trip to Joe Louis Arena? “It was a very emotional season for us,” says Western Michigan head coach Jim Culhane. The Broncos had a wild ride in 2003-04, putting together an 8-2-1 midseason streak before running into Michigan, then — … Read more
Time does not speed up once you’ve won the national championship. It only seems that way. George Gwozdecky can attest. The Denver coach saw his summer reduced to a blur after the Pioneers won their first national championship in 35 years in Boston last April. “It was busier than I have ever experienced here,” said … Read more
Let’s get this straight: North Dakota’s question mark early in the season is offense? Maybe that tells exactly how thin the questions surrounding the Sioux are. The early departures of Brandon Bochenski took a bite out of the offense, but UND returns seven players who scored 10 or more goals last season. Only Minnesota-Duluth matches … Read more
Brandon Bochenski, a 2004 Hobey Baker Award finalist, made it official yesterday, telling his coaches he is leaving school with the intention of soon signing with the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. USCHO reported in late July that Bochenski was planning to leave school. Bochenski, who would have been a senior at UND next season, was a … Read more
Fresh off his second CCHA Coach of the Year honor in 2003-04, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi received a vote of confidence this afternoon the school announced that his contract is being extended through 2009. “The CCHA is arguably the nation’s best hockey conference, and Rico has done an excellent job keeping Miami among the … Read more
Nebraska-Omaha athletic director Bob Danenhauer announced his resignation Wednesday after seven years on the job. The resignation is effective Oct. 29. Danenhauer, a Nebrask-Omaha graduate, is leaving UNO to become the Coordinator of Athletics and Supervisor of Physical Education for the Omaha Public Schools system. “I will always love my alma mater, UNO,” Danenhauer said. … Read more
It may have taken a couple of months, but it appears Bobby Goepfert has landed on his feet. The former Providence goaltender, who was released for what the school called a violation of team rules, will transfer to St. Cloud State for this coming fall semester. Goepfert will have to sit out one full season … Read more
North Dakota forward Brandon Bochenski, one of the nation’s leading scorers the past two seasons and a Hobey Baker finalist last season, will likely sign with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL this week, according to former Fighting Sioux head coach Dean Blais. (photo: Patrick C. Miller) Bochenski, who would have been a senior at … Read more
It’s never easy replacing a two-time national champion coach at a prominent program.
What little suspense remained as to who would succeed Dean Blais as North Dakota’s head coach ended Friday when Dave Hakstol became the 15th head coach in the program’s 58-year history.
University of North Dakota athletic director Roger Thomas says that he’s talked to potential head coach candidates outside of UND and has not ruled out the possibility of hiring one of them. “There are certainly great coaches out there and there are [Sioux] alumni coaches who have an interest,” Thomas said. “There’s also great passion … Read more
North Dakota will stay within the family and appoint Dave Hakstol its head coach, a newspaper reports. Hakstol, currently the team’s interim head coach after the departure of Dean Blais, will be given the full title as early as next week, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald reported in a story in Thursday’s editions, quoting an … Read more
North Dakota has decided to start its search for a new head coach within the university, giving interim head coach Dave Hakstol the inside track for the job. The school had been deciding between whether to start the search internally, or open it nation wide. The job opening has since been posted on the school’s … Read more
Scott Sandelin, who was earlier named the assistant coach of the 2004-05 U.S. World Junior Championships team, has been named to replace Dean Blais as head coach. Blais resigned from the position last week after recently leaving his job as head coach at North Dakota for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets. The 2005 IIHF World … Read more
No one seemed too alarmed at Day 1 of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft about the departure of Dean Blais from North Dakota — not current Sioux first rounder Drew Stafford, incoming Sioux first-rounder Travis Zajac, or the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamoriello, who once again took a Sioux player in … Read more
Friday, the University of North Dakota announced that associate head coach Dave Hakstol has been named interim head coach in the wake of Dean Blais’ departure for the NHL. Hakstol, a 1992 graduate of UND and former hockey captain, has head coaching experience with the USHL’s Sioux City franchise — where he was the league’s … Read more
North Dakota’s Dean Blais, first in winning percentage among all active Division I coaches and winner of two national championships, is stepping down from his job in Grand Forks to take over as associate coach for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets.