According to the Bangor Daily News, Dennis “Red” Gendron will be offered Maine’s head coaching job on Saturday.

Gendron was an assistant coach at Maine during the 1992-93 NCAA championship season and is currently an assistant at Yale. He was reportedly one of four finalists along with former Ohio State head coach Mark Osiecki, current New Hampshire assistant coach Jim Tortorella and Maine interim head coach Bob Corkum.

The new coach will replace Tim Whitehead, who was fired after 12 seasons at Maine with one year remaining on his contract.

Neither Gendron nor Maine athletics director Steve Abbott could be reached for comment by the News.

Gendron, 55, spent three seasons as an assistant at Maine before leaving to become an assistant with the New Jersey Devils and spent 11 seasons in the Devils’ organization. He was the head coach of the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League in 2004-2005 and then had a six-year stretch as an assistant at Massachusetts before heading to Yale two seasons ago.

Ohio State announced the hiring of Carson Duggan and Keith Maurice as assistant coaches for the women’s team.

Duggan comes to the Buckeyes after spending the last two seasons as head women’s coach at Trinity, while Maurice has been an assistant coach at Norwich for the past 10 seasons.

“Carson is a great addition to our program here at Ohio State,” OSU head coach Nate Handrahan said in a statement. “She is a terrific coach who gets the most out of her players. She has been on a very steep incline in the coaching world and is considered one of our rising stars. Her experiences through her playing days, having been to four straight NCAA tournaments, and as a coach will be very beneficial in guiding our players in the direction we want to head.

“Keith has a track record of success both on the recruiting trail and on the ice. The level of championship experience he brings will be extremely valuable to our culture here. He is a very diligent, thorough coach who will serve our program well. We are very fortunate that Keith and his family decided to be Buckeyes.”

Duggan played at St. Lawrence from 2005-09 and Maurice skated at Norwich from 1998-2002.

The two new coaches replace Candice Moxley, who accepted the head coaching position at Buffalo State, and Chris MacKenzie, who is now the head coach at Connecticut.

The year was 1992 and email blasts were still a thing of the future.

To get your resume in front of the eyes that matter, one actually had to stuff a bunch of envelopes and lick a lot of stamps.

And Mike Cavanaugh licked plenty of them.

Bitten hard by the coaching bug after winding up his playing days at Bowdoin, Cavanaugh mailed out a hand-addressed offer for his services to dozens of Division I coaches.

“I said, ‘I’d like for you to consider me as a graduate assistant,’” Cavanaugh said.

And then he waited for the responses to come rolling in.

Only two of them did, but one — from Bowling Green’s Jerry York — was the one that changed his life and set him on a coaching track that has now led him to Connecticut.

“I’m sure glad he [York] returned that letter,” said Cavanaugh, who is UConn’s newly minted head coach after a 21-year apprenticeship as a college assistant coach. That includes 19 seasons under York, the last 18 of them at Boston College.

“Jerry took me as an infant in this business,” Cavanaugh said. “And now he’s kicking me off to college. Telling me to go do my own thing now.”

Indeed.

After putting his fingerprints on four BC national championships and the careers of countless Eagles players who made good in the pros, it’s time for Cavanaugh to wrap his hands around his own team.

“I think it’s really exciting,” Cavanaugh said, “to take a program that hasn’t had scholarships for a number of years [but] is making the commitment to elevate its program. If I was going to leave Boston College, and essentially build a program at an outstanding university, [this] is more than I can ever ask for.”

Cavanaugh, who hails from North Andover, Mass., takes over from interim coach David Berard, who led the Huskies to an Atlantic Hockey semifinal berth last year.

He reportedly beat out two other finalists — Berard and former Denver and Miami coach George Gwozdecky — for the job.

(Ironically, Gwozdecky was the other coach who responded positively to Cavanaugh’s letter-writing campaign, way back when.)

When it comes to recruiting, Mike Cavanaugh will be in a Hockey East mind-set right away at Connecticut (photo: Melissa Wade).

With UConn set to move into Hockey East in 2014-15, and with a new on-campus rink in the early planning stages, Cavanaugh has a chance to turn the hockey Huskies into a major player in Division I, which for him, is the chance of a lifetime.

“I always wanted to be a head coach,” he said. “[But] I always stayed away from looking into the future. My philosophy is the job I have now is the one I’m going to commit 100 percent to. I never got caught up in saying, ‘If I’m not a head coach by this point,’ or whatever. I just worked as hard as I could as an assistant coach at Boston College every year I was there.

