Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Omaha locks up Blais until 2014-15 season

UNO has locked up Dean Blais until the 2014-15 season by extending his current contract an additional two years. The new deal will pay him at his current salary of $250,000 per year. In his first year at UNO, Blais compiled a 20-16-6 and gave the team its first 20 win season since 2004-05.

“Me and my wife Jackie came here less than 10 months ago and weren’t sure what Omaha was all about,” Blais said. “We didn’t know what kind of community this would be, but we found out this is going to be our home. Instead of renting an apartment, we’ll now hopefully buy a house. We just love the athletic staff — all the coaches — so this is going to be our home.”

There has been much speculation on college hockey message boards that Blais will be targeted to coach the Gophers after the next season is over. Joel Maturi has said more than once that The Don's job is not in jeopardy. He has also denied claims that he contacted Blais to gauge his interest in a job at the U.

Contract extensions don't always mean anything, so it's still possible that he could be targeted for the job at Minnesota if it were to become available... I doubt it at this point. We'll see how next year goes...

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