Six players with Gophers ties were among the 25 current or future WCHA players selected in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft this past weekend in Montreal, Quebec.

Nick Leddy, Mr. Hockey in 2009 from Eden Prairie, was the first future Gopher picked at No. 16 by the Wild. He also was the first player with WCHA picked, a bit of a surprise.

Sophomore center Jordan Schroeder, rated No. 5 among North American players by Central Scouting, was taken at No. 22 by Vancouver.

Others with Minnesota ties picked:
* Zach Budish, a forward from Edina, No. 41, second round by Nashville
* Josh Birkholz, a forward for the Fargo Force (USHL), No. 67, third round by Florida
* Seth Helgeson, a defenseman for Sioux City (USHL), No. 114, fourth round by New Jersey

Those three are joining the Gophers this season.

* Erik Haula, a junior forward for Shattuck-St. Mary’s, No. 210 by Wild.

He will join the U in 2010.

In the past four years, 24 players with Gophers connectiions have been taken in the NHL Draft.

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The WCHA has scheduled a 5 p.m. teleconference today to break some big news. The University of Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State will be joining the 10-team conference in the 2010-11 season, according to a story in the Duluth News-Tribune.

The Beavers applied to the WCHA in April, but a vote on adding one team was tabled. Instead, commissioner Bruce McLeod made it his mission this summer to find a 12th team.

Apparently, he did in UNO. The Mavericks are members of the CCHA now. But earlier this month, Nebraska-Omaha hired a coach well-known in WCHA circles in Dean Blais.

Blais won two NCAA titles coaching at North Dakota. Many considered his hiring a sign of which way UNO was leaning as the WCHA openly courted the Mavericks.

With Bemidji State, the number of Minnesota teams in the WCHA will grow from four to five. The University of Minnesota was one of the Beavers’ strongest supporters on the issue of whether to admit them.

BSU belongs to the four-team College Hockey America conference, but that is disbanding after this coming season. So the timing is perfect for the Beavers to join the WCHA in 2010-11.

All the college hockey talk these days centers around Friday’s NHL draft and WCHA expansion. But recruiting will intensify soon. College coaches will be going to various hockey festivals to watch prospects.

The Gophers, despite the recent loss of the outgoing, charismatic Mike Hastings, might be OK. Hastings, an assistant coach for one season, has taken a job as associate head coach at Nebraska-Omaha. He left the program in reasonable shape from a recruiting standpoint.

The Gophers have 11 commitments. Eight of the players could join the program as soon as the 2010-11 season. The U of M recruits:

Class of 2010

Mark Alt                 Cretin-Derham Hall               D
Nate Condon           Fargo (USHL)                      F
Max Gardiner         Minnetonka                            F
Eric Haula                Shattuck-St. Mary’s             F
Christian Isackson  St. Thomas Acad.                F
Nate Schmidt          St. Cloud Cathedral             D
Ryan Walters          Des Moines (USHL)            F
Jake Youso              Des Moines (USHL)            F

Class of 2011

Seth Ambroz            Omaha (USHL)                    F
Nick Bjugstad           Blaine                                    F
Ben Marshall            Mahtomedi                           D

 As many as six players with WCHA ties could be taken in the first round of the NHL draft which starts on Friday in Montreal.

The two cinches, who could go real high, are Gophers sophomore center Jordan Schroeder. He is rated No. 5 among North American prospects by the Central Scouting Bureau. Defenseman John Moore, who has signed with Colorado College, is rated No. 6. Moore played for Chicago of the USHL last season.

Four incoming freshmen could go in the second half of the first round:

Zach Budish, who missed his senior season at Edina High School because of a knee injury, is rated No. 22. At 6-3, 229, he was the biggest prospect of the 104 at the NHL Combine in Toronto last month.

Budish has signed with the Gophers as has defenseman Nick Leddy of Eden Prairie. Leddy is rated No. 24.

Two other players are also rated in the top 30 — there are 30 picks in the first round. They are UMD defenseman Dylan Olsen, No. 27, and Denver forward Drew Shore, No. 28. Olsen played for Camrose of the AJHL last season, Shore for the U.S. national development team in Ann Arbor.

Six first-rounders would be a record for the WCHA. Five players with WCHA ties were taken three times recently, in 2006, ‘06 and ‘07.

