Dartmouth's Lovejoy Retires from NHL

Ben Lovejoy (Dartmouth) has called it a career.

The longtime NHL defenseman from Concord, N.H., retired from pro hockey last week, following 11 years in the league and a Stanley Cup championship ring with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016. In 544 career NHL regular-season appearances with Pittsburgh, Anaheim, New Jersey and Dallas, he scored 20 goals and added 81 assists for 101 points, to go with 287 penalty minutes. In Stanley Cup Playoff action, he recorded 5-11—16 points and 26 PIM in 76 postseason games.

Lovejoy, 35, played one year at Boston College (2002-03), notching six assists in 22 contests before transferring to Dartmouth. He then skated three NCAA seasons with the Big Green, and collected 11-43—54 points in 96 career matches, while helping Dartmouth to the ECAC Hockey tournament semifinals in both 2006 and 2007. He turned pro as a free agent with Norfolk (AHL) following his senior season in 2006-07.

After going scoreless in five outings with Norfolk, Lovejoy joined Pittsburgh's system the following season and subsequently notched 18-62—80 points in 213 regular-season AHL games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He also recorded a career-best plus-42 plus-minus rating in 2008-09, and added three goals and 11 assists in 37 career Calder Cup playoff contests.

BC's Guerin Named Minnesota Wild GM

Bill Guerin (Boston College) was named General Manager of the Minnesota Wild last week, making him the fourth GM in the franchise's history.

Guerin, 48, served the past five years as Assistant GM with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. He was also GM of the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the past two years, and also spent three years as a development coach with Pittsburgh.

A first-round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils (fifth overall) in 1989, Guerin played 17 seasons as a forward in the NHL with New Jersey, Edmonton, Boston, Dallas, St. Louis, San Jose, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh from 1991 to 2010. A 12-time 20-goal scorer, he collected 429 goals and 427 assists for 856 points to go with 1,660 penalty minutes in 1,263 career NHL regular-season outings. He added 39-35—74 points and 162 PIM in 140 Stanley Cup Playoff games, and won hockey's most coveted trophy twice, in 1995 with New Jersey and in 2009 with Pittsburgh. He also skated for the U.S. Olympic Team on three occasions, and won a silver medal with the Americans in Salt Lake City in 2002.

A junior hockey product of the Springfield (Mass.) Olympics program, Guerin played two seasons at Boston College and helped the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament both years (1990, 1991), including the 1990 Frozen Four in Detroit. He tallied 40-30—70 points in 77 career games, and was ultimately inducted into the BC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Shattenkirk on the Move, Butcher Stays Put

A pair of former NCAA defensemen are heading different ways in the NHL's Atlantic Division.

Kevin Shattenkirk (Boston University) was bought out by the New York Rangers with two years remaining on his four-year, $26.6 million contract, according to Reuters, while Will Butcher (Denver) signed a new three-year deal worth $11.2 million with the New Jersey Devils, according to msn.com.

Shattenkirk, 30, joined the Rangers in the summer of 2017 after splitting the 2016-17 campaign between St. Louis and Washington. In two seasons in Manhattan, the first limited by injury, he notched seven goals and 44 assists for 51 points in 119 regular-season outings.

A 2014 U.S. Olympian, Shattenkirk has registered 75-274—349 points in 609 NHL regular-season games with Colorado, St. Louis, Washington and the Rangers. He also has five goals and 34 points in 64 career Stanley Cup Playoff appearances. A first-round draft choice (14th overall) of Colorado in 2007, and a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program, he totaled 18-60—78 points in 121 contests over three seasons at BU, and was also a member of the Terriers' 2009 NCAA championship team.

Also originally drafted by Colorado (2013, 123rd overall) and trained by the U.S. NTDP, Butcher signed with the New Jersey Devils as a free agent in 2017 after completing a highly-successful three-year stint at DU that culminated in both an NCAA title and the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. In 158 appearances overall with the Pioneers, he collected 28-75—103 points. His totals included seven goals and career-high 37 points as a junior captain in 2016-17, when he was also named a First Team All-America selection.

Butcher, 24, who has represented the U.S. at both the World Junior Championship and the World Championships, has notched nine goals and 74 points in 159 NHL regular-season outings over two seasons with the Devils, and also has four points in five career Stanley Cup Playoff matches. He posted 44 points in 2017-18 to earn selection to the NHL All-Rookie Team that season.

FSU's Kunitz Ends Four-Cup NHL Career

Chris Kunitz (Ferris State) has called it a career. The four-time Stanley Cup champion retired from NHL play on Tuesday after 15 seasons with Anaheim, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Chicago.

A native of Regina, Sask., Kunitz collected 268 goals and 351 assists for 619 points and 746 penalty minutes in 1,022 NHL regular-season outings from 2003 until 2019. A six-time 20-goal scorer, his highest-scoring NHL campaign came in 2013-14 with Pittsburgh, when he registered career highs of 35 goals and 33 assists for 68 points in 78 games to earn NHL First Team All-Star status. He also tallied 27-66—93 points in 178 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests, winning his first Cup with Anaheim (2007) before following up with three more titles with Pittsburgh (2009, 2016, 2017).

