AJS

Yes / No, I wouldn't have thought any would have an A grade, the one thing to note is although the NHL isn't the NHL of old when it was all about size, UND's draft eligible prospects still don't have the prototypical size (outside of Donovan / Caulfield). Love guys like Rizzo (B), Blaisdell (C), will be fantastic college hockey players.

Coming into the year, my prediction was 7-4, which I would be fine with IF the following happened, (1) No blow out losses in the FCS portion of the schedule (2) Couple of lopsided wins (not counting the first game). The UNC game was very important as it showed that UND can dominate a "conference" team. If this team can find consistency on offense, they can be a pretty good team. It's frustrating to know that all they'd need to be 4-1 is if they scored 7 points in each second half. Looking at their remaining schedule, they are all winnable games. I don't expect them to run the table, but there's no "automatic" losses. I do like that they have Montana (better team at home) and Weber State at home. I don't anticipate them losing both of those games. I see 8-3 as a real possibility.

A great team win yesterday, a couple things I really liked to see. Freshman specialists are starting to find their groove. Leach has now made 3 straight FG's and Peterson was booming his punts. This team should be in capable hands at the RB position next year with JJ & Otis Echo others that have said that the O-Line might be the most consistent group right now on the team. Liked to see Russo get some playing time, this is still a very young group, I'm excited to watch them develop over the next couple years. Defensively, this has to be the healthiest this team has been all year, right? Will be nice to have the week off for those that are nicked up, but is Ott the only injury right now? Offensively, tough to hear about Mortel, need Waltezko healthy for the stretch run.

We'll see how it plays out, but count me in the group that's concerned about the forwards. I like that you have a built in first line of Kawaguchi / Jones / Mismash, who will be better this year than last year. Gardner is a great piece for the 2nd line center, where I'll disagree with you, is I don't think Hain is Top 6, JJ is borderline. I would hope Adams gets a shot to start the year, he is a talented offensive player, then I'd say it's a coin flip between JJ / Weatherby. My make or break guys are Hoff & Bowen, this team needs something from that junior class. Mismash / Jones / Kawaguchi Weatherby / Garnder / Adams JJ / Hoff / Hain That's not a bad Top 9, Bowen / Smith would be solid 4th line guys. It didn't happen last year, but like you said, we need some offense from the 3rd line this year.

I posted a few months back how I thought this defensive core was going to be deeper than the '16 group, won't be as talented with the Top 4, but I'd take 5-7 this year over '16. Kierstad / Shaw / Peski > Thompson / Wolanin (FR) / Shaw (FR)

After leading the USHL in preseason scoring, Pinto w/ 2 goals in the opener yesterday.

Didn't realize the Canadian Junior leagues started so early, USHL regular season starts on Thursday. BCHL Blaisdell '01 (F): 4-4-8 (7GP) Rizzo '01 (F): 0-0-0 (1GP) Stratton '99 (F): 2-4-6 (6GP) Bowen '02 (F): 3-2-5 (7GP) AJHL Bast '00 (D): 1-4-5 (5GP)

Read my first sentence, not worried, just find it strange, especially since that hasn't been the case in the past. Last year they had four '02 recruits by this point.

Isn't that the truth. What the last two weeks really shows everyone is not to overreact either way. It's too early in the season and at 2-2 it's far from over. I've said it before, but this isn't a bad team at all, lets see how this plays out.

I have so much faith in Chaves, it won't be like it was in the past. I'm so excited having him as AD.

This isn't hitting the panic button by any means, just something that I find weird more than anything. I can't believe UND doesn't have a single recruit in the '03 birth year. Most do by now and many have '04 recruits.

Time to move on, I mentioned this the last couple days, but UND needs to treat every week like it's the playoffs. Just win.

