Idalski lands 2-year contract extension

Good news for UND Women’s hockey, head women's hockey coach Brian Idalski has been re-upped for another two years. Since taking over the Women’s hockey program from former UND women’s head coach Shantel Rivard, Brian Idalski has taken a program from the ashes and turned UND into a national power. Apparently, Idalaski’s base salary is $116,777. Goon’s World would like to congratulate Idalski on his new deal.

[Official Press Release]

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of North Dakota Athletics Director Brian Faison announced today that head women's hockey coach Brian Idalski has received a two-year contract extension that will keep him at the helm of his program through the 2016-17 season.

Idalski guided his team to the most successful season in program history in 2011-12, his fifth year behind the UND bench. UND went 22-13-3 to set a program record for victories while securing its first NCAA postseason berth. Junior forwards Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux became UND's first women's hockey All-Americans, while Jocelyne Lamoureux became the school's first top-3 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey.

"Coach Idalski has a great understanding of the game of hockey and what it takes to be successful," said Faison. "That success is evident in all facets of his program, from assembling a top-notch staff to recruiting to community service to a strong emphasis upon academics to on-ice results. Coach Idalski has positioned our program to be amongst college women's ice hockey elite."

Idalski, who inherited a program that had gone 0-27-1 in 2006-07, has led UND to 20-win seasons in each of the last two years. UND finished the 2011-12 season ranked sixth in the final USCHO.com poll and was named the 2011-12 North Dakota women's college team of the year by the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscaster and Sportswriters Association (NDAPSSA).

Jocelyne Lamoureux, who set a program record for points (82), goals (34) and assists (48), was named the NDAPSSA Female College Athlete of the Year, the WCHA Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year, and a Capital One Academic All-American.

Both Lamoureuxs were named to the All-USCHO First Team, while freshman forward Michelle Karvinen was named to USCHO's All-Rookie Team.

UND's milestone season was also reflected in the stands at Ralph Engelstad Arena, as the program ranked second nationally in average (1,485) and total (28,218) home attendance.

Sioux Women to Introduce New Sweaters.... The Minnesota Wild 4th Jerseys (RW77)

UND HOCKEY BLOG

Per Brad Schlossman:

The Sioux women will debut the new Sioux jerseys against Lindenwood (not the park in South Fargo). Surely the women will smoke the first year Lindenwood...whatevers but what's more interesting is the jersey. Well, I'd show you the new picture, but... for some reason the image crashes my Firefox browser. So here is the link to it. (Maybe goon will be able to upload it successfully).


Well, for comparison, check out this jersey. (Again, I skipped the image due to it crashing Firefox).

Yup. Pretty much color changed, text changed, done, swap Wild logo with interlocking ND, done.

What they should have done was: drop the Est. 1883. And replaced the stars with mini airplane logos like something similar to this.

I'll end this post with the following:

I'm not really interested (though I won't prevent it) in the "This jersey sucks because it's not the Fighting Sioux" commentary. The truth is: The beloved nickname is dead. The idiots at the NCAA and the PC morons with contributions from Stenejhem (sp?) took it away from us. It's not coming back. I thank those who fought the good fight including the tribe that stood behind us but it is over.

So let's make the best of it. I think, for something I'm sad to see happen, it's a pretty good stopgap.

Watch the Sioux Women vs UW Badgers...

Watch live streaming video from nottinghammediaservices at livestream.com

The Live Chat is on this link...

UND lines:

Alyssa Wiebe - Jocelyne Lamoureux - Allison Parizek

Kelsey Ketcher - Sara Dagenais - Stephanie Roy

Holly Perkins - Mary Loken - Megan Gilbert

Margot Miller

Defense:

Candace Molle - Monique Lamoureux-Kolls

Kayla Berg - Ashley Holmes

Ashley Furia - Madison Kolls

In net: Stephanie Roy