More on Alaska Coaching Candidates

Here's a little more background info on the four finalists for the Alaska head coaching job.

Wade Klippenstein, assistant coach, Alaska

Klippenstein probably has the inside track for a couple different reasons. He was an assistant at Alaska, played his college hockey in Fairbanks, and has the highest level of head coaching experience of the four finalists, having been a head coach in the WHL. He handled a lot of Alaska's recruiting over the past couple of years, and is very familiar with western Canada, which is Alaska's prime recruiting ground.

Doc DelCastillo, assistant coach, Nebraska-Omaha

DelCastillo was the runner-up to Danton Cole for the Alabama-Huntsville job, and it's probably only a matter of time before he gets his own head-coaching job. He has the longest coaching resume of any of the finalists. After finishing his playing career at St. Cloud, DelCastillo jumped straight into an assistant coaching job in the USHL. He was head coach for three years of the now defunct Rochester Mustangs. He returned to St. Cloud as an assistant coach for two seasons, before moving to Omaha where he has worked for a number of years. DelCastillo handles a large share of Omaha's recruiting. He obviously has connections in the USHL which has aided him in recruiting, and knows the Twin Cities are quite well. He's also worked for years at Chuck Grillo's Minnesota Hockey Camps in Brainerd, Minnesota, which has helped him find and recruit some excellent players. Recently, he's helped develop a pipeline between Ontario's Aurora Tigers, who won this year's Ontario Jr. A championship, and Omaha.

Eric Rud, assistant coach, St. Cloud

Rud's coaching resume isn't as extensive as some of the other candidates, but he's an up-and-coming coach. He played his college hockey at Colorado College. After his professional hockey career ended, he returned to coaching, as an assistant coach in the USHL. He was hired as an assistant coach at Colorado College to fill in for Norm Bazin, after Bazin was severly injured in an car accident, before joining Bob Motzko on the St. Cloud staff.

Kevin Patrick, assistant coach, Wisconsin

Kevin Patrick played his college hockey at Notre Dame. He began his coaching career at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. His college coaching career started at Union College in 1998, where he worked for four seasons. After that, he joined Scott Paluch's staff at Bowling Green for three seasons, and then spent two seasons on Mike Eaves' staff at Wisconsin after Eaves fired assistant coach Troy Ward. Patrick could probably be described as a "player's coach," as he's known for his ability to talk and bond with players.