“I didn’t focus on whether I was going to be a career assistant, or a head coach at ‘X’ school. I’ve always focused on whatever job I’ve had at the time. Right now, I’m the head coach at the University of Connecticut.”

Which for the moment, means he’s doing double duty.

First off, he has to prepare the Huskies for the ultimate swan song, a run at an Atlantic Hockey crown (which would be their first) in their final year there.

And then there is task of getting UConn ready for the transition to Hockey East, where Cavanaugh’s long history and intimate familiarity with that conference are bound to be helpful.

Needless to say, Cavanaugh has plenty of work ahead of him. And for him, it’s first things first.

“Hockey East can wait,” he said. “I’m not really focused on Hockey East. I’ve gotten calls asking me about scheduling two years down the road, and frankly, that’s very low on my priority list. I’m really focused on winning an Atlantic Hockey championship. I think the seniors on our team deserve that kind of commitment.

“Now, recruiting will be a different issue. Recruiting will be focused on Hockey East.”

And that means he’ll be often be mucking it up in the corners with his old boss York for prime recruits, including those in his own, new backyard.

Pat Mullane, Tommy Cross, Ben Smith, and Cam and Tommy Atkinson are all recent Eagles standouts who were harvested from the Nutmeg State.

No doubt Cavanaugh will win a few and lose a few of those living room visits that lay ahead.

What will always stick with the new head Huskies coach is the stamp he bears from York, who amassed 476 of his record 935 wins with Cavanaugh by his side.

Working with York day in and out for two decades was akin to an immersion coaching clinic.

But if you ask Cavanaugh, the most important lessons gleaned from the York curriculum had nothing to do with power plays, line rolls or OKing championship ring designs.

Instead, he said, it’s York’s fourth-line humility, which overshadows his Hall of Fame credentials, that stands out the most.

“I just think it’s his modesty,” Cavanaugh said. “How humble he is. It’s really unique for someone in his position. He is the all-time winningest coach. I remember when he broke the record [last season], [Boston Celtics coach] Doc Rivers sent him an email saying that when you’re the all-time in anything, it’s pretty neat.

“If he sat down with you at Dunkin’ Donuts, he’d talk with you for 10 minutes. Maybe 20. He doesn’t have any airs about him, and if there is one thing I can take with him, it’s how modest and humble he is. I’ve said on many occasions that in my career, if I can be as modest and humble as Jerry York, then I’ll be doing OK for myself.”

Cavanaugh is now assembling his own staff, and hopes to make those hires soon.

Who knows? Maybe there’s a resume sitting in his mailbox worth opening.

Canton has named former Oswego player Trevor Gilligan as the Kangaroos’ new head coach.

Gilligan takes over for assistant athletic director Pat Martin, who served as interim coach for the second half of the 2012-13 season.

“Trevor was a national champion as a player and he’s a proven winner as a coach,” said Canton athletic director Randy B. Sieminski in a statement. “Everyone he interviewed with loved his dedication, knowledge and passion for the game. We think he’s going to be a great coach here at SUNY Canton and we’re looking forward to watching him grow our program to new heights in the NCAA.”

Gilligan has spent the past five years at the Northwood School in Lake Placid, N.Y., as head midget hockey coach, boy’s hockey recruiting director and strength and conditioning coach, as well as an admissions assistant and social science teacher.

A member of Oswego’s Division III national championship team in 2007 as a senior, Gilligan earned the Academic Award of Excellence every year and was named to the SUNYAC All-Academic Team in 2004.

A second national title game in three years has earned Boston University women’s head coach Brian Durocher a contract extension through the 2018-19 season.

“I’m excited that Coach Durocher has agreed to lead our women’s ice hockey program for many more years to come,” BU director of athletics Mike Lynch said in a statement. “We knew we hired a terrific coach when he took over the program at its inception nine years ago, but he has exceeded every expectation and continues to elevate the program to new heights each year. It’s incredible how far this team has come in just eight seasons as a varsity program and that is thanks to Brian’s exceptional leadership.”

In those eight seasons, Durocher has led the Terriers to three Hockey East championships, four straight NCAA tournament appearances and two trips to the NCAA title game. He has registered a 159-93-37 record and has won 20 games in each of the last three seasons, including a program-record 28 victories in 2012-13.

