The risk a team runs after a successful season is the misguided notion that the next season’s success will be easy to come by. Offseason conditioning and preseason training usually are fueled more by bad memories than good ones. So Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin, fresh off the Bulldogs’ first trip to the WCHA Final Five … Read more
Amid the ruin that was the 2002-03 season for Alaska-Anchorage, John Hill offered a bit of perspective. The second-year coach mentioned last year that he thinks the 2004-05 season is when the Seawolves finally will be able to pull it all together. It might have been hard to see that through the destruction of a … Read more
The cyclical nature of mid-major college hockey programs might be coming around to disrupt St. Cloud State’s standing as one of the recent fixtures in the NCAA tournament. Only Michigan and Maine have longer current streaks in the NCAA field, but the Huskies’ four-year run is in danger unless they can: Reverse the downward trend … Read more
Two-time defending national champion Minnesota might come from the WCHA, but winning the league title is a whole different matter, it seems. Todd D. Milewski previews the conference’s 52nd session.
WCHA coaches have made Minnesota an overwhelming favorite to win the league’s regular-season title. The two-time defending national champions received a maximum nine votes (coaches cannot rank their own team) and head the WCHA coaches poll conducted by the Grand Forks Herald. North Dakota was second with one first-place vote. Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth tied … Read more
You don’t enter college expecting to play for three different coaches in your four years. The NHL, maybe, but not college, where coaches get the time they need to try to rebuild a program that has lost its way. This season’s seniors at Michigan Tech, however, will be playing for head coach No. 3 as … Read more
Athletic directors from seven of the eight schools affected by the Division III proposal to eliminate athletic scholarships for members playing a Division I sport, met to plan their opposition to the proposal on the campus of Rensselaer. Those attending were Sean Frazier (Clarkson), Joel Nielsen (Colorado College), Betty Powell (Hartwick), Tom Calder (Johns Hopkins), … Read more
Travis Weber, the Frozen Four all-tournament goaltender last season, is leaving Minnesota for personal reasons, taking another chip off the Gophers’ back-to-back national championship teams. Weber, who stopped 57 of 60 shots in last year’s Frozen Four as a sophomore, made no indication as to the precise reason why he was leaving in a statement … Read more
A service for Herb Brooks, the legendary coach at Minnesota, the U.S. Olympic team and the NHL, who died Monday in an auto accident, will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. CT at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Minn. In advance of that service, a wake will be held Friday from 3-8 p.m. CT, and … Read more
Paul Martin signed a contract with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils on Friday, leaving two-time defending NCAA champion Minnesota without its most experienced defenseman two months before the season starts. Martin, a second-team All-American for the Gophers last season whose departure had been rumored since he was named to the Frozen Four all-tournament team in … Read more
North Dakota goaltender Jake Brandt has been arrested for theft in his hometown of Roseau, Minn. According to police, Brandt stole $200 worth of “pull tabs” from a local bar. His first court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 6. WDAZ-TV Channel 8 in Grand Forks, N.D., quotes Sioux coach Dean Blais as saying, “Brandt is … Read more
It was a good news-bad news kind of week for Wisconsin. The good news: Ryan Suter, drafted with the seventh overall pick in last month’s NHL entry draft, chose to hold off on signing with the Nashville Predators and told Badgers coach Mike Eaves he’ll play at Wisconsin next season. The bad news: Incoming freshman … Read more
Like many others, Mike Eaves is waiting to hear a decision from Ryan Suter on whether the prized recruit will play for Wisconsin next season or jump to the pros. But that’s not the only pressing issue for the Badgers coach this offseason. Mike Brodeur, slated to figure into the team’s goaltending scene as a … Read more
North Dakota beat the clock on Dean Blais’ deadline for a contract extension, and the Sioux coach now has a deal that runs through the 2006-07 season. Blais, who set a July 1 deadline for the school to give him an extension or see him leave when his current contract expires after the 2003-04 season, … Read more
St. Cloud State’s roster has taken a severe hit this offseason, with forward Jonathan Lehun the latest to tell the Huskies he won’t be back next season. Lehun, who figured to play a larger role in the Huskies offense as a sophomore because the team lost three of its four top scorers from a year … Read more
The first day of the 2003 NHL Draft was filled with plenty of surprises, some pleasant and some not so pleasant. Zach Parise’s day was definitely falling into the latter category. Thought by many to be a solid top 10 selection, 16 picks went by the board without Parise hearing his name called. Zach Parise … Read more
Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting won’t have to worry about his contract status going into the 2003-04 season. Jutting, the 2003 WCHA coach of the year, has signed a new four-year contract that replaces a four-year deal that was set to expire at the end of next season. He’ll make $110,923 as a base salary, … Read more
Jamie Russell had coaching at Michigan Tech in his mind all along. Russell, the Cornell assistant coach who worked with the nation’s best defense and penalty kill last season, was introduced as the Huskies’ head coach on Thursday. A Michigan Tech alumnus who played defense for the Huskies from 1987 to 1989, Russell, 36, replaces … Read more
The search for Michigan Tech’s new coach is expected to go through at least three interviews in the beginning of May. Huskies assistant coach Mark Maroste, Cornell assistant Jamie Russell and Northern Michigan associate head coach Dave Shyiak will interview with the school’s six-person advisory committee, a source told USCHO. Those interviews are expected to … Read more
MSU-Mankato sophomore All-American forward Grant Stevenson signed a free agent contract with the San Jose Sharks, passing up his final two years of college eligibility. (Complete list of early departures) Stevenson helped lead the Mavericks to their first ever NCAA tournament berth in 2003, scoring 27 goals and setting up 36 others for 63 points … Read more