As predicted former Gopher Dean Blais will be named head coach of the the 2010 US National Jr team today.
USA Hockey will be making the official announcement in 35 minutes on usahockey.com.
I will have more when the announcement is made.
12:25pm update
Press Release
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Dean Blais, head coach and general manager for the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League and widely regarded as one of the top coaches in the United States at any level, will be head coach of the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team, it was announced today by USA Hockey.
"I'm honored to be selected to coach this team," said Blais. "The World Junior Championship has evolved into one of the great events on the hockey calendar every year and I look forward to the challenge ahead."
USA Hockey also announced that Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of hockey operations at USA Hockey, will serve as the general manager of the 2010 U.S. National Junior Team and Tim Taylor, an assistant coach at USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and head coach of the 1994 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team, will serve as the team's director of player personnel.
The U.S. National Junior Team will compete at the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2009 - Jan. 5, 2010, in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan.
"Dean Blais has been successful at every level and we couldn't be more pleased to have him coach our team in the upcoming World Junior Championship," said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey.
"Dean is without question one of the game's elite coaches," said Johannson. "His teams are always well prepared and he brings an enthusiasm to the rink that rubs off on everyone around him."
Blais, the 2009 USHL Coach of the Year, recently finished leading the Force to the USHL's Clark Cup finals in their first year of play.
He has a long history with USA Hockey that began in 1973 when he played for the U.S. Men's National Team. His coaching contributions began in 1988 when he served as an assistant coach for the U.S. National Junior Team, a position he also held in 1989. Blais was the head coach of the U.S. National Junior Team in 1994 and was slated for the same role in 2005, but resigned his position after accepting the job as associate head coach of the National Hockey League's Columbus Blue Jackets in the summer of 2004.
He also served as an assistant coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team and the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2000 IIHF Men's World Championship.
A native of International Falls, Minn., Blais played four years of college hockey at the University of Minnesota before joining the U.S. National Team in 1973. After skating three years with the Chicago Blackhawks' affiliate in Dallas, he began his coaching career in 1976-77 as an assistant at the University of Minnesota. He then served as the head hockey coach at Minot (N.D.) High School from 1977-80, before a nine-year stint as an assistant men's ice hockey coach at the University of North Dakota.
Blais left UND to be the head hockey coach at Roseau (Minn.) High School in 1989-90 and guided his team to the Minnesota State High School title. He coached Roseau to a conference and regional championship in 1991 before being named an assistant coach for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team that took fourth place at the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France. Following the Olympics, Blais signed on as athletic director and hockey coach at International Falls High School.
He returned to the University of North Dakota as head coach in 1994. During his 10-year tenure, he led the Fighting Sioux to seven NCAA tournament appearances, NCAA Division I championships in 1997 and 2000, and an overall record of 262-115-33 (.679).
(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)
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