You think the stock market fluctuates too much? Try being George Gwozdecky. The last seven years have been like a cruel roller coaster ride for the Denver coach, who has watched his team look like it’s going to be a force in the WCHA for years to come, only to drop seven or eight places … Read more
Mike Commodore, a stalwart defenseman on this year’s North Dakota national championship team, has signed a three-year contract with the defending NHL-champion New Jersey Devils. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound defenseman had one more year of eligibility remaining, but decided he couldn’t pass up on the Devils’ offer. According to the Grand Forks Herald, Commodore received a … Read more
A few weeks ago, when told associate coach Scott Sandelin was going to be leaving at the end of the season to take the coaching job at Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota players said they’d just have to win the national title to give Sandelin a proper sendoff. How prophetic. Sandelin joined head coach Dean Blais behind … Read more
Was there any chance anyone could pry the national championship trophy out of Peter Armbrust’s grasp? “No, not a chance in hell,” Armbrust said. “This thing is staying right here.” The University of North Dakota senior is one of a select few players who can say his last collegiate memory will be piling on the … Read more
Like most youngsters with any hockey ability, Lee Goren had dreams of the National Hockey League. And, for a Winnipeg native, the standard route to the NHL is normally thought to be through the Canadian major junior system. So Goren, like so many of his friends, went off to the WHL and the Saskatoon Blades. … Read more
Jeff Panzer is not a picky man. He’ll take another 2-0 final in the national championship game Saturday night. Just as long as North Dakota has the 2. Panzer and the Fighting Sioux could only find the back of the net twice in their national semifinal against Maine on Thursday, though that was enough to … Read more
North Dakota coach Dean Blais didn’t have to say much to sum up his team’s 2-0 national semifinal victory over Maine Thursday. His goaltender, Karl Goehring, did most of the talking with his play on the ice. Goehring, who missed the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five and the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament … Read more
After a highly successful sophomore season in which he was named to the all-WCHA First Team, St. Cloud State defenseman Mike Pudlick signed a contract with the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Pudlick became the second WCHA player to sign with the Kings in two days. On Friday, WCHA player of the year Steve Reinprecht, … Read more
Scott Sandelin finally got the head coaching job he’s been looking for. Sandelin, who for the last three seasons has been an associate head coach under Dean Blais at North Dakota, was named the new coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Friday. He will replace Mike Sertich, who resigned after 18 years with the … Read more
“We got caught up in the hoopla…. [BU is] supposed to come here. This is their destination just about every year.” — St. Cloud senior captain Geno Parrish “There’s a lot of pressure on us, not just from our own fans in Boston, but the college hockey world. They expect that BU is going to … Read more
The University of Minnesota-Duluth has identified five finalists for its vacant head coaching position, the school announced Tuesday. The list, compiled by the university’s search committee, includes two current collegiate head coaches and two current assistants. All are expected to make visits to the Duluth campus during the next two weeks, with a successor to … Read more
It’s not your typical Cinderella story. First of all, there’s no glass slipper. Twenty or so pairs of skates, yes, but not a slipper in the bunch. And make no mistake: there’s no rags-to-riches theme here. And there is no Prince Charming. Two dozen Princes Charmed, absolutely. Nebraska-Omaha goaltender Kendall Sidoruk has been a big … Read more
At a press conference Tuesday at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Bulldog head hockey coach Mike Sertich resigned effective at the end of the 1999-2000 season. Sertich, who will continue to coach the team until then, has been the Bulldogs’ head man for 18 years and is one of only two individuals to be named Western … Read more
Ralph Engelstad, a 1954 alumnus of the University of North Dakota, announced Thursday a gift of $100 million to his alma mater. The donation, which is one of the largest private gifts to any U.S. university in history, will partly be used to build a new, state-of-the-art hockey venue. Engelstad, who owns the Imperial Palace … Read more
The state of Minnesota is apparently down two collegiate players, as Shawn Roed of Minnesota and Matt Noga of St. Cloud State have decided to leave their respective teams, local reports indicate. SCSU senior center Noga has left the program for personal reasons, according to the St. Cloud Times. Noga, who missed last weekend’s series … Read more
Junior forward Alex Kim and freshman netminder David Bowen will take a year off from hockey with the Miami RedHawks, assistant coach Dave Smith announced. Fullerton, Calif., native Kim, a former CCHA all-rookie honorable mention and the team’s fourth-leading scorer a year ago with 11-9–20, cited personal reasons for his absence, after which a decision … Read more
Denver assistant coach Enrico Blasi will return to his alma mater as the fifth head coach of the Miami RedHawks. Blasi is a 1994 graduate of Miami, where he was a two-time captain. As a junior, the former center (55-68-123) captained the team to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. After his career at Miami, he … Read more
If there’s a glow coming from Grand Forks, N.D., it’s probably from the smiles of everyone connected to the University of North Dakota and its hockey team as the university released plans for the new Ralph Engelstad arena, an 11,406-seat complex scheduled to be completed for the 2002-03 season. The arena will replace the current … Read more
Harvard University athletic director Bill Cleary named Miami head coach Mark Mazzoleni as the new head man of the Crimson on Sunday. Mazzoleni will be formally introduced in a press conference on Wednesday. Mazzoleni will take over a Harvard program that has not had a winning season since 1993-94 — the year of Harvard’s last … Read more