University of Minnesota, Duluth Men's Ice Hockey

Sandelin and the Bulldogs, before a sold-out Xcel Energy Center crowd of over 19,000, toppled the University of Michigan 3-2 in overtime to cap off a season for the ages. For the first time in its nearly seven-decade history, UMD was indeed college hockey's top 'Dog! But the Bulldogs have been anything but one-hit wonders. Over the past eight seasons, they've gone 165-117-38 while making five NCAA Tournament appearances (2009, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016), posting five National Collegiate Hockey Conference/Western Collegiate Hockey Association upper-division finishes and piecing together five, 21-win campaigns. During the course of the 2011-12 season, UMD set a club record by going unbeaten in 17 straight games and was ranked first in both major weekly polls (USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey) for a program-best nine consecutive weeks.  Sandelin, the 2003-04 Spencer Penrose Award winner (American Hockey Coaches Association NCAA I Coach of the Year) and the runnerup for that honor four winters ago, enters the 2016-17 season -- his 17th as the Bulldogs' bench boss --  sporting a 287-277-75 overall record and having helped produce two Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners (Jack Connolly in 2011-12 and Junior Lessard in 2003-04), six NCAA I All-Americans (including three-time pick Jack Connolly), and 18 All-NCHC/WCHA honorees. He's also seen some 16 of his UMD pupils go on to do time in the National Hockey League.  In March 2009, Sandelin's Bulldogs laid claim to the WCHA playoff title (becoming, in the process, the first play-in game participant in the 17-year history of the WCHA Final Five to win it all) before advancing all the way to the NCAA West Regional Final. Four seasons earlier, UMD was named the preseason league favorite in the  WCHA Coaches Poll for the first time ever and, in mid-October of that year, occupied the No. 1 spot in a national poll (uscho.com and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine) for the first time in 15 years. Over the Christmas Holidays that winter, Sandelin displayed his coaching wares on the international stage as the head coach of Team USA at the 2004 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. He worked in an assistant coaching capacity at that same event in 2012. Sandelin turned UMD into a NCAA Frozen Four participant for the first time in nearly a generation in 2003-04 while shepherding the Bulldogs to their most victories (they were 28-13-4 in all outings) and highest WCHA finish (second place on a 19-7-2 mark) since the 1992-93 season. UMD also sported the nation's second-highest scoring team, and, during the course of the year, strung together a school-record 14-game unbeaten streak. For his efforts, he was chosen the WCHA Coach of the Year as well as the national coach of the year by both insidecollegehockey.com and uscho.com. Sandelin's 2002-03 Bulldogs racked up their best overall mark (22-15-5) in a decade while experiencing the greatest one-year turnaround of any WCHA club. UMD ended that season as one of country's hottest clubs, going unbeaten in 12 of its final 16 games (11-4-1) and capturing third place at the WCHA Final Five playoff championship. One year earlier, he directed the Bulldogs to a 13-24-1 record in all games -- nearly doubling the number of victories from the previous season (7-28-4). In addition to amassing its most goals in five years, UMD also ranked fifth in the nation in power play scores (47) that season.   Prior to officially becoming the Bulldogs' 12th head coach on March 31, 2000, Sandelin served with the University of North Dakota coaching staff for six years, including the last three as an associate head coach. During his tenure in Grand Forks, North Dakota laid claim to two NCAA titles (1996-97 and 1999-2000), three WCHA regular season championships (1996-99), two WCHA playoff crowns (1996-97 and 1999-2000) and earned four straight berths in the NCAA tournament (1996-2000). His primary responsibilities with the Fighting Sioux included handling the team's recruiting coordinator and academic advisor duties, and assisting with all aspects of practice and game preparation.   Sandelin spent the 1993-94 season as the head coach of the Fargo-Moorhead Junior Kings of the Junior Elite Hockey League after working in that same capacity (and doubling as general manager) the previous winter with the American Hockey Association's Fargo-Moorhead Express.   Born and raised in Hibbing, Minn., Sandelin capped off his four-year playing career at North Dakota in 1985-86 by being named one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. He captained the club that season and also was an All-WCHA first team pick and an NCAA I All-American second team selection. Named North Dakota's Most Valuable Player as a senior after amassing a career-high 38 points in 40 games, Sandelin went on to play seven years of professional hockey, including NHL stints with the Montreal Canadiens (1986-88), Philadelphia Flyers (1990-91) and Minnesota North Stars (1991-92). The second round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1982 NHL draft (40th selection overall), he was credited with four assists in 25 lifetime NHL outings as a nagging back injury forced him to retire prematurely from the professional ranks following the 1991-92 season. Sandelin, one of just three current NCHC coaches with NHL playing experience, also skated for Team U.S.A. at the 1989 Goodwill Games, the 1986 International Ice Hocky Federation Championships, and the 1984 IIHF Junior Championships.   Sandelin, who graduated from North Dakota in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in marketing, was the 2013 recipient of North Dakota's Tom Clifford Award (recognizing North Dakota alumni who serve with distinction as athletic coaches at the high school or college levels).  He resides in Hermantown with his wife, Wendy, and their son, Ryan, and daughter, Katie.