“I’d just like to thank Boston University, director of athletics Mike Lynch, his staff, Drew Marrochello and Nancy Lyons for the tremendous support they’ve given to our program and the opportunity for me to remain at a place I love and have a great appreciation for,” Durocher added.

National Collegiate Hockey Conference commissioner Jim Scherr has been in discussions with organizers of the 2015 European Games about a job with the group, but he said a report that he has accepted the position is premature.

Inside the Games reported that Scherr would become the chief operating officer for the organizing committee of the inaugural European Games, scheduled for Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2015.

Scherr, however, said he has not yet accepted the position.

“The announcement in Inside the Games is premature and incorrect at this time,” Scherr told USCHO via email on Monday.

He did confirm that he has been in discussions with Baku 2015 about the chief operating officer position.

Scherr got a 4½-year contract with the NCHC in early 2012 and has been assembling a staff ahead of the eight-team league’s debut in the upcoming season.

North Dakota athletic director Brian Faison, chair of the NCHC board of directors, issued a statement: “The NCHC Board of Directors is well aware that Commissioner Scherr has been approached with another job opportunity. The recent published reports that Jim has already accepted a position are erroneous. He has been forthcoming with information regarding a competing bid for his services. Since this is an internal personnel matter, the conference will offer no further comment at this time.”

If Scherr accepts the position with the Baku group, it would represent a return to Olympic-level administration for the former United States Olympic Committee chief executive officer. A former Olympic wrestler and USA Wrestling executive director, Scherr left a marketing and public relations firm in Colorado Springs, Colo., to join the NCHC.

“Being commissioner will have all my attention,” Scherr said when he was hired by the NCHC. “With the commitments shown by the schools, coaches and programs, this has a chance to be the premier single-sport conference in the NCAA. They’ve done this right.”

Scherr recently was part of NCHC and commissioners group meetings in Naples, Fla., where the league unveiled its board of directors officers.

“I could not be more pleased with our first meetings in Naples,” Scherr said in a news release. “It was great to get everyone in the same place and on the same page as we prepare for our inaugural season. We have some tremendous individuals at each of our institutions that are highly motivated and very professional. Our board of directors is an impressive, well-respected and passionate group that will lead us through the 2013-14 season. We are just a couple of months from dropping the puck on opening weekend and I could not be more excited to get the season under way.”

Union has named Nicholas Carpenito as an assistant women’s coach for the upcoming 2013-14 season.

Carpenito served as the assistant women’s coach and head women’s JV coach at Elmira for two seasons, helping the Soaring Eagles win the 2013 Division III national championship.

“We are excited to have Nick join our staff,” Union head coach Claudia Barcomb said in a statement. “He brings a great deal of energy and experience to our team and comes from a highly successful Division III program. I look forward to what he is going to add to Union women’s ice hockey.”

A 2011 Northeastern graduate, Carpenito was a four-year member of the men’s club team and also coached the Northeastern women’s club team.

Carpenity was the recipient of the 2011 ACHA Women’s Division I National Coach of the Year award, 2009 ACHA Women’s Division II National Coach of the Year award and a 2010 ACHA Women’s Division II National Coach of the Year award finalist.

Nebraska-Omaha assistant coach Steve Johnson will not be back behind the bench for the 2013-14 season.

“Steve had decided to go in another direction with his career and we wish him the best of luck,” said UNO head coach Dean Blais in a statement. “He was a valuable member of our staff and did a great job working with our players. We’ll begin looking for another high-quality coach to fill that position immediately.”

Johnson served as an assistant for the Mavericks for just last season after two years as an assistant at St. Cloud State.

“I really enjoyed working with the great group of student-athletes we had,” added Johnson. “It also was fun to work with the excellent coaching staff at UNO. I will look forward to following the team. I think they’ve got a chance to do some great things next year.”

Mike Bavis, who publicly lobbied for the Boston University head coaching job before the school hired David Quinn to replace Jack Parker, has resigned as the Terriers’ associate head coach.

The school has not officially confirmed the report, first published by U.S. Hockey Report on Saturday.

Bavis was an assistant at BU for 15 seasons, the last four as associate head coach. He was considered a candidate to replace Parker when the 40-year coaching veteran announced his retirement in March, but the school instead chose Quinn, a former Terriers associate head coach.

Bavis played for BU from 1989-93 and also spent two seasons in the Buffalo Sabres’ organization and two as a player agent after graduation.