I'm ready to move onto UNC as well. I'll kind of summarize my feelings since the loss on Saturday. First of all, this isn't a bad football team, they aren't a good football team either, but I think they are closer to that end than the other. There's no "automatic" loss on their schedule, so the season is far from over. The last two weeks have come down to the wire, they made a play week 3, they didn't week 4. Football is a results driven game and unfortunately for this coaching staff, close isn't good enough. It's year 5, there's no more building, after last year it's either win or hopefully Chaves will find someone who can. Their backs are against the wall, I hope they can respond and start stringing wins together.

Agreed. I do want to point out (like you and others have pointed out), that the loss yesterday had equal blame between coaches, players both offensively and defensively. They were in position to win the game and the players didn't make the plays. Too many dropped balls from receivers. I am also very concerned with this pattern of blowing games. Losing yesterday was completely unacceptable. This program cannot get out of its own way. This isn't a bad team. There is still hope yet this year, because the Defense is good (no idea what happened in the 1st half). I've said it before, but they need to think of every game going forward as a playoff game. Do that and they can still have a successful year. Edit: I think most of us would have thought they'd be 2-2 after 4 games. They are still a playoff team with an 8-3 record. If they finish 7-4 (which is what I predicted), I would consider that a successful year as long as they (1) Have some games where they dominate (2) Losses are close. You can build off that.

This is a genuine question that I don't know the answer to. Why didn't UND make adjustments earlier in the game on the defensive side? It was night and day better in the 2nd half, but why not make them earlier? Is there just not enough time when the offense is on the field to get it figured out?

This. I think the 2015 team was the best Bubba has had, better than the 9-2 team the next year. They were firing at the end of the year.

Sitting at 2-2 going into week 5, the season isn't over, but there is also no room for error. I want this team to treat the rest of the year like every game's a playoff game. Just win, starting next week at NoCO.

We'll see how I feel in a couple days, but this loss feels different than any other one during the Bubba era. I always was able to find an excuse in the past (they are building, injuries), but the go to excuses aren't there. Bubba and the team again had a real opportunity to really grab the momentum this program had after last week and again, weren't able to. It being Homecoming really hurts. I don't know if there's any coming back from this one.

Really like this one, if this happens, the corner will have been officially turned.

First off, I do think Idaho State has a quality team, that being said is UND a good team or not? UND 31-17 Two years ago, the defense was very opportunistic, made tons of big plays, but they were terrible at covering the quick pass play. Starting last week, I'm starting to become very confident in this secondary. We'll see how it plays out, but I really like this group.

Love to hear things like this, I go back and forth with wanting / not wanting a red shirt pulled. Personally, there needs to be two things (1) Significant playing time (2) Significant upgrade over another option. Like everyone else I love the new four game rule, I hope he sees time in four games and they keep his red shirt. The ship has sailed with Maag, Odom and Waltetzko, but with Waltetzko, I'm hoping for more time from Russo and possibly keeping his shirt intact (now that he's injured until after the bye). I know that's a long shot, but anyone who can play well his true freshman year and is a borderline starter, you know he'd be a monster his 5th year.

That was my reasoning, especially when you look at CC, I looked at a team like SCSU two years ago, finished tied with UND in points (or maybe one point behind), returned everyone the next year and they finished first.

My prediction would be: 1. St. Cloud 2. Western Michigan 3. CC 4. Duluth 5. UND 6. Denver 7. UNO 8. Miami Side note: The NCHC is going to be strong again this year

Without looking at her reasoning, I think she has UND in the correct place. Not saying they'll finish 5th, but I could see that. Her having CC last though is as preposterous as it gets. They lose nobody to graduation and swap low end players for a pretty good recruiting class and she has them worse than the year before? Also, Western Michigan would have finished in the Top 4 without injuries last year and bring everyone back as well. Teams she has too high -- Denver and Omaha, too low, CC & Western. Edit: Also, Miami will finish last, that you can bank on.

There's about 780 (not counting tickets Idaho State doesn't use) tickets left in the non-end zone sections.