It's official John Hill out at UMN

Here is the official announcement. The word on the streets in the Twin Cities newspapers is that former Gophers assistant coach Mike Guentzel will take over for the now departed John Hill. Mike Guentzel was the assistant coach under Dean Blais for the UNO Mavericks last season. From looking at this from the outside this move smacks of desperation of a man trying to save his job, looks like Hill was the fall guy in this scenario.

Official Courtesy: University of Minnesota ----- University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Don Lucia announced today that assistant coach John Hill will not return for the 2011-12 season.
"I appreciate all the hard work John gave to Gopher Hockey," said Lucia. "I wish John nothing but success in the future and thank him for his commitment to Gopher Hockey."

Hill was a member of the Gopher coaching staff since 2005. He was also an assistant coach at Minnesota from 1999-2001 before serving as the head coach at his alma mater Alaska Anchorage from 2001-05.

A search for Hill's replacement will begin immediately.

While I am not really going out on a limb here, you can almost bet there will be more personnel changes in Rodenville if the not so Golden Gophers don’t make the NCAA tourney and Final Five… The unlikable John Hill was probably a scape goat.