Atlantic Hockey on Friday announced new policies on scholarships, scheduling, supplemental discipline and more. The changes were the result of the league’s annual board of directors meetings, held earlier this week.

Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio (center): “It was great to have new blood both in our league championships and in the NCAA tournament.” (photo: Omar Phillips)

The conference will increase its maximum scholarship limit from 12 to 13 beginning with the 2014-15 season, and then add a 14th in 2015-16. The NCAA allows for a maximum of 18 men’s hockey scholarships.

“[The scholarship limit increase] passed easily,” Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio said. “We have always said our goal was to not leave anybody behind, but also not to hold teams back. We made great strides this year with our non-conference RPI and this allows us to continue to move in that direction.”

The league will play a 28-game, 11-team schedule starting in 2014-15 following Connecticut’s departure to Hockey East. Teams will play six opponents twice and four opponents four times. A rotation system will be used to select the number of games played between opponents.

“We are still working out the formula,” DeGregorio said. “Our intention is to be fair and also maintain local rivalries.”

The commissioner said the league plans to return to 12 teams and expects to add one of two schools that have shown major interest. Sacred Heart athletic director Don Cook will chair the expansion initiative.

The league would not name the interested schools because they have not yet formally applied. Last November, DeGregorio told USCHO that he was in contact with four schools — St. Anselm, Rhode Island, Navy and Alabama-Huntsville — about joining Atlantic Hockey. Alabama-Huntsville has since joined the WCHA.

“We expect [applications] soon,” DeGregorio said.

The conference is streaming its supplemental discipline process and will no longer accept appeals for suspensions of fewer than three games.

“We have astute coaches on our league and most suspensions don’t get appealed,” DeGregorio said. “And we have never reversed or changed a decision on a two-games-or-less suspension.”

Atlantic Hockey will allow the option for video replay in conference games beginning with the 2013-14 season. It will be mandatory beginning in 2014-15, allowing rinks the time to add the necessary equipment.

The conference used video replay for the first time in its 10-year history at last season’s postseason championships.

“Referees will be trained on the use of replay in preparation for the coming season,” DeGregorio said.

Also, the board of directors approved an update to the league’s strategic plan.

“There may be a broadening of branding and media,” DeGregorio said. “We’re also looking at things like the timing of games at our championships to accommodate more [fan travel].

“It was obviously a great year,” DeGregorio said, reflecting on the 2012-13 season. “We had the most non-league wins ever, and two teams [Canisius and Niagara] in the [NCAA] tournament for the first time.

“We looked at the numbers and if Robert Morris had won one more (non-league) game, we would have had three teams in the tournament. This is what amateur sports is all about. It was great to have new blood both in our league championships and in the NCAA tournament.”

Earlier this week, the Anchorage Daily News reported that former Alaska-Anchorage player Nick Haddad was struck with a stick by then-head coach Dave Shyiak during a 2011 practice.

Thursday, a written statement to the News and the Associated Press from Haddad confirmed the incident.

Haddad confirmed the incident that former teammate, Mickey Spencer, reported this month in a letter to University of Alaska president Patrick Gamble and other school officials.

Spencer said Shyiak “tomahawked, lumber-jacked” Haddad with a stick after Haddad goofed a drill

“He hit me in the front of the pants — anyone who has ever put on a pair of hockey pants knows a slash hitting you anywhere other than the man region is not going to hurt,” Haddad wrote. “The loud noise from his blade slapping the pads made it sound much worse than it was actually was. I felt no pain.

“Again, I’m not justifying what coach Shyiak did or denying there was an incident. I am just saying the way it was described in the previous article was a bit exaggerated.”

Alaska-Anchorage’s supplemental search committee for a new coach will meet to begin the application review process on Monday, May 20, the school announced Thursday. The public is invited to participate in an open forum session. Coaching finalists are expected to be announced by May 30.

Morrisville announced Wednesday that interim coach Kevin Krogol has been named head coach for the 2013-14 season.

Krogol spent the previous five seasons with the program, serving as an assistant coach for a majority of that time and most recently fulfilling the interim head coach role for the 2012-13 season.

“I’m very excited to be given the chance to continue as head coach at Morrisville State,” Krogol said in a news release. “It’s a terrific opportunity and I believe we have all the support and tools needed to be a successful program.”

This past season, Krogol, who played collegiately at Utica, guided the Mustangs to an overall 4-19-2 record (4-12 SUNYAC).

