Denver – Former Omaha head coach Dean Blais was one of seven honorees enshrined into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame during a celebration event at the Denver Mariott Tech Center on Thursday.
Blais was selected as part of the Hall of Fame's four-member 2020 induction class, but last year's event was postponed due to the pandemic. The 2020 and 2021 classes were enshrined together on Thursday.
Blais, the second coach in Omaha hockey history, coached the Mavericks from 2009-17. In eight seasons, he compiled a record of 146-133-30, which included three 20-win seasons and six years with a record of .500 or better.
He guided the Mavericks to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2015. In the latter, Omaha won the Midwest Regional and advanced to the Frozen Four in Boston, where it lost to eventual national champion Providence.
The International Falls, Minn., native coached four AHCA All-Americans (Ryan Walters, Josh Archibald, Luc Snuggerud and Austin Ortega) while with the Mavericks. He also groomed future NHL players Archibald, Jake Guentzel and Andrej Sustr.
Blais helped the Mavericks transition into two different conferences. Omaha joined the WCHA from the CCHA in 2010-11 and then moved into the new NCHC in 2013-14. He also contributed to the planning for the construction of Baxter Arena, which opened for the 2015-16 season to give the Mavericks their first on-campus home in program history.
In all, Blais spent 18 seasons as a college hockey head coach and another seven as an assistant. He led North Dakota to national championships in 1997 and 2000 during his 10 years as the head coach there and was a part of two more as an assistant. When he retired from coaching following the 2016-17 season, he had amassed a career record of 408-248-63.
Blais was named the WCHA Coach of the Year four times, including 2011 as coach of the Mavericks. He also earned two Spencer Penrose Awards as the Division I coach of the year and guided his teams to nine NCAA Tournaments.
Blais also had success internationally as the head coach of Team USA in the IIHF World Junior Championship. He led the Americans to a gold medal in 2010.
