The Rink Live

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 latest episode of The Rink Live video podcast with Jess Myers and Mick Hatten. The reporters cover all of these topics and more on this episode.

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 all three were unknown? All this and more on this episode with the reigning Big Ten Coach of the Year.

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 the last two seasons as a student assistant coach for the Gophers.

Bickel shares memories from his playing days, shares some of what he has learned under head coach Bob Motzko and looks ahead to his next career move with The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.

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 plans the conference is looking at for different scenarios in the fall, whether or no rule changes will be implemented for the 2020-21 season and more.

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 (2016-17), was the director of hockey operations for the Air Force Academy (2017-18) and an assistant coach for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (2018-19).

As a player, Millen played in the NHL from 1989-97 with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames. He then played in Germany and Switzerland from 1997-2004.

Before turning pro, Millen played for Team USA in two Olympics (1984, 1988), was an All-American at the University of Minnesota and an all-state player for Cloquet High School.

Dan Myers covers the Minnesota Wild for nhl.com/wild and is the author of the book "100 Things Wild Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die."

Myers talks about the current state of the Wild, some of the questions they face in the offseason, his favorite and least favorite rinks in the NHL and the process of writing his book. A Minnesota State University-Mankato graduate, Myers also talks about covering Mavericks hockey, some of his favorite memories from his time covering the team for his college paper and the influence that former Mankato Free Press reporter Shane Frederick has had on his career.

MANKATO, Minn. — Shane Frederick has spent the last 20 seasons covering Minnesota State University-Mankato hockey for the Mankato Free Press.

He recently left the newspaper and the business to take a new position in public relations. Frederick joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten to share some of his favorite memories of covering the Mavericks and what he expects he will miss about his old job.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Under normal conditions, St. Cloud State men's hockey coach Brett Larson would have been at the national coaches meetings in Naples, Fla. Because of the stay at home order for the coronavirus pandemic, he is working out of his university office about three days a week.

That's a bonus for The Rink Live video podcast. Larson joins The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten to talk about being part of a coaching staff that has been deemed "King of the Quarantine Commitments."

Since the season ended on March 12, the Huskies have gotten four commitments, including two graduate transfers.

Larson talks about the five incoming players who have signed national letters of intent for the fall: forwards Veeti Miettinen, Joe Molenaar and Jared Cockrell; and defensemen Brady Ziemer and Seamus Donohue.

Larson also talks about Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Perunovich, whom he coached when he was an assistant at Minnesota Duluth; how the search for an assistant coach for Mike Gibbons is going and talks about the recruiting age change in the NCAA.

All of this and more on this episode.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Time seems to have slowed for everyone because of the social distancing that everyone is experiencing because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Out of some down time, however, some people try to get creative to stay entertained. Former St. Cloud State goalie Scott Meyer recently got in touch with me about the possibility of doing a podcast where we would talk to former Huskies. The idea for the show is to give people some updates on former Huskies and have them share memories and some of their favorite stories from when they called the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center their home rink.

Meyer played goalie for the Huskies from 1996-2001. He asked former defenseman Geno Parrish to join us as the people pulling this show together. Parrish played for the Huskies from 1995-2000 and was also a high school teammate of Meyer's at the Academy of Holy Angels.

The hope is that we are going to be able to get small groups of former Huskies who played together at St. Cloud State to join the podcast and share their memories weekly. We are getting in contact with our first group of players and hope to have the first podcast available on April 23.

Meyer and Parrish share a number of fun memories of their playing days, some of their favorite places in St. Cloud let you know what they are doing for a living these days.

The goal with the show is to have fun, bring awareness of the St. Cloud State University Huskies Fund and, of course, to The Rink Live. Sponsorship of the show is available.

Dave Starman was given the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's Media Excellence Award for his work on TV broadcasts of the its games on the CBS Sports Network. Starman is a longtime college hockey color analyst, youth hockey coach and scout.

Starman joins The Rink Live video podcast from his home in Long Island, N.Y. He gives us a quick report on day-to-day life in his area during the coronavirus pandemic and then talks about some of the teams that were the best poised to make it to the 2020 Frozen Four.

The Frozen Four would have been this week. The Hobey Baker Award will be announced on Saturday and Starman also gives analysis of the three finalists for the honor (North Dakota forward Jordan Kawaguchi, Minnesota Duluth defenseman Scott Perunovich and Maine goalie Jeremy Swayman).

All of this and more in this discussion with The Rink Live's Mick Hatten and Jess Myers.