“I’m grateful to Kevin for the commitment he demonstrated to the college and the hockey program throughout this process,” Morrisville athletic director Greg Carroll added. “It speaks volumes about who he is and what he will bring to Mustang hockey and the athletics program, not just this upcoming season, but in future years as well.”

Aside from coaching, Krogol also spearheaded several charity events and community service initiatives with the program, including awareness and fundraising campaigns for Autism Awareness and Special Olympics.

Brett Larson has been named associate head coach at Ohio State.

Larson, who played at Minnesota-Duluth from 1991-95, captaining the team as a senior, and was later an assistant coach with the Bulldogs, spent the last two seasons as the head coach and general manager of the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League.

“I am excited to be back on a campus and part of a premier university and hockey program,” Larson said in a statement. “I look forward to building on the foundation that is already here and making it even better. I wouldn’t be here without the great opportunity I had to grow and learn as a coach with Sioux City. I thank the organization for helping me get to the next step in my career.”

With the Musketeers, Larson led the team to the playoffs in 2011-12 and had two players selected to Team USA for the 2013 World Junior A Challenge, as well as a 2012 NHL draft pick. Four players from the 2012-13 team are also listed in the most recent NHL Central Scouting rankings heading into the 2013 draft.

Larson was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1990 NHL draft and played professional hockey in a number of leagues over parts of 12 seasons, winning three championships along the way.

According to a report in the Anchorage Daily News, former Alaska-Anchorage coach Dave Shyiak struck one of his own players with his stick during a 2011 practice in 2011 and then told his players to keep quiet about the incident.

Former Seawolves’ forward Mickey Spencer mentioned the incident in a letter to University of Alaska president Patrick Gamble in which he says Shyiak “tomahawked, lumber-jacked — whatever you want to call it” UAA forward Nick Haddad, then a senior, after Haddad botched a drill and kicked him off the ice.

Shyiak, fired by UAA on March 29, reportedly told the team the next day he apologized to Haddad.

“We knew this wasn’t a small deal, it’s kind of a big deal,” Spencer told the paper. “I’ve seen a coach break a stick over a goal post or the glass because he’s pissed about something, but I’ve never seen one take out his anger on a player.”

Two other former team members told the Daily News they also witnessed the incident and would speak only on the condition of anonymity.

Asked in 2011 by a Daily News reporter about the incident, Haddad denied it. On Monday, in response to a text message from the Daily News, Haddad texted back, “No comment.”

Shyiak’s attorney, Kevin Fitgerald, said Shyiak admitted the incident happened, but not in the violent detail the players allege.

“He confirms he did strike Nick’s knee pads with his stick,” Fitzgerald said to the News. “It wasn’t an assault. It was, in essence, an attempt to get Nick’s attention. It wasn’t designed to injure Nick. It didn’t cause any injury. Nick didn’t report to the trainer, didn’t suffer an injury, didn’t go to the hospital.”

Haddad played in a two-game series three days after the supposed incident.

Buffalo State has hired former Niagara standout and Ohio State assistant coach Candice Moxley as its new head women’s coach.

Moxley spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Ohio State and prior to joining the Buckeyes, served one year as the head coach at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ont., and two years as an assistant at Robert Morris.

Before her time at Robert Morris, Moxley played at Niagara from 2001-05 where she was a team captain and All-College Hockey America honoree as a senior, as well as being a three-time CHA All-Academic Team member.

Moxley is currently a member of the 2013 Canadian National Ball Hockey Team and also plays for the Canadian National Inline Hockey Team.

As the saying goes, everything old is new again.

When the Division I men’s coaching body met last week during the annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention to discuss the hot topics in college hockey, two of the major themes centered around moving NCAA regional games back to campus sites and tweaking the selection criteria to reward teams for non-conference road wins.

Bonuses for road wins were a part of the formula as recently as 2007, and before the advent of regional play in 1992, all NCAA tournament games leading into the Frozen Four were played in home rinks. Since 2010, the NCAA regionals have been exclusively at neutral sites after 18 years of mixed campus and off-campus venues.

While those were major threads at the convention in Naples, Fla., trying to get 59 college hockey coaches to agree on anything can be an exercise in futility.

“There’s no consensus. There’s definitely a split in what people are thinking,” Michigan State coach Tom Anastos said. “I think the committee will have to decide what they’re going to prioritize.”

