Former Lancer head coach, Gopher and CC assistant and current Des Moines GM and head coach Mike Guentzel has joined Dean Blais and Mike Hastings at UNO.
Re: Trinity: Guentzel joins Blais and Hastings at UNO
This is a very good team of coaches. Watch out for UNO. I expect UNO to be a tough challenge in the WCHA this season and a top recruiter and contender over the next couple seasons.
Re: Trinity: Guentzel joins Blais and Hastings at UNO
holy chit...Blaiser may be building a new dynasty...he at the very least has put together a coaching staff that rivals anyone anywhere in the NCAA
Everything in its right place, Wisconsin Hockey National Champs!
"but you're not as confused as him are you. it's not your job to be as confused as Nigel". Tap pt 1.
"I think it's ****ing stock. What--? Which part of that is unclear to you? I think it sounds stock to my ears. I mean, do you want me to write it down?" Tap Pt. 2
Slap Shot - 444 might want to consider a restraining order. dggoddard - Minnesota is THE ELITE Program in all of college hockey. wasmania - you have to be the very best to get ice time with the great gophers!
Lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet. The WCHA is a grind and UNO is going to find out.
Agree. What is going on with Guentzel?
This coaching staff is very familiar with the WCHA...there's nothing for them to "find out". Mike Guentzel is positioning himself to potentially fulfill his dream of a future head coaching job in the WCHA. He is now in a better position than ever before to see it happen.
This coaching staff is very familiar with the WCHA...there's nothing for them to "find out". Mike Guentzel is positioning himself to potentially fulfill his dream of a future head coaching job in the WCHA. He is now in a better position than ever before to see it happen.
I highly doubt it. Don Lucia will get a contract extension from Maturi, who will also get his from Bruinicks next year.
IMO, Guentzel has the hockey mind but why the consistent changing of jobs the last four years?
Slap Shot - 444 might want to consider a restraining order. dggoddard - Minnesota is THE ELITE Program in all of college hockey. wasmania - you have to be the very best to get ice time with the great gophers!
IMO, Guentzel has the hockey mind but why the consistent changing of jobs the last four years?
I think there are a few reasons: 1) On the heels of leaving MN, CC was a natural step that kept him close to D1 and his son. But CC was not a complete fit for Mike with the exception of the opportunity to coach his son. I don't think the coaching relationship with Owens was there. 2) USHL was familiar territory (Des Moines) but not D1. 3) Mike's preference has always been focused on coaching in the WCHA and UNO is a better fit than CC. Guentzel was a top candidate to be head coach at UNO last season. Mike Hastings coached under him during his days with the Omaha Lancers where he led the Lancers to back-to-back championships in 1992-93 and 1993-94. Blais is a legendary coach, a Gopher guy with a very similar work ethic, knows how to motivate players and has tons of success including two NCAA championships. Guentzel did work briefly as an asst. to Dean Blais in 1994 on the US Junior National hockey team. 4) UNO gives Mike Guentzel a platform to fulfill a dream and move into the right head coaching position somewhere when it is available and the time is right.
Most importantly, Mike likes to watch David Letterman and Dean Blais looks like him. And of course he was also hired to make sure that Ryan Walters, his former player with the Buccaneers, isn't such a "agitator".
Re: Trinity: Guentzel joins Blais and Hastings at UNO
Adding Guentzel to the UNO staff gives them as strong a taff as UNH!!!! All coaches on both clubs (plus Brian McCloskey coachig the UNH women's team) are very capable of being head coaches. This is important as it almost guarantees consistentcy for years to come.
That being said, sitting around waiting for NCAA coaching vacancies is a pretty futile endeavor. How many jobs open up each off-season? Usually one to three at most. Prime jobs at a Top Ten program maybe roll along once every five years. And when a prime gig becomes available, alums, former NHL players and assistant head coaches are going to almost always land the job.
That being said, sitting around waiting for NCAA coaching vacancies is a pretty futile endeavor. How many jobs open up each off-season? Usually one to three at most. Prime jobs at a Top Ten program maybe roll along once every five years. And when a prime gig becomes available, alums, former NHL players and assistant head coaches are going to almost always land the job.
As someone older than Guentzel, I take offense, sir.
And I pose a question: If Guentzel was born in August 1962, can you provide the names of any coach born on or after that date who has won a Division I National Ice Hockey Championship?
Don't underestimate the old guys.
That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where non-conformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose.
As someone older than Guentzel, I take offense, sir.
And I pose a question: If Guentzel was born in August 1962, can you provide the names of any coach born on or after that date who has won a Division I National Ice Hockey Championship?
Don't underestimate the old guys.
Touche.
How old were these National Championship winning coaches when they were hired at their current gigs? And how many of them got their current jobs after establishing themselves at smaller schools.
Jerry York - Born 1945 (Previously @ Clarkson, Bowling Green) Hired by BC @ 47 Jack Parker - Born 1945 - Hired by BU at 38 Rick Comley - Born 1947 (Previously @ Lake Superior, NMU) Hired by MSU at 55 Mike Eaves - Born 1956 - Hired by WI at 44 George Gwozdecky - Born 1958 - (Previously @ Miami) Hired by DU at 43 Don Lucia - Born 1958 - (Previously @ Alaska & CC) Hired by MN at 42
Re: Trinity: Guentzel joins Blais and Hastings at UNO
Appreciate the stats and thinking.
As for 444's view that the WCHA is a grind, I'll be fascinated to see the differences. It's been a while since anybody joined the W. The frequency of Olympic ice games alone will be new to UNO, who only regularly played on 100-foot sheets at Northern and Alaska. Also, while Blais has assembled what appears to be a formidable freshman class, it is in fact a freshman class. Also, UNO plays on the road virtually every weekend before Christmas - so it's entirely possible that UNO will have distinctly different first and second halves - even more distinctly different from last season.
Anyway - looking forward to seeing some new faces, making some new friends, etc. Drive carefully.
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