AJS

Is Michigan State going to win it all next year? Probably not. That also goes for every other team in the country. Only one can win and it probably won't be your team. They are going to win a lot of games and put themselves in as good of position as any. How much fun will those fans have though watching all that talent, not only next year, but following those careers moving forward in the NHL?

Looks like Reschny, Verhoeff, Zellers, Zakreski, Engel, Sandy, Menghini from guys on last years team

Not sure what to make of the caption. Seemed to be open for interpretation if that was a good bye or not.

For reference, there was 26 that signed last December in the 2026 class. Not just for UND, but it seems to be a bit slower overall than last year. Overall, there seems to be a bit of a holding pattern right now. A couple every week will commit elsewhere (last week, Wallace to UofM and Robinson to Iowa State) and we'll see a few offers, but mainly the same offers as we've had. Which I think is a good thing. Tells us the coaching staff thinks they are in the mix for these guys. Would love to see a weekend coming up (this weekend or next) where they try to get a handful of their top prospects on campus. Guys with offers. Current commits. All in.

# behind last year. 13 (mid-May) vs 9. Quality is there for sure. Last year UND went on a heater starting w/ Wunderlich (think was 6) thru Cook (#13). Stay hot 2027!

100% agree. I think you’re right on and currently the Carels camp is in decision making mode. NCAA or NHL is a different discussion than CHL or NHL. Different variables and likelihoods (ex: if I want to push for NHL, what chances I make it and stick?). Who knows, maybe after this visit (per @Siouxdaddy) he decides UND is what he wants. I could see that happening. Formal commitment.

I took it as Carels as well. Good news, Carels (his family, representation) as well as the colleges know what he wants to do. Ultimately, he dictates it. If he’s set on trying to make the NHL, wish him well and move on. UND wouldn’t hold a spot for him if they didn’t feel it was likely he would end up here. I also think in some ways how you recruit Rudolph and DuPont changes as well. Earlier they talked about the colleges needing to know. I’m starting to lean towards we find out earlier than the draft.

Nailed it!

Are there separate “teams” that fundraise for academic and athletics? If so, I would think some cross-training would be helpful. Those on the academic side could teach those on the athletic side how to fundraise.

What are your sources saying? For real or just wishful thinking?

For those that believe that a 360 random retweet of a player previously offered will foreshadow a commitment announcement. The next one has fun competing offers.

Just saw SDSU raised 2.9 million during their year end event. A bit more than UND’s 473K. Raise the question again. When it comes to athletic fundraising, why is UND so bad at it? Follow the money. No wonder they can’t beat the other Dakota schools.

Sure seems that way. Tough deal for the staff. Not knowing until July for both Verhoeff and Carels. Still leaning that both will be on the roster come this fall.

There's one more move that should be done if we're looking at a complete restructuring. Goal. Cut through some of the BS, it's how do we fund Hockey and Football at the highest possible level, while being Title IX compliant. What needs to happen? Hockey. You need to be fully funded for scholarships (26), plus Alston, plus FCOA. You cannot go into a recruiting battle with anything less than a full scholarship (even if it's 0.90), when your competition will full scholarships. Football. Set yourself up for a potential FBS move down the line. Need to add 22, plus all the other expenses that come along with it. With the House Settlement and being able to go above 63, lead, start chipping away now. Be the first FCS school to go above 63. Next move? Cut M-Golf. Drop you to 14 sports (FCS minimum). You absorb those scholarships / $ into Hockey / Football. As you are also doing with M-Tennis. IF an FBS move becomes available down the line, you are in a much better position. Add two Women's sports at that time. Edit: Possibly substitute Men's Cross Country instead of Men's Golf. Whichever currently has more scholarships / costs more. Name of the game being how do you absorb as many scholarships as possible into Hockey / FB without moving the Title IX needle.

Think we found a winner if another Women's sport is needed down the road. 6 members / 4 meets a year. Cutting two sports is bad optics (even more-so when you're the only Dakota school that ever does it), but the "bad press" will pass. I think Chavez might have this one mapped out! I'm as surprised as anyone.

Talked myself into it, I’m back in on this move. Emphasizing my thought that it’s insane in the current landscape to have more than the minimum amount of required sports (even if it’s just one). Cut both, it’s clean. Redistribute the $ & scholarships to other programs. Hit reset. Hunt for a W sport to offset potential FBS move. It’s a great plan. We’ll see. Do I think this is likely from Bill Chavez? No.

I'm very pro getting to the minimum number of required sports that NCAA requires to maintain. I didn't realize now with the cuts they are at 15 (7 M, 8 W). I thought they were at 14, so that does change things for me a bit. Long-term goal has to be if your remaining peer schools go FBS, UND does to. Adding one W's sport, seems manageable to make that happen. Still, cutting two programs over a million $ a year, is a really bad look. The athletic budget is 37 million dollars. Always UND, we'll see I guess if it pays off long-term. By that I mean, the dam breaks for the other Dakota schools, but I'm guessing they'll just raise the $ needed. Until then, another black eye for No $ U.

NDSU adding scholarships, SDSU has so many sports, USD, no worries. No $ U having to cut 2 programs over a million dollars. Awesome.

Following the House Settlement, yes (within roster limits of course). With UND cutting both its M / W Tennis programs, the slim odds of adding scholarships to FB just went down even further.

Didn’t just start this year, always been this way. Speaking of scholarships, FCS schools are no longer limited at 63. How about trying to raise it to 68 (adding 5 on the Women’s side as well). Gradually add a few every year. You’d think that would be an easy sell (compared to NIL). Lead, what an advantage that would be to have more scholarship $ than your peers. Not impossible that UND is the first.

Went back and started looking at commitment dates and comparing the #'s to last year. Spring game was a week earlier this year. Relatively similar at 8 last year vs 7 this year as of April 30th. By Mid-May 2026 they had 13. Nothing from Mid-May to Mid-June. Sort of two different recruiting seasons. We'll see if things pick up over the next few weeks. One criticism to the staff / incredibly jealous of a rival, but if you've been on twitter, you can't miss NDSU's Official Visit graphics flooding your 'for you' page. All their current commits and top perspective recruits posting about it (guys that are high on UND's list as well). Weekends that start end of May, beginning of June. NDSU does such a good job at building hype, promoting themselves. I understand eventually, we'll see something from current commits but feels too passive. Not the same.

I like where this is heading. How about next year, add to the auction a Siamese Twins for a day with Chavez. Winner gets to jump right in the XXXL 3/4 Zip and Khakis with him.

I think the discourse has been pretty good on this topic. I understand the feeling people have of; I thought this was going to go a different direction. Those with that opinion, I think the feeling is, not that it's a bad direction, just surprised. Fun part is everything can change with one commit. You get Carels, that's a game changer (or any of the remaining Big 3). What if your next two commits are Carels and Fitzhenry (even if he's for 2027)? Different energy.

Always felt that two weeks after the completion of the season would seem to be what would feel right for an announcement. Nothing under a week. Not only would you want to take a few days to decompress, plus visit, still so early in this CHL to NCAA (maybe I’m off here), you wouldn’t want the perception this was a done deal all along.