Changes to the selection criteria and regional sites were never going to be decided at the coaches’ meetings, but NCAA committee members were listening and have some more information to take into their sessions next month.

Some in the coaching fraternity have argued that it’s time to take first-round games back to campus sites, where fans of at least one of the teams can attend without significant travel.

This season, the combined attendance for the four regionals was 37,321, down 48 percent from 2012. The Yale-North Dakota regional final in Grand Rapids, Mich., drew only an announced 1,918 fans.

Other coaches are uncomfortable with the idea of giving an advantage to schools that would host opening-round games.

One proposed format included eight best-of-three series feeding into two regional sites.

Regionals have already been selected for the 2014 tournament, so any changes in tournament format that the NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey committee wouldn’t take effect for two seasons.

“What we’re trying to do as a committee is trying to think of what’s the best format for the tournament, what makes the tournament the best,” outgoing committee chair and Notre Dame senior associate athletic director Tom Nevala said. “And so that’s what we have to continue to debate. I think if we look at whether it’s our options for locations for regionals, ticket pricing, attendance, all the things over time, we’d realize that it can be better than it is today. And we’ve got to figure out how to make it better.”

Revamping the criteria?

At the same time, they might be looking at ways to make the formula that picks at-large teams for the tournament better.

The coaches talked about the concept of rewarding teams for road non-conference victories, which was one component of the selection criteria from 2003 to 2007.

The idea has new legs now because of concerns with the imbalance of hosting non-conference games. Last season, the 12 Atlantic Hockey teams hosted an average of only two non-conference games per team in their home rink; in the WCHA, the average was over four and a half games.

Bonus points toward a team’s Ratings Percentage Index for road victories could entice the bigger programs to schedule more road games, but it was a controversial piece of the selection criteria in the five years that it was in place.

Nevala said that the committee will see how some potential changes would have impacted past tournament selections, but the upcoming conference realignment makes those comparisons tricky.

“From our committee’s standpoint, we have to be very careful on that or any criteria change at this point using the current math,” Nevala said. “With the new conference alignment and varying the levels of non-conference games, we don’t know what the impact of that math will be.”

Among the outside-the-box ways to get more of a balance in scheduling was this idea: Disqualify any teams that play more than 60 percent of their non-conference games at home from NCAA tournament consideration. That concept, however, was a non-starter among the coaching body as a whole.

Minor discussions on rules

The rules committee is in the middle of a two-year rule book cycle, so no changes can be made this offseason.

There were some small discussions, however, on giving on-ice officials the ability to use video to review major penalties and ways to increase offense.

Anastos, the rules committee chair, said the most prominent idea presented to increase scoring opportunities was to not allow players to intentionally leave a skating position (i.e., kneel or lay down) to block shots.

Potential recruiting change opposed

The coaches also got an update on potential NCAA legislation changes, including one that could impact the recruiting competition with major junior teams.

Joe Bertagna, the Hockey East commissioner and AHCA executive director, said the NCAA could institute a 100-day limit on recruiting for college coaches. In that scenario, two of a team’s coaches recruiting on the same day would count as two of the 100 allowable days per season.

“We don’t want a recruiting calendar,” Bertagna said. “We certainly feel that our needs in recruiting against Canadian junior hockey are so unique that we can make a case that we shouldn’t be lumped in with everybody else.”

Bertagna emphasized that not only is hockey different from other Division I sports in recruiting, men’s hockey has a vastly different landscape than women’s hockey does.

Division I men’s college hockey teams have a lot of ground to make up by the time they’re able to contact recruits that may have been talking to major junior teams since the age of 13, Bertagna said.

Matt Walsh has had the “interim” label removed from his title and is now a full-time assistant coach for Wisconsin.

Walsh, a former Wisconsin defenseman, came in as an assistant last November, replacing Bill Butters.

“I think having Matt with us since November, we were able to see first-hand how he interacts with college students and the work that he does on the ice,” said UW head coach Mike Eaves in a news release. “It became clear as time went on that he was very capable of doing the job here.

“We also got to know him as a man, we got to know his family and it all matches up really well. We went through due diligence in the process. We had many people apply. I talked to a handful of people who I thought might be serious candidates and chatted with them, but in the end, it all came back to Matt and what he did for us this year.”

Walsh will continue his duties coaching the Badgers’ defensemen and getting more involved in recruiting.

“Since the end of the season, this has been a question mark,” added Walsh. “I felt like I could do this and I wanted to do this. The interim position was good for me. It was like an internship where I got to really know what the job is like.

