USA Hockey names Blais as coach for 2012 WJC

Former UND Fighting Sioux and current UNO Maverick head coach Dean Blais has been named head coach of team USA for the 2012 USA WJC.

NHL.COM --- USA Hockey will once again turn to Dean Blais to lead the U.S. National Junior Team to international prominence when the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship is held in Alberta, Canada.

It marks the third time Blais, currently the head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, will be behind the bench for Team USA at the WJC. USA Hockey announced Blais as coach on Friday prior to the first semifinal game of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The remainder of the coaching staff will be announced at a later date and prior to USA Hockey's National Junior Evaluation Camp, Aug. 6-13, in Lake Placid, N.Y.

"I'm extremely honored to coach this team," Blais said. "It's really exciting to see how far hockey has come in our country. We now go into the World Juniors expecting to win and that will be our mind set from the summer camp right through the tournament next December and January in Edmonton and Calgary."

After leading Team USA to a sixth-place finish at the 1994 WJC in the Czech Republic, Blais was given the reigns once again in 2010 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He'd lead the U.S. to five regulation wins, one overtime victory and one OT loss, capping the tournament with a memorable 6-5 overtime victory over host Canada in the gold-medal contest. It was the second gold won by the U.S. in the WJC and first since 2004 when Mike Eaves was at the helm.