Much of the smoke has settled and now before the start of the Frozen Four it is a good time to take a look at the state of college hockey.
Conferences Build. Arrivals are plenty in the world of college hockey. As teams see their seasons end, the ranks of the New World of college hockey grows.
The Bi6 Ten has seen the most growth with all six teams now
official members. The WCHA and NCHC are
close behind. The transition will not be
complete until Saint Cloud State loses and thus leave the WCHA for the NCHC. The Huskies play today in the Frozen Four.
Gone For Now. Departures
have been more surprising in some cases.
Most surprising here is the release of George Gwozdecky as
head coach from Denver.
Gwozdecky coach the Pioneers for 19 seasons including two national
championships and at least 20 wins in each of the last 12 seasons. He remains the only college hockey coach to
win a national championship as a player (Wisconsin 1977), an assistant coach
(Michigan State 1986), and head coach (Denver 2004 and 2005).
Denver cited this is a good time to make a move leading into
the transition into the NCHC. I think it
would be an important time to keep a well respected and successful coach and
recruiter. But here we are, with George
Gwozdecky out of hockey for the time being.
Gwoz is one of the Miami University “Cradle of Coaches,” but
he is most noted in the west as a coaching product from Wisconsin – River Falls,
a Division III team 45 minutes east of the Twin Cities.
At one time three UWRF former coaches where head coaches in
the WCHA, George Gwozdecky at Denver, Craig Dahl at Saint Cloud State, and Dean
Talafous at Alaska – Anchorage.
I have called him the Mad Hatter of college hockey with his
unorthodox methods at times with pulling goalies and sitting players. He always gave great interviews with real information
when I talked to him. I certainly hope
he can stay in the college hockey ranks.
Go, Go Gophers.
Minnesota Twin Cities finished their season in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament playing much like a group NHL free agents brought in to a team,
a collection of talent who cannot click together. Now many of the big names have moved on to
what they hope will be NHL careers.
Next season’s Gopher senior class will be small as current
juniors Mark Alt, Nick Bujugstad, Zach Budish, Eric Haula, and Nate Schmidt
have all left the program for pro contracts.
It may be a rough start to the Bi6 Ten for Lucia and
company, but they usually have players to reload with when departures occur,
but is this too much? It very well may
be too big of a loss.
Dog Departs. Chris
Casto, a two year starter on the blueline for UMD, has opted to forgo his
remaining two years to go pro.
We wish the best to Chris who was likely signed for his size
and potential as he did not light it up while at UMD. His first season was on a NCAA qualifying
team where it was expected he learned the college game and could step up this
past season. That wasn’t so much the
case when his offensive numbers went down and his overall play in the UMD zone
was hit and miss much of the time.
