How big of a turnaround did UND make? If it took Blais several years to turn around a program, I wouldn't necessarily give him the award. IMO, what it should all boil down to is expectations of the team. If North Dakota was supposed to finish LAST in the WCHA, then I'd certainly consider Blais. (I don't know what the preseason opinions were, however.) This is the main reason I mention Bob Gaudet's name. This idea ties into the idea that you can win a lot of games with a "decent" group of players. What I mean by "decent" is a group of players with no big name superstar, no individual(s) with much more talent than any other teammate, etc. There seemed to be a lot of predictions that held to form (for the most part, at least), with the exception of the ECAC, even though the preseason pick to win the conference did. So, it's really difficult to say one coach has done the job above & beyond anybody else. I'm not saying that every coach did as good a job as their peer, but there are a small number that have done the job better than expected. My list would include the following: Bob Gaudet Buddy Powers -- who is just a good coach, period. Don Cahoon (Princeton) the coach at Colgate (sorry Red Raiders!!) Shawn Walsh (since Maine wasn't supposed to be as dominant as they were) Again, this is only a subset of who should be considered. Yes, I'm an easterner, so I'm not familiar with all of the western coaches. My $.02... =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= + Andy Weise Let's Go Tech!! [log in to unmask] + = SUNY Potsdam '93 = + Union College '95? Let's Go U!! [log in to unmask] + +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+