And what else does a hockey player want to do, but play?
He asked for his release that spring, and Mazzoleni granted it, allowing Daigneau to look at programs that had, at some point, shown interest.
* * *
It’s funny how things change. Now, a year and a half later, Daigneau labors to recall the schools to which he sent transcripts.
There was the University of Wisconsin
at Madison, which made perfect sense for the Milwaukee native.
There were ECAC rivals St. Lawrence, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Brown. There were Providence and St. Cloud State. A little of the Northeast, a little of the Midwest—but no openings.
It was late in the academic year for a transfer, and freshmen had already been recruited.
"By the middle of the summer," he says, "I knew that I was going to be back here."
So what left to do but accept it?
Mazzoleni left that same summer, opting for a job closer to home. Former Boston Bruin Ted Donato ’91 took over, and Daigneau cautiously admits, "I prefer Coach Donato to Coach Mazzoleni.
"I don’t really know how to say this without sounding like a jerk," he adds.
It’s just that he needed a fresh start his junior year.
Read more in Sports
Crimson Looks to Add to Starting Success
