The Rink Live

It was one of those moments where Mark Frankenfeld will not forget where he was. Frankenfeld, the NAHL commissioner, was in an airport in March when he got the news that most sports were shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic. He ended up holding a Board of Directors meeting from the airport as the NAHL decided what to do. Frankenfeld tells that story, talks about how the league was abl...

University of Michigan head men's hockey coach Mel Pearson played high school hockey in Edina for iconic coach Willard Ikola, then at Michigan Tech for legendary coach John MacInnes and then began a coaching career that included being a long-time assistant for Wolverines Red Berenson. Berenson coached the Wolverines for 33 seasons and led them to two national titles. MacInnes led the Huskies to th...

United States Hockey League commissioner Tom Garrity said he missed a meeting and that's how he ended up moving into the Tier I junior league's top position in 2018. Joking aside, he took the position on an interim basis and it ended up becoming a permanent appointment.   Garrity, like all hockey commissioners, is faced with a number of tough questions when looking at trying to put together a 2020...

Mark Wick has been involved with college hockey as a player and coach for more than 30 years. He played for Gustavus Adolphus College for two seasons (1981-83) and two seasons for the College of St. Scholastica (1983-85). As a graduate student, he was involved in coaching club hockey at Bowling Green. He was an assistant coach at St. Scholastica (1986-88), Augsburg (1988-96) and University of Wisc...

The Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association is looking to avoid a delay to the beginning of the boys hockey season. MHCA president Jon Ammerman, Moorhead High School's head coach, joins The Rink Live podcast to discuss the proposals the association is planning to present the Minnesota State High School League for the 2020-21 season. Ammerman talks about how the association came to some unique ideas,...

Bob Nygaard's position as sports information director at the University of Minnesota Duluth was eliminated on April 2. It was not long before people started asking him to work for them. The Duluth Amateur Hockey Association ended up winning the Nygaard lottery and he is their new executive director. Nygaard talks about his new position, moving forward with a 2020-21 youth hockey season and shares...

The 2019-20 youth hockey season ended in early March with some age levels not able to have their state tournaments in Minnesota because of the coronavirus pandemic shutting things down. The good news is that the 2020-21 youth season is beginning, though there are some changes to keep players, coaches, fans and referees safe. Minnesota Hockey executive director Glen Andresen talks about some of the...

When Tom Palkowski was asked to help the University of St. Thomas women's hockey team as an assistant coach, he turned it down. But persistence paid off for Kevin Gorg, who was the program's first varsity head coach. Palkowski agreed to be an assistant coach in 1998. He spent nine seasons as an assistant coach and is about to begin his 14th season as the Tommies head coach and could not be happier...

East Grand Forks was named one of four finalists in the Kraft Hockeyville USA competition on Aug. 17. The other finalists are the El Paso (Texas) Event Center, the Wichita (Kan.) Ice Center and the Wildcat Centre Arena in River Falls, Wis. The winner will get $150,000. The runner-up gets $30,000. The other two finalists get $10,000. East Grand Forks put forth a $13.42-million list of ideas to upgr...

Darby Hendrickson is about as embedded as a person can be to hockey in the state of Minnesota. As a senior at Richfield High School, he was named Mr. Hockey. He played two seasons at the University of Minnesota, scored the first goal for the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center and now is an assistant coach for the Wild. Hendrickson shares experiences from his playing days, his work with the Hendr...

The news that the University of St. Thomas was moving up to the NCAA Division I level in all sports in 2021 came on July 15. The CCCHA, which will have its first season in 2021-22, announced on July 29 that the Tommies will be the eighth team in its league. So it has been a life changing month for people at St. Thomas.  St. Thomas men's head hockey coach Jeff Boeser, who has been involved in his p...

Steve Metcalf was named the new commissioner for Hockey East in February. To say that a lot a lot has changed since that announcement is like saying a hurricane creates some rain. In March, Hockey East announced it would not be going forth with its conference playoffs. But on July 29, the conference announced its plans to play the 2020-21 season with priority given to conference games. Metcalf joi...

