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
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
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
Dean Blais has accepted a five-year contract to continue at North Dakota, the university announced Wednesday. The contract, part of which will be paid through private donations made to the UND Foundation, includes $115,000 each year, use of a car, a membership in the Grand Forks Country Club, and a deferred $500,000 annuity. “We have … Read more
Ironically, North Dakota probably has Michigan to thank for it all. Yes, the No. 1 Fighting Sioux have been tearing up the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 1998-99, taking a 27-3-2 overall record into the last weekend of the regular season. But the team’s motivation may actually stem back to last year. The Sioux had … Read more
The Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald reported Friday that goaltender Aaron Schweitzer, who anchored North Dakota’s 1997 NCAA championship run, will not return for his junior season this year, opting instead to try out for the Canadian national team. “We’ve heard rumblings in the past regarding Aaron moving on,” North Dakota assistant Jeff Bowen told the … Read more
When you feel you’ve wasted two years of your life, what tack do you take? If you’re ever going to be the Most Outstanding Player of a national championship tournament, you have to change course and make up for lost time. That’s the exact approach taken by North Dakota junior forward Matt Henderson. In the … Read more