Brant Nicklin, who enjoyed a prosperous puckstopping career at the University of Minnesota Duluth during the late 1990s, will return to the Bulldog men's hockey program this season as a volunteer assistant coach.

Nicklin, 38, has served as the UMD women's goaltending coach the past four seasons and as an assistant coach at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth since 1995-96. He's also run a number of local goalie schools and clinics over the past decade. Nicklin replaces another ex-Bulldog, Bill Watson, who is taking a leave of absence after eight years of volunteer assistant coaching service at UMD.

A native of Comox, British Columbia, Nicklin was the Bulldogs' ace in the goal for four seasons and exited UMD in 2000 ranking first all-time in saves percentage (.895), shut outs (8) and appearances (137), second in saves (3,880) and goals against average (3.40) and third in wins (55). He still owns team records for games played (137), consecutive appearances (76) and consecutive starts (76, which at the time was a NCAA Division I mark). In 1996-97, Nicklin became just the second UMD freshman to play in every minute of his club's Western Collegiate Hockey Association games and wound up landing a spot on that circuit's All-Rookie Team. The following year, he posted a program-record five shutouts and a 21-16-2 overall mark while pacing the WCHA in saves for a second straight winter. Nicklin, the current WCHA record holder for consecutive league starts (80), was the recipient of the Bulldog Community Service Award as junior and the Goldie Wolfe Award (UMD's Most Inspirational Player) in 1999-2000.

Nicklin went on to sign a free agent contract with the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins and participated in two of their training camps. In four years as a professional, he tended goal for the Central Hockey League's  Oklahoma City Blazers (2000-01) and San Angelo Saints (2003-04), the United Hockey League's Quad City Mallards (2001-02) and Rockford Ice Hogs (2002-03), the East Coast Hockey League's Florida Everblades (2000-01) and the American Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals (2002-03).

Nicklin, who graduated from UMD in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in recreation, resides in Duluth with his wife, Kelly, and their two children.