“Hockey has been a passion of mine for a long, long time and now I get to continue to help the program like I felt I did throughout the course of the year. I think going forward, the details I can work on with the players, especially the defenseman, and building on the relationships we’ve built to get what we need done will help make the players successful, the team successful and the program successful.

“Wisconsin hockey is something I’ve been a part of since going to hockey games when I was eight years old. Now to actually come full circle as a coach here and try to improve the program and make it the best in the nation — that is the goal.”

The NCHC elected its first Board of Governors at the league’s annual meetings last week in Naples, Fla.

North Dakota director of intercollegiate athletics Brian Faison will serve as the chair of the board, while Western Michigan associate athletic director of business operations Monty Porter was named vice-chair.

Colorado College director of intercollegiate athletics Ken Ralph is the treasurer and Denver assistant vice-chancellor/senior associate athletics director Ron Grahame was elected secretary.

“I could not be more pleased with our first meetings in Naples,” said NCHC commissioner Jim Scherr in a news release. “It was great to get everyone in the same place and on the same page as we prepare for our inaugural season. We have some tremendous individuals at each of our institutions that are highly motivated and very professional. Our Board of Directors is an impressive, well-respected and passionate group that will lead us through the 2013-14 season. We are just a couple of months from dropping the puck on opening weekend and I could not be more excited to get the season underway.”

Other members of the NCHC Board of Directors include Denver director of athletics Peg Bradley-Doppes, Miami director of athletics David Sayler, Miami senior associate athletic director Josh Fenton, Minnesota-Duluth director of athletics Josh Berlo, Nebraska-Omaha director of athletics Trev Alberts, Nebraska-Omaha associate athletic director Mike Kemp, North Dakota assistant athletics director Jayson Hajdu, St. Cloud State director of athletics Heather Weems and Western Michigan director of athletics Kathy Beauregard.

In addition to naming the Board of Directors, the NCHC also named its College Hockey, Inc., representative (North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol), its American Hockey Coaches Association representative (Minnesota-Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin) and the FAR Board of Directors’ advisor (Ralph Bertrand of Colorado College).

All positions are on a rotational basis based on the institution, not the individual, and are one-year terms.

Longtime Boston College assistant Mike Cavanaugh, who has served on the Eagles’ coaching staff for the past 18 seasons and last nine as associate head coach, has been named the head coach at Connecticut.

Cavanaugh becomes only the fourth head coach in UConn history, dating back to the start of the program back in 1960.

“I am very excited to be joining the UConn Husky family,” said Cavanaugh in a statement. “This job is a terrific opportunity and I think UConn’s move to Hockey East is a natural. I look forward to the challenge of building this program and I believe that my experiences over the past 18 years will help me lead UConn into this new era.

“College hockey is at an all-time high in the state of Connecticut right. The national championship teams that we had at Boston College had several players from the state on it and they were integral in our success. There is a wealth of talent in Connecticut and I look forward to recruiting the homegrown players as well as the prep schools. The state of Connecticut will be key in our recruiting efforts.”

“Mike has enjoyed an accomplished career at Boston College and has a great knowledge of what it takes to win on a national level,” added UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel. “He also brings to UConn an understanding and appreciation for what it means to be a complete student-athlete.”

Cavanaugh was named the 2013 Terry Flanagan Award winner by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

A 1990 graduate of Bowdoin, Cavanaugh was a three-year letterman for the Polar Bears, serving as team captain in 1989-90. Cavanaugh also captained and was a wide receiver on the school’s football team.

Cavanaugh joined Jerry York’s staff at Bowling Green from 1992-93 and then spent two years as an assistant coach at Dartmouth from 1993-95. He was promoted to associate head coach at BC prior to the 2004-05 season.

“I’m thrilled for Mike Cavanaugh to accept the head coaching position at the University of Connecticut,” said York in a statement. “I think it’s a significant hire by athletics director Warde Manuel. He has hired a very energetic, knowledgeable, classy young man. Mike will be sorely missed here at Boston College for his contributions to our hockey program over the last 18 years, but on the other hand, we wish him all the best as he starts a whole new chapter in his career.”

“This is a great hire for the University of Connecticut,” added Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna. “I have had the opportunity to watch Mike up close as Boston College has advanced late into so many seasons. His knowledge and passion are evident and I have no doubt he will bring success to UConn hockey.”