It’s been a quiet summer in Duluth for the most part when it comes to the Bulldogs men’s and women’s hockey programs, which is a good thing because it’s allowed my vacations to go undisturbed for the most part.
Here’s a rundown of the last month.
Of course, the biggest unresolved story is the assistant coach vacancy on the men’s staff after Derek Plante resigned at the end of June. UMD head coach Scott Sandelin told me back in mid-July — prior to my first long vacation — he hoped to have that position filled by the end of July, but here we sit in early August. Sandelin said Tuesday he should have someone hired before the start of my next extended vacation, which begins next week. He’s close to making a hire.
In addition to wondering who the next UMD men’s assistant coach will be, we’re still waiting to here back from the NCHC on whether or not the league will be allowed to play 3-on-3 overtime periods in 2015-16. When I last checked in with the league Tuesday, the NCAA still hadn’t approved the measure. The league believes it will get the OK soon, though. Look for a release about the 3-on-3 OT details, along with other notes heading into the 2015-16 season, to come out around the third week in August.
Speaking of the 2015-16 NCHC season, if you want to stream league games through NCHC.tv this fall and winter, you’ll want to sign up prior to Aug. 31. After that, the price will jump. The current price of $89.95 is the 2014-15 price.
The UMD women’s team will be represented at USA Hockey and Hockey Canada camps this month. UMD sophomore defenseman Jessica Healey will take part in the Canada National Women’s Development Team Camp that begins Thursday and runs through Aug. 16. Of the 43 invitees, 23 will be selected to face the United States U-22 Team in a three-game series Aug. 19-22 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Recent UMD graduate Zoe Hickel will take part in USA Hockey’s Women’s National Festival Aug. 11-16 in Lake Placid along with 83 other players. USA Hockey is using the camp to create a pair of teams for the series against Canada — one 22-player U-18 squad and another 22-player U-22 squad. New UMD women’s coach Maura Crowell is one of the U-18 assistant coaches.
Two future Bulldogs will participate in the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup that begins Saturday in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The U.S. Under-18 Select men’s team features Hibbing native Scott Perunovich, a defenseman who is projected to join UMD in 2017-18, and Riley Tufte, the Fargo Force forward who could join UMD in 2016-17. Plante is the head coach of the team, which opens with an exhibition against the Czech Republic at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The U.S. then plays Finland at 8 a.m. on Monday.
Other tidbits from the past month you may have missed:
The NCAA did grant UMD forward Sammy Spurrell a medical redshirt for the 2014-15 season. He’ll be a sophomore again this fall and have three years of eligibility remaining.
Outgoing UMD seniors Justin Crandall and Derik Johnson will play for the Reading Royals in the ECHL next season.
UMD nabbed a verbal commitment from Shattuck St. Mary’s center Charlie Dovorany in mid-July. He’ll play for the Fargo Force this upcoming season in the USHL.
And finally, let’s chat about a short-lived story that quickly became a non-story, but may actually be a nice little feature down the road.
Late Tuesday evening a tweet went out saying Bulldogs forward Austin Farley, who is set to be an assistant captain in the fall, would be trying out with a professional team in Finland. The tweet cited a short news release — that was written in Finish — from the pro team in Finland.
It turned out to just be a bad translation. After I wasn’t able to get any answers initially from some of my UMD sources who were just as confused, Fox 21’s Greg Chandler went to the ultimate source — Farley’s mom — and she confirmed her son was going to be back at UMD.
I later got a text back from Sandelin saying Farley is just training over in Finland right now. He’s not turning pro. Mystery solved.
I’ll try and catch up with Farley when he gets back from Finland or when I get back from another extended vacation, if not before then.