Kevin G

From a completely unreliable source, we have actual audio of Coach Berry's pump-up speech for tonight's game.

Well said. While not relevant to the discussion, that 2OT loss to BU also contained one of the more memorable checks in recent Sioux history.

Let's look at some stats to prepare for tonight's game. Omaha: scoring leaders (G-A-Pts): Jack Randl (18-16-34), Tyler Weiss (6-21-27), Jonny Tychonick (8-18-26) +/- leaders: Randl (+17), Matt Miller (+12), Tychonick and Ty Mueller (+11) +/- laggards: Kaden Bohlsen (-8), Michael Abgrall (-8), Cameron Berg (-4) UND: scoring leaders (G-A-Pts): Jackson Blake (15-25-40), Riese Gaber (19-15-34), Chris Jandric (4-28-32) +/- leaders: Jandric (+13), Dylan James (+7), Ben Strinden (+6), Ryan Sidorski (+5) +/- laggards: Gavin Hain (-12), Cooper Moore (-11), McLaughlin and Schmaltz and Bast (-8) UND and Omaha have little to separate them. On the NCHC leader boards, the two teams are ranked next to each other in Goal Margin, Goals/Game, Assists/Game, Points/Game, Shots Percentage, and Shorthanded Goals; and they are within two spots of each other in Goals Allowed/Game, SOG/Game, Penalty Minutes/Game, Faceoff %, and Blocked Shots/Game. Thus it's not surprising that UND and Omaha are relatively close to each other in the various rankings: PWR, KRACH, and Massey. Where do they differ? Omaha has a decided advantage in Save%, while UND has an advantage in special teams. (It should be noted that UND's PP has been pretty bad--around 16%--over its last eight games.) From a UND perspective, it seems like it's going to come down to which Drew DeRidder shows up, the guy who was leaky for much of the season, or the guy who is allowing 1.83 GAA over his last six games.

I'm feeling like it's a full-credit kind of day! And thanks for representing for those of us who can't make the trip! LFG!

Any truth to the rumors that Gabinet will try to sneak Joey Abate into a jersey this weekend?

If beer and golf is on tap, @Sweethockey's post needs a bump.

So. Much. Irony. Former player and coach Dave Hakstol currently coaches the Seattle Kraken. News item: The Seattle Kraken is partnering with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe by wearing the tribe’s logo on their jerseys.

ESPN executive reads comment by @Blackheart, immediately curses and yells, "I almost forgot! Start thawing out Berry Melrose right now! And get Colby Cohen and that other guy on the phone ASAP!"

Or to put it another way, it kinda seems like he's been coaching to not lose today, with less concern about developing guys for tomorrow or next weekend or next month. So let me pose a question: Has the expectation of the coaching staff and the fanbase to compete for a national championship every year started to hinder the program's ability to develop talent? Because developing talent can result in losing (hopefully just briefly) and/or poor play, and whenever we lose or play poorly, all the boo birds and negative Nancys come out of the woodwork and start calling for the coach to be fired.

Caribbean? WTF? How did you get all the way down there after vacationing in Park River?

Apparently I was in an ornery mood when I read the thread earlier and saw something that wasn't there. My bad. In my defense, this is the "Time to Boo Berry?" thread.

Ah, I misread what you wrote. My bad, sorry about that.

True. He is from Rosemount, I believe (which, if you're reading this, Charlie, is beautiful this time of year). My only thought was that since Stramel didn't pick the Gophers to begin with...maybe there's a chance.

At first glance I thought you said, "First meeting will be in the back of a U-Haul on way to airport." And then I thought, "Hm, must be a designated driver thing."

Charlie Stramel?

The quotes seem to suggest a parallel between Tony Granato and Brad Berry. Granato at UW, 7 seasons: 105-129-16 (.452), 1 regular season championship, 0 NCAA tournament wins Berry at UND: 8 seasons, 178-90-31 (.647), 4 regular season championships, 5 NCAA tournament wins, 1 NCAA championship I'm not seeing the parallel. Berry may or may not be the right guy to lead UND hockey, but the anti-Berry crowd will need to do better than comparing him to Tony Granato.

This whole NODAK trademark fiasco is not unrelated to the concept of building the kind of culture Coach Berry talks about. A successful culture surely includes being transparent, taking responsibility for one's actions (or lack of action), and then being accountable. Coach Berry has a golden opportunity to model these values with respect to the NODAK trademark and the related questions that still linger. Might he end up putting his own job at risk? Maybe. Might he risk putting a family member in a bad light? Maybe. But accountability is not easy or without risk. If it were, the culture of which it's a part wouldn't be worth much.

(I already posted this elsewhere, but it was too much work to sit at the end of a dead thread. After all, I did MATH.) If UND wants to advance past UNO, it will want to reignite its nation-leading PP which has been struggling since the off-week between Miami and Denver. Here's how the PP has done over UND's last eight games: 2/10 at DU: 2/9 2/11 at DU: 0/6 2/17 vs SCSU: 2/4 2/18 vs SCSU: 1/3 2/24 at CC: 0/4 2/25 at CC: 0/4 3/3 vs UNO: 1/4 3/4 vs UNO: 0/3 TOTAL: 6 for 37=16.2% over the past eight games

Speaking of which, it seems like the PP has been struggling since the break between Miami and Denver. So here's how the PP has done since then (i.e., the last eight games): 2/10 at DU: 2/9 2/11 at DU: 0/6 2/17 vs SCSU: 2/4 2/18 vs SCSU: 1/3 2/24 at CC: 0/4 2/25 at CC: 0/4 3/3 vs UNO: 1/4 3/4 vs UNO: 0/3 TOTAL: 6/37=16.2% over the past eight games

It would seem that your memory is spot on.

Yes. It gives me whiplash in my eyeballs.

Holy cow, you just gave me flashbacks of Bill Clinton.

Thanks guys for the reminder. I'll just say this about 24: obviously not the next Cale Makar, but it was refreshing to see a capable defensive-defenseman on the third d-pair.

Upgrading NCHC.tv productions from, say, Omaha, CC, Miami, and Duluth is HOPEFULLY A HIGH PRIORITY FOR THE NEW NCHC COMMISSIONER AND YES I'M USING ALL CAPS BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF PAYING FOR A SHODDY VIDEO FEED SYNCED TO A RADIO BROADCAST WITH A FRICKIN' CHUNK OF BAILING WIRE. <exhales> sorry everyone, just needed to get that off my chest.

Thanks for this, Dave. Facts are rather helpful to my brain-fogged memory hole. Seriously.