Friday, February 23, 2007

Blais Takes Savioring Elsewhere

There were hopes around the college hockey world that former North Dakota coach Dean Blais would triumphantly return to college hockey this summer after a rough stint with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In fact, I believe the 2011-2014 national championships were already reserved for whichever team Blais chose.

But those hopes look pretty much dashed right now. Blais signed a 5 year deal with Fargo's new USHL team.

How good of a coach is Blais?
"Surrounded by hundreds of squirt hockey players and fans at John E. Carlson Coliseum in Fargo, Blais said he will be the new coach and general manager of the Fargo franchise starting July 1."
That's right. He's taking on the USHL with a bunch of squirt players. The hundreds may be a bit excessive, but it's my understanding that most of them were goalies, which Blais will rotating through liberally.

Fargo's USHL team still has a bunch of financial hoops to jump through before things are official. They should be able to drum up the support though. After all, look at who is coaching the team. My guess is that the tentative plan is that Fargo will win the Stanley Cup within five years, and after that, it's on to time travel, whereby they will go back in time to teach the Kenora Thistles a thing or two.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So much for hiding your biases....

Anonymous said...

Blais was scouting for the Blue Jackets in St. Cloud tonight....Let me guess, Chris, now you will never go to St. Cloud again.....

Unknown said...

"So much for hiding your biases...."

If you didn't laugh at that, you are the one who has some bias problems to overcome. That shit was funny.

Anonymous said...

It'll be interesting to see what Blais can do in Fargo. Hasn't the USHL had teams in Fargo in the past? I thought the USHL tried the Fargo market once if not twice before.

Anonymous said...

Kenora Thistles??? If He was really going to make a mark he would need to take on the Warroad Lakers!!

Anonymous said...

It'd be interesting to see what would happen if the financing fell through and Fargo does not end up with an arena or a team... I think it might just kill me to see Blais coach another college hockey team... Like seeing an old girlfriend with some other guy...