Kunitz, 39, also won a silver medal with Canada at the 2008 World Championships, and earned gold with the Canadians at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He also notched 41 goals and 87 points along with 184 PIM in 118 American Hockey League regular-season appearances with Cincinnati and Portland.

Kunitz prepped with both Yorkton and Melville in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League prior to skating four seasons at Ferris State (1999-2003). As a senior at FSU, he recorded career highs of 35-44—79 points in 42 outings in leading the Bulldogs to the 2003 Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship game, and an at-large berth in the 2003 NCAA Tournament.

He was also an NCAA First Team All-America selection and a Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist his senior season, and was additionally tabbed as the 2002-03 CCHA Player of the Year. In 152 career collegiate outings, he put up 99-76—175 points and 275 PIM, and twice earned All-CCHA First Team accolades. His 99 career goals rank him second all-time at FSU.

Kunitz, who spent last season with Chicago where he played in 1,000^th NHL regular-season game, has joined the Blackhawks as a player development adviser.

NHL, NCAA and Hockey East Make Summer Moves

 

Things have certainly been changing for college hockey so far this year.

In addition to new recruiting rules and an upcoming new conference, the biggest alteration to date is that Joe Bertagna (Harvard) will be stepping down as commissioner of Hockey East after the 2019-20 season, following 23 years at the helm of one of NCAA Division I hockey's top leagues. The conference has won six NCAA men's titles under his watch, four of those by Boston College, with the most recent national crown coming from Providence in 2015. A former goaltender at Harvard, Bertagna previously worked in administration for the ECAC before taking over Hockey East.

Several former NCAA players have also been on the move in the NHL following the conclusion of the 2018-19 campaign in June, including one who played his last year of college this season. Here's a sampling of those moves, through trades or free agency:

- Phil Kessel (Minnesota) from Pittsburgh to Arizona
- Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin) from San Jose to Dallas
- Jacob Trouba (Michigan) from Winnipeg to the New York Rangers
- Jimmy Vesey (Harvard) from the New York Rangers to Buffalo
- Dakota Joshua (Ohio State) from Toronto to St. Louis
- Alex Kerfoot (Harvard) from Colorado to Toronto
- Gustav Nyquist (Maine) from San Jose to Columbus
- Anthony Stolarz (Omaha) from Edmonton to Anaheim
- Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville) from Philadelphia to Calgary
- Steven Santini (Boston College) from New Jersey to Nashville

Among NHL free agents who re-signed with their original clubs, Anders Lee (Notre Dame) inked a seven-year, $49 million deal to remain as captain of the New York Islanders.

Former UND Star Johnson Passes Away

Former college scoring star Greg Johnson (North Dakota) died on Tuesday in Detroit, of unknown causes, according to multiple published sources. He was 48 years old.

A native of Thunder Bay, Ont., Johnson remains the all-time leading scorer in University of North Dakota hockey history, having tallied 74 goals and 198 assists for 272 points in 155 appearances between 1989 and 1993. His best collegiate season came as a sophomore in 1990-91, when he collected career highs of 61 assists and 79 points, one year after he helped the then-Fighting Sioux
to the 1990 NCAA Tournament. He was also a three-time Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalist.

After UND, Johnson played two seasons with the Canadian National Team. He then appeared in the only three AHL games of his professional tenure, with Adirondack, before embarking on a 12-year NHL career. Drafted by Philadelphia in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, he never skated for the Flyers but still accumulated 145-224—369 points in 785 NHL regular-season contests with Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Nashville.

Johnson's best NHL campaign came in 1998-99, when he registered a career-high 34 assists and 50 points for expansion Nashville. He also served as captain of the Predators for several seasons, before retiring following the 2005-06 season at the age of 35 due to a heart condition. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

Seven Schools Plan to Leave WCHA

Seven of the 10 schools in the current Western Collegiate Hockey Association are seeking to leave and form a new NCAA Division I men's ice hockey conference, according to published reports.

The seven schools making the proposed move include Bemidji State University, Bowling Green State University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Technological University, Minnesota State University (Mankato), and Northern Michigan University. The new league would begin play in the fall of 2021, and according to bgsufalcons.com, the seven schools have already independently submitted formal letters of notice to the WCHA office regarding their intent to leave the conference.

The "original" WCHA split up in 2013 when Minnesota and Wisconsin went over to the new Big Ten conference, and Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota and St. Cloud State joined the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Bowling Green, Ferris State Lake Superior and Northern Michigan all left the dissolving Central Collegiate Hockey Association that year and transferred to the new WCHA.

The loss of the seven aforementioned schools would leave the WCHA with just three members in Alabama-Huntsville, Alaska Anchorage, and Alaska (Fairbanks).