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.

John Hill out at UMN - Mike Guentzel back in at UMN.

There is some surprising news surfacing down in Rodentville. It would appear that the powers that be at the University of Minnesota have finally seen enough of John Hill’s antics; I am surprised Hill stayed on as long as he did. Seriously folks when Mike Guentzel left the University of Minnesota after the 2007 – 2008 season, I was shocked that the Gophers parted ways with a great coach like Guentzel and kept John Hill.

Jeff Oftos of Gopher Puck Live is reporting that Minnesota Golden Gopher assistant hockey coach John Hill is out as assistant coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and former Minnesota Assistant hockey coach Mike Guentzel is back in for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. I have found in the past that Gopher Puck Live is in tune and spot on in most of their predictions and stories so I have no reason to doubt it.

Had anyone out there predicted this scenario unfolding?

While no official announcement has been made, several sources, including @hammyhockey and @quickfacts via Twitter have reported a somewhat surprising change on the Gopher hockey staff. It appears as though Coach John Hill will not return for the 2011 – 2012 season, and a familiar face will be back in.

The first piece of this news is not surprising. For at least a couple of seasons now, there have been a lot of rumblings about what effectiveness Coach Hill was having on the team. Due to the theories that there was nobody on staff with any true defensive coaching experience, the team was losing some players early to the pro ranks and even losing out on some higher profile recruits, Coach Hill took the brunt of the blame not directly fired at Lucia.


Mike Guentzel In?
The surprise is coming in the return of former Gopher defenseman, captain and (long-time) assistant coach Mike Guentzel. Rumored to have been let-go by Coach Lucia after the 2007 – 2008 season, most figured the only way Guentzel would have returned was either as a head coach or with a different head coach/staff altogether.

Long known for his loyalty to the ‘M’, Guentzel, of course, the staunch assistant coach from 1994 – 2008 returns to, assumingly, take the reigns of a defense that has struggled in one aspect or another from time to time since he left. Be it puck movement on the power play, or tying up defenders in front of their own net, this is an area that should improve now that Guentzel is back.

First I want to preface this with; I don’t know John Hill nor do I have any idea what kind of person John Hill is in person, however, in what I have witnessed as a fan in his role as assistant coach of the University of Minnesota, John Hill comes off as a half cocked buffoon, or as a guy that has one caught in the chamber, especially when he is being interviewed during the Sioux and Gopher series. A few seasons a go when the Gophers were playing the Fighting Sioux, Hill made some puzzling statements on how he hated the Fighting Sioux hockey team. Not something you would expect an assistant coach to say.

To on lookers out side of the UMN hockey program; the fact that Mike Guentzel left the Gophers and John Hill got to stay was a puzzling move to many that I have talked to… I can also remember Johnny Pohl telling Paul Allen on KFAN 1130 that losing assistant coach Mike Guentzel was a major loss for the Gopher hockey program.

Looking back at the results of the last three season, it’s apparent that the loss of Mike Guentzel was a major loss for the Golden Gophers hockey program, the Gophers defense has looked like a bunch of orange road cones or pylons since; as the opposition teams have pretty much skated around the Gophers like a hot knife going through butter. Since Guentzel left the Gopher hockey team the have been mediocre at best going an unimpressive 51-46-15 missing the Final Five the last two years and the NCAA tourney the last three seasons in a row.