Mike Valley leaves volunteer position

Wow, this really stinks. Apparently the NCAA frowned upon Mike Valley volunteering for the Badgers and running his own goaltending camps at the same time. So, in order to be able to run his camps, he had to leave his volunteer position. I'm pretty disappointed by this, as I liked Mike Valley a lot. He did some really nice work with Brian Elliott in the offseason, and I thought he was a pretty good choice to fill the position vacated by Bill Howard.

It appears the position will be vacant for the rest of the season. Connelly and Gudmandson have the option of returning to the previous working relationship with Valley in which they paid for the coaching, but they have opted not to do so.

Apparently the goaltending coaching duties will be split up among the rest of the coaching staff. And Connelly and Gudmandson will themselves and each other. I don't see how anything good can come of this.

No word yet on who (if anyone) might fill the position next year.

Ugh. I'm a Sad Badger.

Today in Badger Hockey History: Mike Valley

12/28/1996

Goaltender Mike Valley had 40 saves against Vermont to move into a tie for second place for most saves in a single game at the Bank One Badger Hockey Showdown.

-- From uwbadgers.com

Valley on ice w/ Badgers

According to Todd at TCT, "some paperwork" has gone through and Mike Valley is now the volunteer assistant coach coaching the goalies.

As Todd points out this is good news for the Badgers. Valley teaches a very similar system to Bill Howard, while Connelly is playing well despite his stats, Gudmandson has not faired so well so far this season, and hopefully this a calming influence for the whole team.

A few Friday morning links

• Todd Milewski has more on Mike Valley and his new association with the Badger goaltenders.
  

• These alumni links come courtesy of uwbadgers.com. Somehow I missed them when they were first posted -- I suppose because uwbadgers.com posted them just before it posted Bill Howard's resignation.
  
  Here's a really nice video about Brian Rafalski's day with the Cup. Looks like Brian and his family had a really nice day. Nice to see Brian wearing a UW shirt during the fireworks.
  
  Here's a video about what Dany Heatley did this summer.
  

• Continuing with HF's Top 20 Prospects, Fall 2008 -- Chris Hickey is the #15 prospect for the Minnesota Wild.
  

  15. Chris Hickey, C, 19
  7th round, 192nd overall, 2006
  
  When the Wild picked Hickey, they knew they were getting a great athlete. He played in Minnesota state championship games his senior year of high school in football, hockey and baseball. He has a good frame to work with, listed at 6'1 and 185 pounds, and his work ethic is superb. However, as he discovered when he jumped from the high school ranks to Tri-City of the USHL, it only gets tougher from here on out. After scoring at a better than a goal a game clip in high school, Hickey tallied 15 goals and 16 assists in 55 games in his first USHL season. He will be skating this year with the perennial WCHA powerhouse Wisconsin Badgers where he will continue his development. The Wild will certainly have some eyes in the stands when the Badgers come to town to play the Gophers. If he can improve his game and develop the strength to play at the pro level, we could be hearing more from Hickey on the pro circuit in a few years.

• Gandalf has been previewing all 10 WCHA teams. He previously previewed UAA, and I'd expect a Tech preview shortly. Looks like a couple of other blogs are doing previews as well. This is the WCHA will begin previewing teams next week. Donald at UAA Hockey Fan Blog also has brief previews. Donald has CC running away with the top finish, Wisconsin finishing anywhere between #3 and #7, and UAA finishing no lower than #8 and possibly as high as #4. Interesting.
  

• The Third Man In has updated it's Blackhawks Depth Chart. For what it's worth, Adam Burish and Jake Dowell are listed as the #4 and #5 centers, and Jack Skille is listed as the #3 RW. You can see all 3 Badgers at the Hawks Red and White Event in Rockford on Sunday, September 21.
  

Valley to coach the Goalies

Some good news on this front has occurred, former UW netminder Mike Valley will sort of take over where Bill Howard left off in coaching the goalies.

I say sort of, because 1) no one will replace Bill Howard and 2) he will not be a volunteer assistant. Shane Connelly and Scott Gudmandson will actually pay to be coaching by Valley several times a week. Valley runs a business in Madison that tests hockey players, and it wouldn't work w/ in NCAA rules. How much our goalies will pay is another story, which isn't stated.

See how this all plays out in the future. For now, I think its a decent enough plan. Valley teaches a similar system to Howard, so the learning curve should be very small.