Frank Mazzocco will no longer be doing play-by-play of Gopher hockey for Fox Sports North, and Doug Woog will likely reassigned to a different role. Anthony LaPanta will be taking over the play-by-play duties, which I don't mind. He did an excellent job when FSN had high school hockey on. Opinions on Frank and Doug always seemed to be on either extreme end of the spectrum. Personally, I thought they were fine, so long as you weren't that familiar with the opposition and knew things like how names were pronounced. Regardless, those two were one of the most recognizable institutions in college hockey, and even if it was time for them to go, it's still sad to see it happen.
This is one of the craziest stories I've ever heard. Air Force recruit/former Monticello(pronounced mont-i-sell-o in Minnesota, donchaknow) standout Mitch Torrel was driving home from practice when he saw an assisted living apartment complex on fire--if the fat white guy with health insurance I heard on the radio was correct, that is actually part of Obama's new health care plan--and he pulled over, ran inside, and started dragging people out. It's pretty heart-warming to see something like that.
Brent Brekke never got his own full post like Jeff Blashill and Joe Bonnett, but he was also a finalist for the Western Michigan head coaching job, though there is still the possibility for more candidates. Western's AD said one of their top priorities is prior head coaching experience at the college or junior level, which would seem to make Blashill the heavy favorite for the job.
The Colorado Springs Gazette's opinion columnist(wait, those still exist?) talked with Colorado College head coach Scott Owens and CC athletic director Ken Ralph about what he felt was a slump for the program, compared to the lofty places Owens had Colorado College a few seasons ago. I've heard some people far removed from the situation suggest Owens might be on the hot seat a little bit, but he does an outstanding job of putting together a pretty solid WCHA team and managing the academic side of things, which is extremely important at CC.
Joe Colborne and Marc Cheverie are expected to leave school early for the NHL this summer. Patrick Wiercioch is still making up his mind, but he's probably ready to make the jump.
The NAHL is adding a franchise in New Mexico. The last NAHL franchise in New Mexico was a disaster, but hopefully this time around it works. The team is owned by one of the producers responsible for Family Guy--*shudder*--and will be coached by former Michigan great Bill Muckalt.
I'm a little skeptical of how the NAHL is basically absorbing the top of the Tier III Western States Hockey League, and think it will water their product down a little, but if it means getting more kids the opportunity to play Tier II hockey, and not having to pay to play to continue their careers, then it's not a bad thing, so long as they aviod disasters like they had in Albert Lea or Santa Fe.