AJS

For this team to maximize its potential, it's absolutely crucial to get Scheel back on track. He is the better goalie of the two. That'll have to wait though. Thome should get the start on Friday. If he's not lights out, go with Scheel Saturday. Being aware they are currently both #1 in the conference and in the pairwise, I still feel it's important they sweep this weekend. They need to start stringing wins together.

Everyone understands how the process works, you seem to be missing my point. Not the hill I'm going to die on though.

I'm aware, but it's not this year. It's not so much losing the regional this year, it's intentionally trying to game the system that I'm disappointed in.

I might be overreacting, but I find that sort of attempt at trickery to be really gross. You have a good thing going in Fargo, why push it? I'm happy it backfired. I also wish this was more well known, they deserve backlash for it.

It might be recency bias, but I really don't remember a situation like this before. Situation being you have this many high end players that are ready to come in with a possibility of not enough spots. By high end (specifically looking at draft rankings) I mean three in the top 15 of incoming college players (all positions). You also have a 5th round pick who by all indications is having a great year. It's really as close to a win / win situation as you can get. Of course, you hope that nobody leaves early, but what a contingency plan if someone does.

Speaking of Mitchell Miller, he has an absurd 12 points (3G 9A) in his past 6 games. 5-17-22 (34 games) for the year. Ranked 44th by Central Scouting NA in their mid-year rankings. Talk about making your case for next year. There could be an argument that he should be the #2 dman coming in next year after Sanderson.

I wouldn’t think we’d see Miller next year unless two leave early. My guess is it’s Sanderson, Kleven, Moore, Miller, Bast in that order. Guess you could make the Miller > Moore argument. Although a year younger Miller will have one more year of Juniors under his belt, more International experience and will be higher draft pick.

I also need to know this.

They’ll turn the corner eventually, have a hard time believing it’ll be tonight. 5-2 Duluth.

I’m starting to put a twist on the current situation. We’re at a point where goaltending can’t be worse, this is rock bottom. Defense hasn’t helped, but I mean look at those numbers. We also know that Scheel especially is a fantastic goalie and Thome is a very solid #2. I truly believe this will benefit this team in the long run. A loss is a loss. You could make an argument better to be embarrassed. This will get everyone’s attention on the team. As weird as it sounds, when picking an aspect to completely melt down, I would think that a great goalie slumping in the middle of the year might be the best option.

I wish I felt the same.

Defensively and in net this team is completely broken. It might be time to re-assess expectations for the regular season, tomorrow will tell me a lot. Good news is they have a giant cushion and a lot of time to fix it.

Definitely. Tomorrow is huge. I don’t see anyway they win.

Bast

This. Shut him down for a few weeks.

Really? I would say absolutely ideal. The more talent the deeper the talent, is what every team wants.

@as15 I've had the same line of thinking in the past. My fears were more focused on potentially losing recruits which lead to I wouldn't say hoping someone leaves early, but in a way kind of. Keep the pipeline flowing. I've done a complete 180 in recent years. Hypothetically if the choice was between keeping a proven commodity for one more year or potentially lose a solid recruit, I would take the proven commodity for one more year. The more competition the better.

Like this post. Not specifically Jamernik, but it's so crucial having the guys that are ready to come in if needed, but also are ok going back another year. I look at someone like Mitchell Miller as a prime example. Halliday / Bowen would also fit that mold. I know it's early, but the potential early exit chatter is very promising. It's so fun watching a great team and on top of that know that it's not a foregone conclusion that player X and Y will leave early.

Next year more than most, I find who's in and who's not fascinating. The numbers don't add up. 5 Senior Forwards. I know you can't only go off of who has signed their NLI, but I feel confident saying that Gaber, Ness, Rizzo, Budy and Bowen would currently be the 5 that fill those spots. What throws me off is you would have to have thought that Halliday was slotted for next year at the start of this year. Then someone like Jamernik commits as well. Edit: I would rather have 7 to chose from for 5 spots than not having enough. Whoever the coaching staff feels can help comes in, hopefully the others can either defer or find a spot elsewhere.

Not terrible by any means, but definitely embarrassing. So are you saying that if UND would have been in a conference McKinney would have been 2nd team? Wasn't he the 3rd best RB on the team? Not something to get an argument about and I knew better than to say anything, but oh well.

I'm not worried at all long term about UND's goaltending situation, but in the short term I am. You need to go with Scheel and if he's over .900, UND wins, under, they lose.

It's really embarrassing UND puts that out.

Stephen Halliday has really started to produce since December. His overall numbers are solid for his age, but below what his expectations were this year -- 7G 15A - 22 points (29 games). Since December his stat line is 6G 8A - 14points (11 games). Will be very interesting to follow his progress the rest of the way. I would say if he can finish the year around .80 PPG (currently at .76), he could make an argument to be here next year.

Disclaimer: My thought process is unfair to Schuster. He performed admirably against SHSU and I don't even know close enough to judge, which I'm about to do. I look at Schuster as a Studsrud. Steady, Effective, slightly above average. I have my fingers crossed that it's either Neal or Vaughn out of Fall Camp (particularly Vaughn). Why? If they are better than Schuster, then I think there's real potential they have "the guy". Especially if one of the true-freshman really take over before the season.

Very very important weekend after splitting with Omaha and before heading to Duluth. With the goal of a #1 seed / conference championship, splits on consecutive weekends against below average opponents would be less than ideal starting the second half.