UNO on the up and up.

Props to Husker Mike for this article. For those people that automatically think Blais is going to be the next coach in Minnesota, if the University of Minnesota comes calling, I don't know if I would hold my breath waiting. It’s definitely not a not a slam dunk like some assume.

In listening to him speak here in Grand Forks, ND in December and reading the articles over the past few months, it kind of sounds like Blais has some unfinished business in Omaha, Nebraska to take care of. It also sounds like he enjoys what he is doing at UNO. I think he has also put the college hockey world on notice that the Mavericks from Nebraska Omaha are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Like a lot of Omahans, I didn't know Dean Blais from Dean Martin.

He had won two NCAA hockey championships at North Dakota. He sounded like a good hire for Trev Alberts at UNO. But this is UNO we're talking about. What could he possibly do? Win a national championship?

Well, it's only the first year.

“When I took over at North Dakota, the first year we were .500,'' Blais said the other day. “The second year, we were about six, seven games above .500. The third year, we won the national championship. I could see the same thing here.''

I'm sorry. Did he just say he thought that UNO could win the national championship in two years?

He did, in fact. And just a word to the wise: Don't bet your farm against him.

So far, he has delivered. And then some. Blais' first year at UNO isn't even over — we're just getting to the good part — and he has already lived up to expectations. If anything, he may be exceeding the hype as college hockey legend/savior.

It's not just that his first-year club has developed into a hard-skating, hard-checking, high-scoring force. It's not just that the Mavs swept Ohio State and Michigan on back-to-back weeks, then went into No. 1 Miami's den and stole a split. Nor that they enter the weekend's series with Bemidji State with a shot at the NCAA tourney and the confidence to trash the playoffs.

It's more the way he wields an unfailing confidence and the way he picks up believers like hitchhikers along the way. Blais has an aura about him, a swagger. He talks about greatness matter-of-factly, like it's to be expected. And that's just it: It is.

In that way, Blais is unique among coaches in this area. Tom Osborne delivered the goods, but he made it sound like his team would be lucky to win seven games every year.
[Read the whole article here]

Check out this comment by Blais, interesting.

On Omaha: “Lovely city. My wife and I have been downtown, eating at all the restaurants. I love the road system, although there are a lot of potholes. Golf courses are great. I haven't had a chance to hunt and fish, but I guess you can do that here.''

On buying a house here: “I've got four houses right now: one in Fargo, one in Minneapolis I had when I was with the (Columbus) Blue Jackets, and two lake homes in International Falls (Minn.). I've got to sell a couple and buy one here.''

That's a good sign. Now that Blais is back in college hockey, suitors may be lining up. But he says he wants to fulfill his four-year contract in Omaha.