INCH
UPDATE DESK
April
20, 2008
Guentzel
resigns after 14 years as Minnesota assistant
Minnesota assistant coach
Mike Guentzel announced his resignation Friday, ending a
14-year stint as a Gopher aide.
According to a news release issued by the
university, Guentzel, a four-year letterwinner at Minnesota
from 1981-85, plans to pursue other coaching opportunities.
He also cited a desire to spend more time with his family.
Guentzel has three sons — the oldest, Ryan, was a
freshman on the Notre Dame that advanced to the NCAA tournament
championship game, while another, Gabe, spent last season
with Sioux Falls of the United States Hockey League.
The Marble, Minn., native, joined the Gopher
staff in 1994 as an assistant to then head coach Doug Woog.
During his tenure, he helped Minnesota to two national titles,
five NCAA Frozen Four appearances, three WCHA regular-season
crowns, and five league playoff championships.
April
15, 2008
Berenson
named 2008 Penrose Award winner
Michigan coach Red Berenson,
who guided the young Wolverines to the CCHA regular-season
and playoff championships and a trip to the Frozen Four
for the first time since 2003, was named this year's winner
of the Spencer Penrose Award, presented annually to the
top NCAA Division I men's hockey coach by the American Hockey
Coaches Association.
Berenson, who had never won the Penrose Award
prior to this year but was honored as the NHL's Coach of
the Year as the St. Louis Blues bench boss in 1981, led
Michigan to a 33-6-4 mark and a record 18th consecutive
NCAA tournament appearance. The Wolverines, paced by Hobey
Baker Award winner Kevin Porter, beat Niagara and Clarkson
in the East Regional before falling to Notre Dame in the
national semfinal.
Berenson, who will receive the Penrose Award
at the ACHA banquet in Naples, Fla., later this month, is
the third straignt CCHA coach to win the honor, following
Miami's Enrico Blasi (2006) and Notre Dame's Jeff Jackson
(2007). Boston College's Jerry York and Princeton's Guy
Gadowksy were runners up for the award this season.
April
7, 2008
Funding
approved for four Minnesota arena projects
 |
| The Duluth Entertainment
and Convention Center is the oldest arena in the WCHA. |
In the words of a Minneapolis
native who came to be known as “Badger Bob”
it was a great day for hockey in Minnesota. But the good
news came from the halls of politics, not on the ice. With
the stroke of a pen at the State Capitol, funding for a
quartet of college arena projects became a reality.
Portions of the $716 million bill that became
law on Monday will mean new D-I arenas for Minnesota Duluth
and Bemidji State, and a new multiple ice sheet facility
that will house the D-III program at Minnesota Crookston.
Also included in the bill was $6.5 million for upgrades
and improvements at the 19-year-old National Hockey Center
at St. Cloud State.
The “new DECC” project slated
for the Duluth waterfront was perhaps the most talked about
of the facilities. City and legislative leaders had been
working for more than three years to secure state dollars
($38 million was approved) to build a replacement for the
WCHA’s oldest arena. According to Bulldogs coach Scott
Sandelin, the hope is a September groundbreaking for the
new facility. It will be built on the site of the current
DECC parking lot, and is expected to open sometime in the
2010-11 season.
“This is a great day, not only for our
program and our community, but for hockey throughout the
state,” said Sandelin.
In Bemidji, the state dollars will be coupled
with city money to build a new arena and events center which
will have Beaver hockey as its primary tenant. School officials
had said that a new arena and an entry into the WCHA were
keys to the long-term survival of BSU hockey on the D-I
level. The Beavers have not been admitted into the WCHA,
but they have established a scheduling arrangement with
the league which is expected to put the program on solid
ground.
The St. Cloud State project will mean a more
comfortable experience for visitors to the Huskies’
rink. The funding will help build a true ticket lobby and
merchandise store on the south side of the rink, with meeting
rooms and coaches offices added to the facility.
The Crookston facility
will replace the community’s current two-sheet rink,
which is adjacent to the Red Lake River and needs to be
closed due to flood concerns. It was not all good arena
news on Monday, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty chose to line-item
veto upwards of $900,000 from the bill that would’ve
gone toward planning and design for a women’s hockey
facility at Minnesota State.
