On April 9th, Scott Sandelin did something that had never happened at Minnesota-Duluth before. He brought home the NCAA Division I Hockey Championship. With 1 year remaining on his contract at UMD, Sandelin is looking like an ideal candidate for Joe Battista, associate athletic director for Ice Arena Operations and Hockey Development, who’s currently on a nationwide search for Penn State’s first varsity hockey coach.

Battista reached out to Sandelin after receiving permission from the UMD athletic department to contact him. Sandelin is currently in contract negotiations with Minnesota-Duluth.

Battista has also reportedly been in contact with Miami of Ohio’s head coach, Enrico Blasi, Wisconsin’s women’s coach and US National women’s coach Mark Johnson, as well as Notre Dame assistant coach Paul Pooley.

There is no current timetable for when Penn State will announce its head coaching decision, but one figures that it can’t be too long away now. Penn State starts Division I hockey in the 2012-2013 season, with the Pegula Ice Arena scheduled to be completed in time for the 2013-2014 season.