Dog Days of Summer: Catching Up

The dog days of summer are here. I am back after a relaxing nine-day vacation. News wise, there’s not a lot going on. However, there are a few hockey-related news stories.

First, the UND hockey team’s roster has been finalized. Here are the numbers the incoming freshmen and grad transfer Westin Michaud.

8 — Harrison Blaisdell, freshman forward
11 — Westin Michaud, a senior grad transfer
13 — Carson Albrecht, freshman forward
15 — Ethan Frisch, freshman defenseman
22 — Shane Pinto, freshman forward
28 — Judd Caulfield, freshman forward

Hockey Podcasts

While I was off, I had an opportunity to listen to a couple of hockey-related podcasts. The Forum Communications hockey writers had an off-season podcast and you can listen to it here. During the podcast in question, Jess Myers mentioned the Sioux Sports message board.  I got a kick out of that. It’s also a reminder that media, players, and fans of other programs do read the college hockey fan message boards.

The @FORUMCOMCO college hockey crew of @MickHatten, @JessRMyers, @SchlossmanGF, @amonteith92 and myself got together to eat Sammy's Pizza earlier this week.

We also recorded an offseason episode of the Bulldog Insider Podcast

Listen here: https://t.co/jKFrd7nA23 #fb

— Matt Wellens (@mattwellens) July 18, 2019

Weekly, KFAN’s Brandon Mileski, and former Minnesota Golden Gophers All-American forward Pat Micheletti have an hour-long podcast called Beyond the Pod. This week, they hosted Minnesota Gophers head coach Bob Motzko. Coach Motzko talked about the recruiting process.

During the Motzko interview, there was an interesting revelation, it’s not uncommon for incoming players to commit to a program without ever being on campus. You’d think that recruits would want to see the campus and the facilities before they make a commitment.

**NEW** BEYOND THE POD!@GopherHockey Head Coach @BMotzko joined @patmick2626 & me on this episode!

Topics Include:

–Central Division
–Illinois close to D1?
–What's in the water at Brodzinski house?
–Russia NHL trivia

Presented by @EagleValleyGC https://t.co/sKuMHCRyM5 pic.twitter.com/9lw680s6c0

— Brandon Mileski (@BrandonMileski) July 18, 2019

Greg Johnson Update

Last week, we found out that former UND All-American Greg Johnson had passed away at home. On Thursday, it was announced that Johnson died of an apparent suicide.

Per the Detroit News, Greg Johnson was found by his wife around 10 a.m. on July 7 in the storage room of the couple’s basement with a gun and a single bullet found near his body, according to the Rochester (Michigan) Police Department.

According to Johnson’s wife Kristin, Johnson showed no signs of depression or anything that might have led to him harm himself.

On Saturday, Brad Elliot Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald published a beautiful tribute to Johnson. If you haven’t read it, I recommend reading it.