Familiar faces returning to WCHA

Kevin Pates from the Duluth News Tribune has a nice article about the two new teams that will begin play in the WCHA this season. I have a feeling that the WCHA is going to get to know Tom Serratore and Dean Blais’ teams pretty quick as both coaches like to play an up tempo race horse hockey type of game.

Duluth News Tribune ---- The newest members of the league — Serratore with Bemidji State and Blais with Nebraska-Omaha — begin 2010-11 play in the next two weeks. On Tuesday, they were warmly welcomed by fellow WCHA head coaches during a media conference call. They needed no introduction.

Serratore, 46, is entering his ninth year as Bemidji State’s head coach with a mark of 140-120-29. He was a St. Cloud State assistant for five years in the WCHA from 1993-99.

Blais, 59, is entering his second year at Omaha and spent 10 seasons in the WCHA as North Dakota’s head coach with a 262-115-33 record. He had another nine years as a North Dakota assistant and played for Minnesota from 1969-73.

“It’s an exciting time in Bemidji, something we’ve dreamt of for years,” said Serratore, who grew up in Coleraine and was a Bemidji State hockey captain. “The longtime goal of this program has been to be a member of the WCHA, and it’s nice to see it come to fruition.

“All of northern Minnesota and the Iron Range has been looking forward to this, and we hope to compete day-in-and-day-out with the teams in our league.”

Bemidji State knocked on the WCHA’s door with the demise of College Hockey America. Nebraska-Omaha was then courted by WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod to make the league an even dozen members, the largest size since its inception in 1951.

Bemidji State, which grew to national small-college stature under Bob Peters, has been in three NCAA Division I tournaments the past six years. The Beavers were 23-10-4 last season, won the College Hockey America regular-season title and lost to Michigan 5-1 in the NCAA Midwest Regional’s first round. The four-team College Hockey America then dissolved.

Bemidji State opens its first WCHA season in impressive fashion with the christening of the $44 million, 4,500-seat Bemidji Regional Event Center on Oct. 15 against North Dakota.