The Rink Live

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 program for more than 40 years, joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten to talk about the transition ahead. He also talks about his current team, playing for Bob Johnson on the 1976 USA national team, learning new recruiting rules, working for Terry Skrypek and more.

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 joins The Rink Live video podcast to discuss some of those plans, how he got involved in hockey and got his new position.

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 assistant coach at Stillwater (Minn.) High School, Wisconsin, three seasons at Nebraska Omaha, 10 seasons at Minnesota Duluth and three at Ohio State before taking over as the Buckeyes head coach in 2013.

In seven seasons, he has led the Buckeyes to three straight NCAA Division I tournaments, a Frozen Four appearance (2018), their first conference regular season title (2018-19) since 2009 and a 133-95-33 record.

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 Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.

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 CCHA commissioner Don Lucia and memories of his playing days at the University of Minnesota.

Potulny played for Grand Forks Red River High School (N.D.), played for the Gophers from 2000-04 and then five seasons of pro hockey. He then was an assistant coach for the Gophers for eight seasons before taking over at Northern Michigan.

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 did not have hockey in her background, but she talks about how her kids now play street hockey and are comfortable enough to take their coats off when they go with their mom to games.

She talks about these experiences, the possibilities of the conference expanding, how the women's side of the conference will/will not be affected by seven men's teams leaving the WCHA in one year and more with The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.

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 Wellens (Minnesota Duluth) check into this episode of the podcast to talk about the biggest developments of the offseason so far.

Some of the topics covered include the biggest storyline of each team's offseason, the proposed overtime change, the new CCHA commissioner and new players to watch in the coming season.

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 discusses how he ended up getting back involved in the game, some of the challenges he faces and also talks about his coaching career, the possibility of the University of St. Thomas joining the CCHA, the probable new overtime format and more.

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 discussed in the NCAA and tells some stories about his time playing for Herb Brooks and Frank Serratore. All this and more when he joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.