Friday, May 06, 2011

A couple UND early departures and MTU has a new coach.

Brett Bruneteau moves on

According to Brad Schlossman UND Junior Forward Brett Brueteau will be transferring to UVM of the Hockey East. Best to luck to Brett Bruneteau as he starts graduate school... Nice to see our athletes getting their graduate degrees. We wish Bruno the best in everything that he does.
UND sophomore forward Brett Bruneteau is graduating from UND after two years and will attend grad school in Vermont, where he will play hockey alongside his younger brother, Nick.

Bruneteau, an Omaha native, played in four games as a sophomore and finishes his time at UND with one goal, four assists and five points in 31 career games.
Michael Cichy to transfer to a new NCAA team - Destination unknown

One of the more puzzling moves is Junior Forward Michael Cichy is transferring to an unknown college. This is according to Jason Hajdu of the UND SID office.
Another junior-to-be, Mike Cichy, is also transferring. Destination not yet official. Best of luck to @MikeCichy!
To me this move is a bit of a "HEAD-SCRATCHER" because you would have to think that Michael Cichy is really close to playing in the line up on a regular basis and being a major contributor on the score sheet, because Cichy shown glimpses of greatness in his two short season at UND. The bad thing for Mike is that he is going to have to sit out for a whole season before he can play at his new college. We wish him the best of luck.

MTU has their coach

The Michigan Tech University Huskies now have a new head hockey coach. Below is the official release from MTU. Best of luck to former MTU Husky player and former Michigan Wolverines assistant coach Mel Pearson as he takes the next step his career.
HOUGHTON, Mich. - Michigan Tech athletic director Suzanne Sanregret has appointed former Huskies' player and assistant coach and long-time University of Michigan associate head coach Mel Pearson to the position of head hockey coach. Pearson, who spent the last 23 years at Michigan helping the Wolverines to a 667-243-71 record, 11 Frozen Fours and two national championships, will be introduced at a press conference Tuesday (May 10).

"I'm very excited and grateful for this opportunity," said Pearson. "Michigan Tech was the school that gave me my first chance not only as a player but as a coach, and I'm looking forward to working with the University, alumni and community in bringing back the winning tradition."

"I'm thrilled that our search has led us to someone with the quality background of Mel," said Sanregret. "He has extensive experience in all aspects of college hockey, but his reputation as a recruiter made him our top candidate. He has contacts within all of hockey from juniors to the professional ranks, and he's well connected to our alumni."

Pearson, a former winner of the Terry Flanagan Award which honors an assistant coach's career, has been hailed as one of the best recruiters in the nation. He was credited with landing the bulk of the players on Michigan's 1996 and 1998 NCAA championship teams, and has recruited dozens of All-Americans and several Hobey Baker finalists during his time in Ann Arbor. A total of 54 Michigan players have gone on to play in the NHL since 1988.