Herter has been part of three NCAA Tournament participants (2012, 2015 and 2016) and, in his debut season, saw center Jack Connolly win the school's fifth Hobey Baker Memorial Award.  In 2015-16, Herter began a term on College Hockey, Inc.'s Board of Directors.   A native of Hafford, Saskatchewan, Herter doubled as the head coach and general manager for the United States Hockey Leagues Fargo (N.D.) Force six years ago and guided that franchise to a regular season record of 33-22-5.  He joined the Force in 2008-09 for their inaugural season as an assistant coach (under current University of Nebraska Omaha bench boss Dean Blais) before spending the following year scouting for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL.      Along with Pat Ferschweiler (now an assistant coach with the National Hockey League's Detroit Red Wings), Herter started the Russell Stover AAA midget U16 and U18 teams out of Overland Park, Kan., and spent five years with that program and coaching the U16 club before moving on to Fargo.   Selected in the first round (8th pick overall) by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1989 NHL entry draft, Herter skillfully manned the University of North Dakota blueline for three seasons (1988-91), racking up 119 points on 30 goals and 89 assists in 118 games. In his farewell year in Grand Forks, N.D., he secured a spot on both the All-WCHA second team and the WCHA All-Academic Team.  A member of the Canadian National Junior Team in 1990, Herter went on to make one appearance in the NHL -- with the New York Islanders in 1995-96 -- as part of an 11-year professional playing career, which included stops in the American Hockey League (Hamilton) and the International Hockey League (Milwaukee, Kalamazoo, Utah, Kansas City and Orlando). His final four seasons of competition were spent in Europe where, in 2001-02, he and former Bulldog assistant coaching colleague Derek Plante were teammates with the Munich Barons.      Herter, 46 (10/2/70), earned his Bachelors degree in business management from North Dakota in 2005 and two years later received a Masters degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He and his wife, Laura, have two children (Jordyn and Jacob) -- and live in Hermantown, Minn.

Koelling Christian Koelling took over as the Bulldogs director of hockey operations in the summer of 2008. Among his battery of administrative duties, Koelling in charge of all video-related endeavors, making team travel arrangements, coordinating community outreach projects, and overseeing ice scheduling, summer camps and budget management. He also assists with the program's media relations and marketing efforts. The Bloomington, Minn., native has been heavily involved in the local hockey scene over the past decade or so, having spent three seasons as the head coach at the now-defunct Duluth Central High School (2005-08) and five more years coaching Duluth East youth teams. Koelling, the co-founder of the Duluth Area Special and Sled Hockey (DASH) association, is currently the Coach-In-Chief for the Minnesota district of USA Hockey and is a past-president of the Duluth Amateur Hockey Associations Board of Directors. In August 2012,  he served on the coaching staff for U.S. Under-18 Team during its tour of the Czech Republic. He also is a member of the Northern Lights Foundation advisory board.   A 2004 graduate of UMD (a Bachelor of Business Administration degree and a coaching minor), Koelling played three years of varsity hockey for Bloomington Jefferson High School and paced the Jaguars in scoring as a senior while leading them to their second Minnesota State High School Class AA Tournament appearance in three years.   Koelling and his wife, Jennie, have one daughter (Charlotte) and make their home in Duluth.