More sidelights on Hamline's hockey championship

Scott Bell concluded his Gophers career in 1995 with a trip to the Frozen Four in Providence, R.I. The Gophers were eliminated by Mike Grier-led Boston University in the semifinals.

Bell spent the next season playing with four professioinal teams. "I wasn't going to be an NHLer, and if you're not in the NHL, pro hockey isn't as good a life as playing in the WCHA," he said.

Bell signed as an assistant coach at Simley, his high school alma mater. Justin McHugh and Dave Larson, Gophers teammates, were playing for Quad Cities in Iowa in something called the United Hockey League.

"They talked me into driving down after our Saturday games to play on Sundays," Bell said. "That's how I got to know a guy in the league who owned three franchises."

Bell wound up coaching teams in St. Charles, Mo.; Rockford, Ill.; and New Haven, Conn., for him.

"I got fired in New Haven," he said. "Three local guys bought the team. They were young -- one was my age -- and they liked to sit around and drink beers with the players after the game. I told them, 'You can't do that.'

"And a while later, I got fired."

He was hired as Hamline's coach in June 2005, a couple of months before the start of the school year. Three seasons later, the Pipers, perennial also-rans in the MIAC, are the conference champions.

So how long will Bell remain at Hamline?

"[Athletic director] Dan O'Brien had me sign a five-year contract," Bell said. "I had him put one clause in there: I can get out of the contract if something were to happen that the Gophers called and asked me to be an assistant. Beyond that, where would I want to go? These are great kids to coach -- and we don't have a senior on the roster."

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Jared Hummel was a standout senior defenseman for Holy Angels when it won the state Class AA title in 2005. He was among the 10 finalists for Minnesota's Mr. Hockey award. He was rated No. 130 on Central Scouting's list for the 2005 NHL draft.

Hummel had committed to St. Cloud State with coach Craig Dahl. Hummel went to Sioux Falls in the USHL with the idea that he would play for the Huskies in 2006-07.

Dahl resigned late in the summer of the 2005. He was replaced by Bob Motzko. And then Hummel would receive another kick:

"Motzko said he didn't want me ... that they were going to play a different style and I wouldn't fit," Hummel said. "So, I played another year of juniors. I had been out of picture since the spring of '05 by then. There was no interest from D-I schools."

That was OK with Hummel. The fun had left hockey for him. He decided to look at MIAC schools with the idea of enjoying the game again.

"I had narrowed it down to St. Thomas and St. John's," he said. "Then, I decided I wanted to stay in the Twin Cities, so it was going to be St. Thomas.

Hummel, 6-4 and 205 pounds, and Chris Berenguer, 6-2 and 210 from Eden Prairie, have given the Pipers a pair of exceptional freshman defenseman.

Hummel has four goals and 26 assists. Berenguer, known for his blistering slap shot, has gone four and 12. And, yes, he is Juan's son.

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Hamline's last MIAC hockey title came in 1947-48. The roster included several World War II veterans attending Hamline on the G.I. Bill.

The players had no uniforms. They wore football jerseys and wore breezers that were pre-war vintage. Much of the equipment worn was hand-me-down from St. Paul high schools.

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Obviously, conditions have improved for Hamline's hockey players, although you wouldn't call them completely up-to-date.

The Pipers play their home games and practice at Drake Arena, an again area on the St. Paul Academy campus.

The locker room that Hamline possesses at the arena does not have a shower or a bathroom. "Yes, but we've made improvements," Bell said. "We know have wood stands for the players to hang their stuff, and we put in a Porta-Potty right outside the door.

"You play Bethel, and they are up at the Super Rink with Blaine, as the primary tenant in one of the rinks that's done in its colors, with a great locker room. You play St. Thomas, and they have a great locker room at the arena that was built at the [St. Thomas] Academy.