skateshattrick

Hopefully his younger and more talented brother Zeev gets picked high in the NHL draft by a defenseman hungry NHL team and leaves as well!

OTT did not play DET. DET played Montreal and DET beat them in OT.

Stutzle's goal had nothing to do with the fate of DET. Detroit was eliminated when PHI pulled its goalie and WAS scored. If the game went to OT and WAS only got one point, DET would have secured the last playoff spot.

Chris VandeVelde

Agree. Despite that, North Dakota has had some high end recruits from Minnesota (Boeser, Parise, Oshie, Brock Nelson, Joe Finley, Landon Wilson, Drew Stafford) and non-traditional recruits like Pinto and Boisvert, Jake Sanderson and David Hale.

Is Denver one of the top programs in the country? How many 1st round forwards has it had since 2016? Henrik Borgstrom was the only one and last played in 2017-2018.

Carolina to Jackson Blake: "We love your game and think you have a great chance of playing in the NHL almost right away (proverbial blowing of smoke up his arse). Even if you have to play in the AHL for a time, you will get more games against better competition, you will learn our system and you will get paid. And, you don't have to go to classes anymore." Jackson Blake to Carolina: "where can I sign up?" It is very hard for a young man who has never had any $ of his own to turn down the opportunity to get a paycheck and to pursue the dream of playing in the NHL. The problem is that most don't realize that (1) many of those young men are being signed solely for the purpose of restocking the minor league system and will never play in the NHL and (2) the team is just pouring honey down the player's throat, rubbing his belly and telling him how special he is, but it is just smoke.

The longer it takes, maybe the more likely he comes back? I would assume he wants a game or 2 this year, and if he doesn't get it, why not return?

Don't confuse Sioux> with the facts Stoney. He's our version of LakesBison and DrunkHockeyGuy. He has an opinion on everything, usually negative and always unsupported by a factual or evidentiary basis.

What is a "put"?

Duluth is the bunghole of North American and it has not stopped UMD from winning 3 recent national titles.

If your point is that Jackson Blake is not NHL ready, I agree. He needs to get stronger and work on his defensive game. He is not bad defensively, but you have to play defense first in the NHL unless you have offensive talent like Patrick Kane.

It is really difficult to say because Blake doesn't have Boeser or Schmaltz to play with. Jackson Blake is very talented and put up 60 points this year as a sophomore with a lot less help. Boeser put up 60 points in 42 games as a freshman in 2015-2016, Caggulia put up 51 points in 39 games as a senior, and Schmaltz put up 46 points in 37 games as a sophomore. I'm not saying he's better than Boeser or Schmaltz, but he's very offensively gifted and arguably is better than Drake Caggiula.

The elephant in the room is Morrow. Let's not do that again.

That is not entirely true. Morrow went straight to UMass from Shattuck, LaCombe played 3 games after finishing at SSM and went straight to Minnesota. Celebrini played a year in the USHL as a 16 year old (he is still only 17) and Eiserman is 17 and is on the the US National U18 team. There are still many SSM alumni that go straight to college, or if they play in the USHL or US National Team, it is because they are underage. The point is that SSM still produces top talent that are capable of going straight to college.

Really? How about Scott Morrow, Macklin Celebrini (BU), Cole Eiserman (BU commit), William Whitelaw (UW), Brendan Brisson (Michigan), Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim Ducks). SSM regularly produces college and NHL talent.

SSM kids also typically do well at the college level, including a lot of UND players: Zach Parise, Drew Stafford, Jonathan Toews, Brady Murray, Ryan Duncan, Chris Porter, Matt Smaby, Taylor Chorney. That is why it surprised me when UND wanted Scott Morrow to play a year of juniors after excelling at SSM. He was the 2nd leading scorer on UMass as a Freshman, and has been the leading scorer for UMass as a sophomore and junior and he's a defenseman.

I agree completely. It is very difficult to make it to the Frozen Four, and Hakstol did it 7 of 11 years. It is hard to find many teams that have ever accomplished that feat. He also made the NCAA tournament every year he coached. I would be happy if UND made it to 7 of 11 Frozen Fours again. National championships are important, but not the only thing despite gfhockey's rants. Michigan has made it to 3 straight Frozen Fours and has not won a title since 1998. If you keep knocking on the door, eventually you will win one. Plus, you will get top recruits. Arguably, 2016 would have been the same result with Hakstol coaching. I don't even think it is debatable whether he is a good coach.

Yes, and I am very disappointed but not surprised. However, you make Eeyore seem like an optimist.

Man you are a raincloud looking for a parade

Yes. I was at that regional. UND was up 3-1 late in the 2nd against Michigan. Jesse Bull was open in front on a cross ice pass through the crease and had a wide open net. Unfortunately, the puck hopped over his stick, the Michigan defender banked it off the boards just as the Michigan player was coming out of the box, and he scored on a breakaway to make it 3-2 after 2 periods. It was seconds from being 4-1, but the momentum totally shifted, especially since Michigan had home ice. They ended up winning 4-3 and went on to win the NCAA tournament. Probably the toughest loss I have ever witnessed as a UND fan. UND was the better team, but the combination of momentum and the very loud pro-Michigan crowd was the difference.

Maybe, but he was far too often the scapegoat. I always liked his game, but he was inconsistent. When he was good, he was really good. When he struggled, he really struggled. As you know, defense is not only the defensemen. It requires the forwards to also defend and cover their guys and also requires goaltending.

Cooper Moore has 22 points and is +26 for Quinnipiac.

Michigan State worries me more than Michigan, mostly because of very good goaltending.

I see it as a matchup problem, and teams will now attempt to use the "formula" of CC and Omaha: 1. Hard forechecking in the defensive zone and play physical 2. Win faceoffs (CC and Omaha are very good at faceoffs) because they have puck possession and many goals are scored off of faceoffs 3. Aggressive PK to limit our power play 4. Traffic in front of UND net and shoot from the point 5. Good goaltending These are just my observations. UND seems to have better success against highly skilled teams like DU, Minnesota and BU.