Steve Rohlik admits that growing up in the east side of St. Paul, Minn., his dream was not to play professionally or to play college hockey. Rohlik dreamed of playing for Hill-Murray High School at the state high school tournament. He achieved that, then went on to be the team's head coach after a college career at the University of Wisconsin. Rohlik's coaching career also includes being an assist...

University of Minnesota women's hockey coach Brad Frost has not been on campus since March because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Frost, who recently completed his 13th season with the Gophers, talks about his new players for the 2020-21 season, who he roots for when Canada plays Team USA, some highlights of the 2019-20 season, the University of St. Thomas joining the WCHA and more with The Rink Li...

Grant Potulny has spent the last three seasons as the head coach of the Northern Michigan hockey team. His teams have taken second twice and third once in the WCHA and he has a record of 64-47-10 with the Wildcats. He joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten to talk about coaching in the upper peninsula of Michigan, adjustment he's made recruiting during the pandemic, his thoughts on new C...

On June 3, 2019, Jennifer Flowers was named vice president and women's commissioner of the WCHA. Needless to say, it's been quite a year. Wisconsin won the conference's regular season title and then Ohio State beat the Badgers 1-0 in the conference championship game. But before the NCAA Division I playoffs could start, everything in sports was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.. Flowers d...

Regardless of when the 2020-21 college hockey starts, this will be the longest offseason for programs in The Rink Live's area for many years. The coronavirus pandemic has guaranteed that. But that does not mean that college hockey news has stopped happening. Reporters Mick Hatten (St. Cloud State), Austin Monteith (Bemidji State), Jess Myers (Minnesota), Brad Schlossman (North Dakota) and Matt Wel...

Jessi Pierce covers the Minnesota Wild for NHL.com and also has a podcast called Bar Down Beauties that she does with Alexis Pearson. Pierce joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten and talks about the playoffs, the first season under general manager Bill Guerin, how she got her current position, her career path and much more.

Don Lucia was a men's head hockey coach at the University of Alaska, Colorado College and the University of Minnesota. Lucia retired from coaching two years ago, but was approached about applying to become the commissioner of the new CCHA, went through an extensive interview process and was named to his new position on Wednesday, June 17 . Lucia joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten and...

Minnesota State University-Mankato men's hockey coach Mike Hastings' team was sitting at No. 2 in the PairWise Rankings when the 2019-20 season abruptly ended because of the coronavirus pandemic. Hastings talks about that team, what his team is going to look like in 2020-21, what he is hearing about college hockey moving forward, the new recruiting age rule, the 3-on-3 overtime proposal being disc...

Some summer hockey has begun with restrictions, Alabama-Huntsville's men's hockey program has been saved (again) and has some challenges ahead, Long Island University has a men's hockey coach and its first commitments, the CCHA has three finalists for its commissioner position and Dave Shyiak is moving from Western Michigan to St. Cloud State. It's the offseason, but still plenty to cover in the l...

University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Bob Motzko joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten and discusses the offseason for the Golden Gophers. How has Motzko and his staff been staying in communication with the players? What's it like sorting through who to bring in for the freshman class? How different does it feel having three goalies in place this offseason vs. last offseason when a...

Stu Bickel earned a reputation as a tough guy during his pro hockey career from 2008-18. In 411 pro games, the former forward/defenseman had 1,172 penalty minutes, which included time in the NHL with the New York Rangers (2011-13) and Minnesota Wild (2014-15). After retiring from playing, Bickel decided to go back to the University of Minnesota and finish his degree in communications and has spent...

On March 12, the day before the NCHC playoffs were set to begin, the conference made the decision to cancel its postseason tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic. Like most conferences, the NCHC makes most of its operating budget from its annual postseason tournament. Fenton joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten to discuss how the conference is doing financially, the contingency pla...

Corey Millen was hired to be the head coach of the North American Hockey League's St. Cloud Norsemen on April 2nd. This will be the third franchise in the junior league that Millen has coached. He previously was the head coach of the Alaska Avalanche (2011-12) and the Minnesota Wilderness (2013-16). Millen has also been an undergraduate assistant coach for the University of Minnesota men's team (2...