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I'm worried about Dean Blais.

The UNO hockey coach is in the coaches' locker room at the CenturyLink Center on Wednesday, but he's not watching tape. He's lying on one of those giant workout balls, on his back. He has his knees in the air.

He's doing crunches, on top of a giant ball.

He's 60 years old, for crying out loud.

Make that 60 years young.

These are not the actions of a man who is going to retire from the job he loves, the job he's done — and done well — his whole career.

Blais isn't going anywhere. Not anytime soon.

That's my take. Blais won't be pinned down to anything. But he disputed a report out of Grand Forks, N.D., last month that he had told a North Dakota booster crowd that he likely would retire when his UNO contract ends in three years.

"That was at the booster luncheon," Blais said. "The guy says, 'how many years do you have on your contract, and are you going to retire?' I said I have three years. And that's when they said I'll retire."

So you're not going to retire at the end of your contract?

"Hell, I might retire next year if we don't win," Blais said with a laugh.

So you could go past three years?

"Oh, yeah," Blais said. "I'm 60. I know one thing. I won't be 70 and coaching in this business. It's too tough.

"But we haven't even talked about leaving. We have too many things left to accomplish, too many goals out there."

Blais' plate is too full for him to back away from the table now. He has yet to win a league crown, much less an NCAA title. Blais wants both.

There's the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the corporate merger of midwestern hockey powers that sells itself as one of the big boys of college pucks. It doesn't start play until 2013-14. Blais wants to make sure UNO is up and running in that league. That won't happen with a snap of the fingers.

Finally, mostly, there's the new hockey building. On-campus arena. Mega-practice facility. Whatever shows up around Chili Greens, Blais wants to be there to open the door.

Even if the money is raised and it's announced in 2012, a new UNO Mav hockey facility probably wouldn't open until 2014.

Where does it stand? Good question. Blais had a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Athletic Director Trev Alberts to update him on the status. Alberts on Wednesday wouldn't comment on the status more than saying it's still in the works.

You want to get a rise out of a 60-year-old hockey legend who does crunches? Ask him about the facility, or lack thereof, two days before defending national champion Duluth comes to town for a little skate.

"The best thing would be an on-campus (arena) that's yours," Blais said. "Your marketing, your parking, your recruiting tool, your hockey school in the summer. It's recreational skating, community skating, broom ball, all student use.

"Now, the CenturyLink Center has been great. They made it work. Mike Kemp's dressing room and facilities here are well-thought out and as good as anyone's. This is an NHL-college facility.

"But when you control your own, nobody's going to put a basketball court or volleyball court on it. It's your hockey rink. That's what Division I hockey is, an on-campus facility. To not have control over your building is unacceptable. Here we have the No. 1 team coming in two days and we have to practice at the Civic. That's not the way it should be."

I don't know if UNO can raise the money for an on-campus arena. But don't say that to MECA President Roger Dixon. Blais suggested that UNO will seek a better deal with MECA when the contract expires in two years — or tell MECA that it's going to build its own arena.

Asked if that would be the strategy, Alberts said, "Everything is on the table."

"That has to be negotiated, and that's what Trev is doing right now," Blais said. "It's not a threat. It's got to be one or the other. We have to have enough money to run the athletic department. Hockey is the best revenue source. We have to make sure we're taken care of. A lot of it has to do with winning. We have to do our share."

That's where Blais comes in. But this year has been different for the living hockey legend. The Mavs are young, with two-thirds of the roster freshmen or sophomores. They are 10-8. They had a couple of clunkers in the nonconference. Center Alex Hudson was dismissed from the team. If the season ended today, they wouldn't be in the NCAA tournament.

Right now, the goal is the Final Five, the WCHA's conference tourney. The Mavs are in fourth place with Duluth coming to town and finish the year with back-to-back Minnesota and Denver weekends in Omaha.

Blais hopes that the kids can grow up fast in the next two months. The Mavs rank near the top of the league in shots on goal and shots against, and the power play is better. They have to learn to finish, the coach says. They will, he adds.

The talent is there. Blais said 30 NHL scouts will be at the games this weekend, with most eyes on his young skaters. If he can keep this group together two more years, Blais sees a run for all of the trophies.

But that's projection, that's potential. It's a strange thing for Blais, who won two NCAA titles at North Dakota and spent three seasons on the staff of NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. He's used to plugging holes, not teaching almost an entire roster how to play.

It also keeps a 60-year-old young.

"It's great," Blais said. "I love their attitude. It's so refreshing. In the NHL, there were so many games and you worried about travel. You hardly ever practiced. Our guys stay a half hour, hour after practice, just having fun.

"The players keep you young. They joke around and everything, but once the whistle blows, they know I'm not their friend anymore. I'm the mean ogre."

Better get used to the ogre, kids. He's not going away anytime soon.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

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