The goalie at one end of the ice had earned just about every possible accolade this year: CCHA Player of the Year, CCHA best goaltender, CCHA Tournament Most Valuable Player, All-CCHA Tournament Team, All-CCHA first team and Hobey Baker Award finalist. As just a sophomore, he’d set an NCAA career shutout mark with 18, 10 … Read more
So says UND coach Dean Blais, of Hobey Baker finalist Jeff Panzer. Todd D. Milewski reports.
North Dakota’s athletics director said he will talk to the school’s hockey staff after learning prized recruit Brandon Bochenski pleaded guilty to one count of felony aggravated forgery in Anoka County, Minn., on Feb. 26. “I would like to talk to our hockey staff and make sure [Bochenski’s felony] is common knowledge,” UND athletics director … Read more
According to Todd D. Milewski, if anyone deserves a few breaks, it’s North Dakota coach Dean Blais.
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award won’t be handed out until Friday, April 6, but the identity of the winner may be decided this weekend. Dave Hendrickson reviews three of the top candidates in the context of the NCAA regionals.
From the Sutters, Howes and Patricks, to the Stastnys, Ferraros and Kariyas, hockey seems to have more family ties than any other sport, with ubiquitous father-son and brother combinations. For plenty of evidence, look no further than North Dakota, home of the Fighting Sioux and five prominent pairs.
The on-line auction of special North Dakota jerseys bearing the name “Walsh,” in honor of Maine coach Shawn Walsh, has raised $11,055. The Fighting Sioux wore the jerseys for their Oct. 13 game with the Black Bears and donated them to raise money for the Coaches Foundation. The charitable organization, set up to serve as … Read more
The North Dakota jerseys worn during its Oct. 13 game with Maine — each bearing the name “Walsh” in honor of Black Bear coach Shawn Walsh — will be auctioned online at Hockeyeastonline.com to benefit the Coaches Foundation.
North Dakota coach Dean Blais left his team at the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown in Milwaukee to be with his daughter, who is in a hospital in Rochester, Minn.
WCHA assistant referee Jay Kleven has been suspended indefinitely by the league for two calls made during the Minnesota-North Dakota games last weekend in Grand Forks.
Yes, North Dakota lost a few important players, and the Sioux are somewhat smaller this year, but Dean Blais may be looking at his team’s situation a little drastically: “We’re rebuilding this year.” Blais has a great poker face, but that’s line’s easy enough to see through. Offensively, Lee Goren, Jason Ulmer and Peter Armbrust … Read more
The defending NCAA champion North Dakota Fighting Sioux have been tabbed by the coaches of the WCHA as the conference’s preseason favorite. The Fighting Sioux received six first place votes and a total of 77 points in the annual polling.
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
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