Duggan Chosen for University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame

Meghan Duggan, the newly hired Devils’ Manager of Player Development, will be entering the University of Wisconsin’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She will enter in the Contemporary category for 2021, Amanda Stein reports.

In her blog post, Stein listed Duggan’s collegiate accomplishments. During Duggan’s time with the Badgers, they won three NCAA championships – Stein notes that she was captain of the 2011 champs; she is second in assists (130) and third in total points (238) as well as third in plus/minus rating (+164) in Badgers’ history. In addition, Stein notes that she was the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner – given to the top women’s player in the NCAA – in 2011, the year she captained the national champions.

Stein also notes her Olympic accomplishments: three medals (which includes the gold medal team that she captained at the 2018 Winter Olympics).

Congratulations to Meghan Duggan on this great accolade!

In other news around the NHL, Reuters reported five days ago that “(t)he Canadian government has approved a travel exemption for the National Hockey League on Sunday [June 6] that will allow teams to cross the Canada-U.S. border for the Stanley Cup playoffs without the mandatory 14-day quarantine.”

This will only affect the Vegas Golden Knights-Montreal Canadiens series as of now.

The statement put out by the Canadian government said that “[t]his decision was made in conjunction with the Public Health Agency of Canada, with the approval of provincial and municipal public health officials, including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta.” The provinces included in the decision were the ones with teams participating in the playoffs.

The statement continued that “[t]he NHL’s COVID Playoff Protocol will permit cross-border travel that is safeguarded by strict quarantining, a bubble, daily testing and a comprehensive protocol that will apply to all travelling NHL players and personnel.”

Teams will only be able to travel from country to country in private planes and, once in “Canada players will live in a modified bubble that will be limited to the team hotel and arena, and there will be no contact with the public.” In addition, “[p]layers will be tested daily as well as before they board planes and when they land.”

This was done so that the Canadiens, the eventual playoff winner of the North Division over the Winnipeg Jets, would be able to participate in a series with the eventual West Division winners without needed to relocate temporarily. This exemption will continue should the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final.

The Vegas-Montreal third round series gets underway on Monday, June 14 in Las Vegas. The series will shift to Montreal for game three on Friday, June 18.

Bruce Driver Inducted into University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame

Former Devil Bruce Driver was inducted into the University of Wisconsin’s Athletics Hall of Fame last night in Madison, Wisconsin.

Driver was inducted along with John Easker (cross country running), Lee Evans (football), Tom Grantham (chairman of the “Crazylegs Classic” race and a “special service” selection), Rick Lawinger (wrestling), Kari Maijala (women’s soccer), Kirk Penney (men’s basketball) and Jeff Sauer (men’s hockey coach).

According to his bio on the Badgers’ website, Driver “is one of just 10 UW men’s hockey players to be a part of two NCAA championship teams.” He was a freshman member of the 1981 national champions and a junior on the 1983 national champs. He was also a team captain on the 1983 team. In 1982, his sophomore season, Driver was named a first-team All-American defenseman. The Badgers also advanced to the NCAA title game that year, as well. Driver was the defense partner of Chris Chelios on the 1983 championship team.

In his college career, the Toronto native scored 31 goals and 94 assists for 125 points to go with 226 penalty minutes in 137 career games. He was taken in the sixth round, 108th overall in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Rockies.

He would make his NHL debut in the 1983-84 season for the Devils and would go on to play 15 seasons in the league for the Devils and Rangers before retiring in 1998. He won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 1995 and today serves as the president of the Devils Alumni Association in addition to coaching high school hockey in New Jersey.