{"id":25314,"date":"2002-11-28T23:12:35","date_gmt":"2002-11-29T05:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2002\/11\/28\/this-week-in-the-wcha-nov-28-2002\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:55:19","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:55:19","slug":"this-week-in-the-wcha-nov-28-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2002\/11\/28\/this-week-in-the-wcha-nov-28-2002\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the WCHA: Nov. 28, 2002"},"content":{"rendered":"
Woog On the Clock<\/h4>\n
Doug Woog has a seven-to-10-minute window to speak at his induction into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame next week, so he’s working on limiting what he’ll say.<\/p>\n
Good luck.<\/p>\n
Woog, along with Mark and Scott Fusco and the late Joe Riley, will be inducted on Wednesday at Touchstone Energy Place in St. Paul, Minn. — a fitting venue for one of the Twin Cities’ most recognizable hockey figures.<\/p>\n
That gives Woog, the former Minnesota coach and All-American as a player there in the 1960s, a few more days to get prepared for his time in front of the microphone.<\/p>\n
He said he doesn’t want it to be a biography, but there’s so many people to mention. It starts with family, but it includes the coaches that taught him hockey as a youth, his high school coaches — in both hockey and football — the people responsible for him getting into Minnesota and eventually becoming its coach, those who helped him as a coach and the players that gave him their all.<\/p>\n
“So I’m trying to put that into about 10 minutes,” Woog said. He was told his tale took about 10 minutes. “Yeah, but I didn’t even get into the stories.”<\/p>\n
Woog said that when Minnesota legend John Mayasich called him last summer to tell him of his election to the Hall, he had doubts as to whether he deserved such an honor ahead of others who had yet to make it.<\/p>\n
“It’s become more of an honor as I’ve had a chance to think about it,” Woog said. “Obviously, it’s a hell of an honor. But you have to edge yourself into rationalizing whether or not you’re deserving. <\/p>\n
“One of the satisfying things about it is that some of the people from the East have to vote for you. Sometimes in your own back yard issues happen, but it’s kind of nice when people nationally look at it and say the guy did a pretty good job.”<\/p>\n
The South St. Paul native was 389-187-40 behind the Gophers’ bench from 1985 to 1999. He took the Gophers to an NCAA-record 12 straight national tournaments. Six of those trips ended in Frozen Four appearances.<\/p>\n
He also was an assistant coach with the 1984 U.S. Olympic team after seven years as the head coach at South St. Paul and six with the St. Paul Vulcans of the United States Hockey League.<\/p>\n
As a player at Minnesota, he was the team’s MVP in his senior season and was an All-American and the leading scorer in his junior season.<\/p>\n
All this from someone who was a basketball hopeful before, in fifth grade, a doctor told him he couldn’t play roundball. “I would have been a 5-7 guard who couldn’t jump,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You live in the moment you’re in, and I think that’s why it’s hard to think about accomplishments,” Woog said. “You really deal with today all the time. You don’t sit back in the rocking chair … and yarn about old times and how great you were. <\/p>\n
“You always hear guys talk about the hall of fame and how they can’t take that away from you. People respond in a real positive way. There’s probably some people out there saying, ‘What the hell did he get in for?’ It’s a funny thing, they don’t come in front of you.”<\/p>\n
Today, Woog works as a consultant to the university in selling suites for hockey and basketball games. He also does color commentary for Gophers games on Fox Sports Net and operates a summer hockey camp in Breezy Point, Minn.<\/p>\n
That roughly three-hour drive to Breezy Point is one of the farthest locales to which Woog has had to pick up and leave to make a living as a college hockey coach.<\/p>\n
“I never looked at a puck as my salary,” he said. “It was really kind of interesting that I taught for 17 years at South St. Paul and never had to leave the area to be involved in hockey. How many guys had that opportunity? <\/p>\n
“I’m pretty blessed with opportunities falling for me. A lot of guys chased the thing for a long time and never get the chance. I’m pretty lucky.”<\/p>\n
Speaking of Wooger<\/h4>\n
Woog will be honored before Sunday afternoon’s Gophers game against Michigan at Mariucci Arena.<\/p>\n
In addition, the first 10,000 fans will receive what the school is describing as a limited-edition trading card of Woog, which he will be available to sign after the game.<\/p>\n
Tickets for the hall of fame induction ceremony and dinner are $75 and can be purchased by calling the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame at (800) 443-7825.<\/p>\n
The Showcase<\/h4>\n
OK, so the WCHA has a less than memorable record in the College Hockey Showcase. Or, in the case of Wisconsin, a downright awful record.<\/p>\n
But Wisconsin (2-15-1 in the CHS) and Minnesota (9-8-1) will go at it again this weekend against CCHA and Big Ten rivals Michigan and Michigan State, this time on the campuses of the WCHA teams.<\/p>\n
Here’s a look at the Badgers and the Gophers at this point in the season; for the Wolverines and Spartans, check out Paula C. Weston’s CCHA column<\/a>.<\/p>\n