The Sicatoka

Divisional weekend: the roadies win, save for the last game of the weekend. Championship weekend: the roadies win, save for the last game of the weekend.

EDM missed the memo apparently. When PIT had 87 and 71 and 58, they had 29. When CHI had 19 and 88 and 2, they had a better than average tender (Niemi / Crawford). When LAK had Kopitar and Doughty, they had Quick. EDM is yet to make a legitimate, serious run at a tender to go with 29 and 97 and 25.

Those are all great questions, but all we have to evaluate is actual performance. DeBoer has gone from USF Cougs purple to UW Huskies purple in 12 seasons.

Or was it a choice? Doubling Wilson means some other bunny is running loose to shoot from the perimeter.

IF (<-- big if) the NHL were to move them they'd want to keep them west, because they don't want to stick DET or CBJ into the west. Houston would make a nice rival to DAL; KC would have STL. Milwaukee would have MIN and CHI. Portland would have SEA and VAN. I don't see Quebec City, Hartford, or Cleveland having much hope because of "east". But I also see the NHL being stubborn and staying in Phoenix.

Anyone else amazed that Evander Kane found a new home in the NHL. And in Edmonton no less. The Oilers are in full scramble mode apparently.

That's the knowledge and insight I come here for.

The NHL has to be all fired up about Arizona playing in a 5000 seat arena for three or four seasons.

All these grindaz and chippa ... somebody pass the sauce already.

Here's another interesting compare/contrast: 2003: Lennon (UND) v. Kelly (GVSU) rematch for DII title. From there ... Kelly: 2004-2006 Central Michigan 2006-2009 Cincinnati 2010-2021 Notre Dame 2022 LSU Lennon: 2003-2007 UND 2008-2015 Southern Illinois 2017-present AD at DII UMary

DeBoer after not getting UND job: 2014–2016 Eastern Michigan (OC/QB) 2017–2018 Fresno State (OC/QB) 2019 Indiana (OC/QB) 2020–2021 Fresno State (HC) 2022–present Washington (HC) <-- PAC12 head coaching job Schweigert during same era: Year School Overall Conf Finish 2014 North Dakota 5–7 3–5 T–8th 2015 North Dakota 7–4 5–3 T–4th 2016 North Dakota 9–3 8–0 T–1st L NCAA Division I Second Round 2017 North Dakota 3–8 2–6 T–9th 2018 North Dakota 6–5 indy 2019 North Dakota 7–5 indy L NCAA Division I First Round 2020 North Dakota 5–2 4–1 T–1st L NCAA Division I Quarterfinal 2021 North Dakota 5–6 3–5 T–7th 47-40 25-20

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-football-head-coach-pool-down-to-two <-- Schweigert and DeBoer

No. No it is not a loss for UND. You can't lose what you never had.

I'd have no problem with UND being a stepping stone for coaches to P5 jobs. That would draw the attention of the climbers looking to advance in their careers (see: Rod Carey, Kalen DeBoer). Those folks know it's perform or stagnate. But what we are now is a terminal destination (stagnation trap) for too many. That's fine for hockey, as hockey is a premier position in the college ranks. But it's not serving us well otherwise. Note: I'm holding out hope that MBB can figure it out and we're talking about Sather getting P5 sniffs in three to five years.

< cynicism ON > Oh, no-no-no, take a page from hockey: Play 7-on-7 overtime.

It just got harder for the Vikings to find a head coach. Sean Payton has retired from New Orleans. You want the NO job, or Minnesota?

Can we get our goals scored per game in 2022 higher than our team GPA?

Wahpeton.

Probably not popular takes, but they got the calls wrong in both the NAS and OTT games. Versus NAS, Dell played the puck. The puck stopped moving along the wall. A defender ran into the "puck possessor" (Dell) along the wall. How can the puck carrier commit interference? Against OTT, Dell committed elbowing. The elbow comes away from the torso to make contact.

Batherson appears to be out six or more weeks with an ankle injury after the hit. https://www.yahoo.com/now/nhl-senators-drake-batherson-injured-on-bulls-play-from-sabres-goalie-aaron-dell-141553740.html

Karl Goehring has seen the TBL system, where you can still play defense and score. What we have is a ton of guys who are fillers at best at forward. And after the top 3 or 4, the defense is still unproven to suspect. Ask yourself (not you dear reader, but this is to the team) have you earned a roster spot for next season?

The team was still feeling the after-effects of being sick the week before. (<-- Not speculation.)

Allow me one observation: About half of Cornell's goals on that weekend were shots of the amazing "under four feet" variety: tap ins, slide ins, at the paint. I don't see a whole lot of UND green around the opponent's blue paint recently. Scoring woes? There's the answer. Who's going to the dirty areas, down to bloody nose alley?

This team came undone with about 6 to 10 minutes left ... again. Happened against Cornell. Happened here. Is it mental or physical? If physical, is it acute (recovering from recent illness) or chronic (dryland off-season not gittin-er-done)? If it's mental, some personal self-reflection time need be done.