Other WCHA blogs:

Alaska-Anchorage: UAA Fan Blog

Colorado College: Eye of the Tiger 

Denver: All Things Colorado Sports 

Michigan Tech: Huskies Hockey Blog 

Minnesota-Duluth: Rink and Run 

Minnesota State Mankato: Puckato

North Dakota: News, notes and comments

 St. Cloud State: Pucks and bats

Wisconsin: Badger Beat 

Gophers assistant men’s hockey coach Mike Hastings told his boss, Don Lucia, he was resigning on Tuesday.

The resignation is effective June 29.

“There is not an awful lot of college jobs out there, as far as head coaching positions,” Hastings said. “And you can never tell the future. [This] is an opportunity to work with somebody who is trying to build a program at a place I lived for 14 years.”

Hastings has taken a job as the associate head coach at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He will work for new head coach Dean Blais, who is 58.

Hastings, who is 43, said this job will put him in a good position to succeed Blais when he retires if all is going well. “If we are driving the program into a ditch, I will go somewhere else,” Hastings said.

“I’ve always felt if I was doing the job, doing well, things would work out.”

A SLEEPING GIANT?

Trev Alberts, the new AD at UNO, has said he wants a hockey program that can compete for conference and national titles.

So are the Mavericks capable of that? “I look at Miami Ohio,” Hastings said. “They started as what I would call a mid-major in the CCHA. The young staff in place built the program to the opportunities they have now.

“The competed for the CCHA championship, got a new facility and came within  how many seconds of winning a national title this year? So, can it be done? Yes, but it will take a lot of heavy lifting before it gets done.”

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Gophers coach Don Lucia said Grant Potulny, despite his lack of coaching experience, will be considered a candidate to replace Mike Hastings as assistant coach.

Hastings, after one season at the U, has resigned to become associate head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Potulnty, a former two-time Gophers captain, was named a volunteer assistant coach in mid-May. He played on NCAA championship teams in 2002 and 2003.

Potulny has played pro hockey since leaving the U after the 2003-04 season. Last season he played for Norfolk (Va.) of the AHL, but his career has been hampered by injuries.

He was eager to join the Gophers staff. He recently passed an NCAA recruiting test, Gophers coach Don Lucia said, so Potulny will be able to attend the under-15, -16 and -17 national festivals to scout prospective recruits.

“He will get a chance to get his feet wet,” Lucia said.

Lucia said the pool of candidates to be a Gophers assistant is a little different than it was a year ago when he hired Hastings.

“Having somebody be here a period of time, that would be my preference,” Lucia said. “We’ll also look closely at alums. We want someone who will be the best fit for our players, our team.”

He said the job will be posted by either this weekend or Monday.

“I wish [Hastings] had been here longer,” Lucia said, “but he did a good job, he added to our program.

“[This] was hard for him. He wants to be a head coach at this level. A lot of times when there are openings, they have somebody in mind. But Dean [new UNO coach Dean Blais] told Mike, whoever takes this position will have an inside track to succeed him.”

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Gophers assistant hockey coach Mike Hastings is returning to Omaha, Neb.

Hastings resigned after one season at the university to be the associate head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

He was the first hire of the Mavericks’ new head coach, Dean Blais.

“Dean told Mike that whoever takes this [the associate head coach] position will have a great chace to replace him down the line,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said. “I enjoyed my year with Mike and wish him the best.”

Blais is 58.

Grant Potulny, who will be a first year volunteer assistant this coming season, will temporarily take over Hastings’ duties. But it won’t be for long.

“I hope to have the position filled by mid-July,” Lucia said.

Lucia probably has a short list of candidates from a year ago when he hired Hastings.

Hastings was the coach and general manager of the Omaha Lancers of the USHL for 14 years. His career record was 529-210-56 and he never had a losing season with the Lancers.

The Gophers hockey team finally released its schedule for the upcoming season. Eight other WCHA teams had posted theirs early.

A couple of highlights:

* Five Sunday games at home, counting an exhibition game vs. British Columbia to open the season on Oct. 4. Regular season also will end with a Sunday game vs. Wisconsin on March 7.

* Gophers will open the season against two of the WCHA favorites. They play at North Dakota on Oct. 16-17, then come home the next week to play Denver.

