According to legendary coach Dean Blais, @UNO_Hockey isn't there yet. But he thinks the @omavs can be soon. http://t.co/Z7LEmuJ8zO
— Tony Boone (@BooneOWH) October 5, 2014
Interesting article about coach Dean Blais and his UNO hockey program.
Tony Boone, Omaha.com -- NO, entering its 18th season, still needs to establish itself as a program relevant on the national level, Blais said. Becoming a perennial NCAA tourney team is an important part of that.
The coach recalled his days at North Dakota, where he was the head coach from 1994 to 2004, when he could drive to Winnipeg, then fly to British Columbia or Saskatchewan and have immediate credibility when he visited a recruit because his program had name recognition.
“Everyone knows about North Dakota. They have that tradition,” he said. “We have to build that tradition. We have to be known as a team that’s going to be there at the end of the year. We’ll get there.”
Omaha has a recruiting advantage, Blais said, by being located within driving distance of a number of teams from the United States Hockey League, the top junior league in America. But he expects the biggest boost to come when the new on-campus arena at UNO opens next October.
Players, for the first time in the program’s history, will be able to go to practices or games without driving across the city. And they’ll have their own space they don’t have to share with another team.
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