The Minnesota State coaching job is officially open for business after the school reassigned Troy Jutting Sunday evening. At a press conference this morning, Athletic Director Kevin Buisman said people have already inquired about the position. He says they will move quickly to fill the position.

I have no reason to think otherwise. Shane Frederick of the Mankato Free Press, who is the man to follow in this pursuit (@puckato on Twitter), also thinks it would behoove the Mavericks to move quickly on this. And if there really is a shortlist, this thing could get done by the end of the month.

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A lot has been said by fans over the years about the job done by now-former Minnesota State coach Troy Jutting.

Some have been supportive. Some have been critical. Some have been ridiculously critical. Ask Shane Frederick of the Mankato Free Press. Moderating his live blog on game nights has become a bigger and bigger chore for him over the years.

Calling for a coach’s job is nothing new. Since the advent of talk radio and message boards on the internet, it’s become almost customary. Heck, as a sophomore at Minnesota State, I once wrote an editorial calling for Jutting’s job. I even named guys I would replace him with.

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The offseason is not even a week old for some, barely two weeks for others and the WCHA has already been hit exceedingly hard by early departures.

At this rate, there won’t be many top players left by the time the new season kicks off seven months from now.

Your early departures so far: Colorado College’s Jaden Schwartz, Nebraska-Omaha’s Terry Broadhurst, St. Cloud State’s David Eddy and Denver’s Drew Shore and Jason Zucker.

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BOSTON — Among the impressive Hockey East accomplishments amassed by Boston College during the 28-year existence of the league, it had never won three-consecutive tournament championships. In fact, no team had accomplished that feat. Saturday night, however, the Eagles won their third in-a-row with a 4-1 win over Maine.

Now, the challenge for BC turns to the national spotlight. The Eagles clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, which will be drawn Sunday afternoon.

“The Lamoriello Trophy is something we strive toward and it’s a major goal for us,” BC coach Jerry York said in reference to the award given to the tournament’s winner. “I think ourselves and the three other teams from Hockey East can do some damage in the national tournament.”

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After missing much of the Final Five last season because of a family vacation, I am exceedingly happy to be back for its entirety this year. Afterall, there is only one of these left after this season before we can expect major changes — not only in the teams, but in the look and feel as well as the locale of this tournament starting in 2014.

If you are not in town and want to follow along, please follow me on Twitter @MyersHockey. I will be providing updates from here all weekend long.

If you’re interested and haven’t yet found my WCHA Final Five preview, please check it out here.

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With the conclusion of the Denver-Wisconsin series tonight in the Mile High City, next weekend’s WCHA Final Five is officially set: Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Michigan Tech.

First, a few thoughts on this weekend: The number of series that lasted only two games was very surprising to me, especially considering how competitive these games were.

– Alaska-Anchorage had Minnesota on the ropes Saturday night, leading 3-1 in the second period. But a series of penalties allowed Minnesota to gain momentum and eventually the dam broke, as the Gophers rallied with six straight goals. That sweep wasn’t a surprise.

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Boston — Boston University was tied 2-2 with University of New Hampshire after Kevin Goumas passed back to Connor Hardowa for the game tying goal. But the Terriers didn’t let the score stay there for long, as Matt Nieto answered just 54 seconds later with the go-ahead goal.

Nieto’s goal would prove to be all BU needed to take the second game in the quarterfinal series, but Ryan Santana would seal it for the Terriers with a mid-third period goal to put BU up 4-2 and force a third game to determine which team will advance to the Hockey East semifinals.

What I saw

Kieran Millan kept the Terriers alive in the first period. He made two big saves in that period alone, later making a save on a breakaway from Mike Borisenok to keep BU up 1-0 at the close of the first. Kevin Goumas got an open chance on Millan in the second after BU mishandled the puck, but the goaltender was again there to keep his team in it. With three minutes to play, the Maine offense saw another opportunity to score, but Millan darted across the crease and blocked the shot with his elbow. This type of play characterized Millan’s skill throughout the entire game, in which he made 35 saves.

UNH was beating BU to the puck almost every chance they had to in the first period, which is why the Terriers depended on Millan so much early in the game. UNH’s forwards came out of the gate with hustle, and looked like a team that wanted to end this series tonight. They stay on top of the puck on every rebound, sometimes resulting in three consecutive shots. Despite the score, the Wildcats didn’t make it easy on Millan.

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Because I cover the league as a whole, I do not receive an All-WCHA ballot. They are distributed by schools and their Sports Information Directors, generally to the local beat writers, radio guys, TV guys, etc. Coaches also get a vote, as do team captains. That’s how these guys are chosen.

Any scribes like myself who are not affiliated with a local daily or with the team itself do not get a ballot unless an SID provides us with one. Perhaps that will change in the new WCHA.

Anyways, without further ado, here is who I would choose if I had a ballot. I have no doubt I’ll be ripped, so you can do that in the comments below:

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We have an undisputed, outright WCHA MacNaughton Cup champion.

Minnesota made sure of that by winning over Wisconsin tonight. Even if they had stumbled, Minnesota-Duluth tied in St. Cloud, meaning the Bulldogs would have finished one point short anyways.

And while the results in Minneapolis and St. Cloud had no effect on seeding for the front-runners, it had plenty of meaning for the Huskies and Badgers.

Here’s what it means for them:

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