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tUMD hired the new assistant coaches for the women’s hockey team three days ago and I still don’t know what to say.

It was obvious to anyone and everyone that Laura Bellamy was going to be one of the assistants. Laura is a Duluth native, was on the Harvard coaching staff, and was apparently seeking a subletter for her apartment several weeks ago, so it was obvious. I guessed it back in April. Laura is a goaltender, so I don’t know what that means for Nicklin. She was an assistant at Harvard for two years.

The other assistant position is going to Samantha Reber, 2015 Harvard alumna. I don’t know what to say about this hire. I don’t think anyone could have guessed this.

I hope both hires were in Coach Crowell’s master plans all along. I have no reason to believe they are not, other than my own conspiracy theories.

All three women have been coached or mentored by Katey Stone, one of the best coaches in the business. This is fantastic. However, I also find it a little… insular, I guess. We have one coach with 2 years of experience, and one with none; it would have been nice to have a coach who offered a fresh perspective and who had been mentored in her coaching career by someone else.

I think a young, energetic coaching staff is fantastic. It also scares me a bit, especially in recruiting. I am sure Coach Crowell has connections, and Laura has been building hers, and is of course coming back to her home turf. Reber’s home turf is Edina, which of course, I hate.

If Coach Reber can go into the heart of UMTC recruiting territory, where they probably don’t even TRY to win recruiting battles, they just DO, and she can win some key battles for top recruits in the area, I’ll be her champion forever and ever, amen. Both assistants will also need to make inroads in Canada to round out the roster. This team isn’t going to be successful with in-state-only recruits. We need at least a couple maple syrup suckers to suit up.

I want to be optimistic, but instead I feel hesitant. We have two coaches who are so very inexperienced at coaching. I want a national championship, like, tomorrow. I mean, this is tUMD hockey. We expect success. We expect wins. We expect to be hosting home playoff games, making the NCAAs, sending players off to international success. That’s a tough legacy to live up to, but I’m sorry, mediocrity isn’t okay. These three coaches could be hard-charging, brilliant tacticians, for all I know. Nothing would make me happier, but we are all going to have to wait until October to find out, and my mind is churning with concern in the meantime.

Welcome home, Laura, and welcome, Samantha. I want success for you both, and I know you’ll do everything you can to help this program get back to its era of dominance!