UNO hires away a SCSU hockey assistant; rabid UMD fan dies

Nebraska Omaha has hired Steve Johnson as an assistant hockey coach. He held the same position at St. Cloud State the past two seasons.

Johnson replaces Mike Hastings, who left to become the head coach at Minnesota State Mankato.

"Steve has the ability to be a great recruiter for us," UNO head coach Dean Blais said, "and his on-ice skills as a coach are very strong as shown by his work in both the United States Hockey League and at the college level. His knowledge and experience will make our team stronger. "
Johnson led the USHL's Fargo Force to the 2010 Clark Cup finals.

UMD FAN EXTRAORDINAIRE DIES

Dick Stewart, 92, one of the biggest fans of the Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team, died on Monday. He was the longtime owner of Stewart's Wheel Goods in Duluth, sponsored many youth sports teams and always attended UMD games whenever he could, according to a story in the Duluth News-Tribune.

LUCIA'S MEDIA LINK SWITCHES SPORTS

Paul Rovnak has a new job at the U.

As of Monday, he replaced Andy Seeley, who handled media relations and publicity for the Gophers for four years. He left for Central Florida where he will be assistant athletics director for communications.
"Paul has done an outstanding job with Gopher hockey since arriving at the 'U'," said Garry Bowman. the U's director of athletic communications. "He understands the changing landscape of modern media relations, publicity and social media and has been a terrific addition to our staff. He has earned this opportunity and I am looking forward to see him roll up his sleeves and go to work in this new role."
Before working with coach Don Lucia and the Gophers hockey team, Rovnak was assistant director of media relations for the Washington Capitals of the NHL for three seasons.
Bowman said that a national search will be conducted to fill in the communications position with Gophers hockey.

MODEL CAMP COMING

Lucia's Model hockey camp will be held next week at Mariucci and Ridder Arenas.

Applicants had to apply by May 10. There were 216 spots open. Players will be divided among 12 teams.

The camp is clearly aimed at the high-end player. Or as one promo on the camp web site reads: "The goal of this camp is to provide exposure to junior, college and NHL scouts. Every team is coached by an active NCAA college coach and every NHL Team and central scouting will be in attendance. Numerous players have gone on to play college hockey and play in the NHL."

The names of those attending have not been released yet on the Model camp web site, but they have been in past years.

* Bemidji State has updated its web site for athletics. It is available at BSUBeavers.com. One of the improvements is a scroll at the bottom of the page with upcoming athletic events.