Former UND coach Bill Selman attends regional game in St. Louis
Mar. 29—MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — Bill Selman was the head coach at UND for two seasons.
He brought UND to the Frozen Four twice.
"I said, 'There's nothing to this business,'" Selman joked.
Selman led UND to the national semifinals in 1967 and 1968, reaching the final in his second season.
Selman, who lives in St. Louis for six months a year, was in Centene Community Ice Center on Friday to watch his alma mater.
He met with UND head coach Brad Berry before the Fighting Hawks' NCAA regional semifinal game against Michigan.
"He's bigger than I thought he was," Selman said. "What player is going to fool with him?
"He does a great job keeping it going."
Selman, 85, also played at UND for four years, winning an NCAA national championship as a senior in 1963 under coach Barry Thorndycraft.
"We had some great kids on the team," Selman said. "It was very good. I always call myself the fifth defenseman on a four-man team. When Thorndycraft got mad at someone I got to play. The old barn was tiered seating. The team player bench was (rows) 1-2-3. When you sit up in the third row, you don't get much ice time. But I got in the first row of the team picture, because I was a senior."
After that year, Selman became UND's freshman team coach. Freshmen weren't eligible to play back then.
After one year coaching the freshmen, Thorndycraft left and Bob Peters became the head coach. Peters hired Selman as an assistant.
He served as an assistant for two years under Peters, then took over the head job when Peters went to Bemidji State.
Selman said it was difficult to recruit players to the old barn, so he left for a job at Minnesota Duluth in 1968. He coached the Bulldogs for two years before moving to St. Louis to start up the St. Louis University program.
"It was still nine years that I enjoyed myself in Grand Forks," Selman said.
Selman said he's been back to Ralph Engelstad Arena to see UND play and he frequently tries to promote college hockey in the St. Louis area, where he spent 20 years in sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch after he left coaching.
"Drinking beer and giving money away," Selman said. "My late wife said, 'You never had a real job.' Well, maybe not."
Selman now splits time between his hometown of Fort Frances, Ont., and St. Louis.
He's hopeful to see UND play again in person next season.
"(NCAA hockey) will be here next year for the Frozen Four," Selman said. "Maybe the Sioux, or the Hawks, will be back."