* For the first time since 2000, the Gophers also will play a game at the Target Center. They will play the Badgers there on March 5.

* Bemidji State, a surprise Frozen Four team, will be at Mariucci on Nov. 14-15. 

Gophers’ 2009-10 schedule

Oct. 3: first practice

Oct. 4: British Columbia, 4 p.m. (exhibition)

Oct. 16: at North Dakota, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 17: at North Dakota, 7 p.m.

Oct. 23: Denver, 7 p.m.

Oct. 24: Denver, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: Alaska Anchorage, 7 p.m.

Nov. 1: Alaska Anchorage, 7 p.m.

Nov. 6: at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

Nov. 7: at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

Nov. 14: Bemidji State, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 15: Bemidji State, 6 p.m.

Nov. 20: UMD, 7 p.m.

Nov. 21: UMD, 7 p.m.

Nov. 27: College Hockey Showcase at Michigan, 6:30 p.m.

Nov. 28: College Hockey Showcase at Michigan State, 6 p.m.

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Jordan Schroeder, who will be a sophomore center this season, and thee other future or present Gophers  have been invited to the U.S. national junior evaluation camp Aug. 7-15 in Lake Placid, N.Y.

From the 43 players there, the U.S. team will be picked forr the under-20 World Junior Championships Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan.

Also invited were sophomore defenseman Aaron Ness, who was at the same camp last season but not picked for the team, and incoming freshmen Zach Budish, a forward, and Nick Leddy, a defenseman.

Schroeder, Budish and Leddy are all eligible for the NHL draft later this month and were at the NHL Combine in Toronto last month. All three could be first round picks.

Schroeder has already competed in two World Junior Championships and is already the all-time assists leader for the U.S. with 15. Last year he had three goals and eight assists for 11 points.

The final roster will be named in early December.

North Dakota recently released its 2009-10 hockey schedule. The Fighting Sioux are the eighth WCHA team to do so, only UMD and the Gophers have not.

UND will open its season with an exhibition game against the University of Manitoba on Oct. 4 and have a nonconference series with Merrimack Oct. 9-10 before facing the Gophers the next weekend, Oct. 16-17. Those first five games are all at the Ralph. 

 Updated Gophers’ 2009-10 schedule (pieced together by looking at opponents’ schedules)

Oct. 3: first practice

Oct. 8, 9 or 10: British Columbia, exhibition

Oct. 16: at North Dakota, 7 p.m.

Oct. 17: at North Dakota, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 23: Denver, 7 p.m.

Oct. 24: Denver, 7 p.m.

Oct. 30: Alaska Anchorage, 7 p.m.

Nov. 1: Alaska Anchorage, 7 p.m.

Nov. 6: at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

Nov. 7: at Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

Nov. 14-15: Bemidji State

Nov. 20-21: UMD

Nov. 27: College Hockey Showcase at Michigan, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 28: College Hockey Showcase at Michigan State

Dec. 4: Minnesota State Mankato, 7 p.m.

Dec. 5: at Minnesota State Mankato, 7 p.m.

Dec. 11: at Michigan Tech, 6 p.m.

Dec. 12: at Michigan Tech, 6 p.m.

Jan. 2-3: Dodge Holiday Classic, with Bowling Green, Clarkson and Northern Michigan at Mariucci Arena … Pairing are not set yet.

Jan. 8-9: Harvard

Jan. 15: North Dakota, 7 p.m.

Jan. 16: North Dakota, 7 p.m.

Jan. 22: at St. Cloud State, 7 p.m.

Jan. 23: St. Cloud State, 5 p.m.

Jan. 29: at Alaska Anchorage, 10 p.m.

Jan. 30: at Alaska Anchorage, 10 p.m.

Feb. 12: at Denver, 8:30 p.m.

Feb. 13: at Denver, 8 p.m.

Feb. 19: Colorado College, 7 p.m.

Feb. 20: Colorado College, 7 p.m.

Feb. 26-27: at UMD

March 5: Wisconsin, 7 p.m.

March 7: Wisconsin,  1 p.m.

March 12-14: First round of WCHA playoffs

March 18-20: Final Five at X

March 26-27, NCAA regional at X

April 8, 10: Frozen Four in Detroit