Don McKenney resigned from the head coaching job at Northeastern after only two years on the job. His record was 24-44-4. The former Bruin, who will be 57 in a month, took over two years ago after serving 19 years as assistant to Fern Flaman. McKenney won a Lady Byng while with the B's and is still one of Boston's few career 200-goal scorers. Rumored candidates in order of speculation are assistant Jim Madigan, 27; Merrimack head coach Ron Anderson; RPI coach Buddy Powers; and in any order, BC associate Steve Cedorchuk, BC assistant Joe Mallen, Minnesota assistant Jack Blatherwick, and former Minnesota/St Cloud/US Olympic/ NHL coach Herb Brooks. There are some pretty big names there. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald seem to think Anderson is the top candidate. I slipped Madigan in there ahead of him because of my knowledge of the Merrimack and Northeastern programs. I don't think Anderson would leave Merrimack now for NU (maybe a more prestigious one like BU, say) after the work he did to get Merrimack where it is. Let me say that you'll never find a nicer guy in hockey than Don McKenney. He may not have been the right guy for the job because of that, but you can never doubt his dedication to the players and concern for their well-being. This past season clearly added several years to Don's life, and I am not surprised that he made this decision. I never knew Don to raise his voice even once in the three years I spent at Northeastern, and he was always available whenever someone needed him. I wish Don all the best and hope we'll still see him around the Boston rinks for many years to come. I'm sure we will. - mike