AJS

Miller with a goal in the All-Star game. The US Roster for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup will be announced this afternoon.

Correct

Reid, Mancinelli and Miller were all selected to play in the All-Star game which starts at 9am.

Development camp came to an end tonight, the All-Star game takes place tomorrow morning, those rosters should be out later tonight. In 5 games: Mancinelli - 2G 3A Miller - 1G 2A Schmaltz - 2A Reid - No Points Note: Corey Pronman tweeted out today "Impressed this weekend by Luke Reid. Top prospect for 2020" We'll see in a few hours, but hopefully a coupe UND recruits make the All-Star game tomorrow.

Through 3 days: Mancinelli - 2 G 2 A Miller - No Points Schmaltz - 1 A Reid - No Points *Had no idea Reid was a dual citizen, so didn't look for him originally

Mismash - Jones - Kawaguchi Adams - Gardner - Weatherby JJ - Hoff - Hain Smith - Bowen - Senden Poolman - Bast Tychonick - JBD Shaw - Kierstad

I think we can pretty much end this discussion, because I don't know how anyone would disagree with this. It also lines up with my "it's more likely for a high end player to not make that kind of impact than it is for a role player to be anything outside of that" line of thinking. There are a lot of very responsible two way players who have high end skill, just because they can contribute offensively doesn't mean that they struggle on the defensive end. Having only two lines that can contribute offensively on a regular basis (see last year), isn't a winning formula.

Correct. I have never seen anyone say that you don't need players to fill different roles, because you definitely do. That being said, where this team is currently in trouble (in my opinion) is you should never recruit more "depth guys" than players you see being impact scorers. It's much more likely that a guy you see being an offensive player doesn't materialize into that role, then someone you bring in specifically for depth or to play a defensive game to be an impact scorer. I pick on this class a lot, but the soon to be junior class is a problem right now. Counting Johnson as a Forward (which I know he wasn't brought in to be), you have 5 guys in that class that combined for an entire 12 goals last year. You had Jost (elite), Hoff (expected to make an offensive impact) and then Bowen, Yon and Smith who based on their junior performance couldn't have been brought in as potential impact scorers, but more defensive / depth guys. That's 2 out of 5 who fit the "offensive" role. Hoff took a step back and now you have 4 guys from that original class that aren't bringing any offense. That's a problem. We'll wait and see, but luckily it's a smaller class, but when you look at the incoming Freshman it's a 2 / 2 split, I think that's a problem too. You need a mix, but you need more players that can score than can't.

No inside information, but I wouldn't worry about JBD not being here in the fall. Guys like JBD, Tychonick, Jost (next year Rizzo, Blaisdell) all made the conscious decision to play Junior A instead of CHL to go the college route. The guys UND has had trouble with all came from one program and had no local ties.

US Select 17 Development Camp (2001) starts next Tuesday. Mancinelli - Team Gold Miller - Team Red Schmaltz - Team Royal Always fun to see how the UND recruits match up against the best of their birth year (USNTDP members excluded)

First 2019 Draft Rankings I've seen: https://futureconsiderations.ca/top-rankings-2019/ 61. Blaisdell 63. Rizzo 75. Caulfield 77. Donovan 87. Mancinelli

Here's what I'll say about Kennedy, how he gets things done might need some fine tuning moving forward, but I couldn't be happier with the overall results. The agreement being the latest example, but also (I know a lot of factors played into it), but getting UND down to 17 sports was so important for the overall health of the athletic department. I think UND is in a great spot with Kennedy and the new addition of Chaves as AD.

I know UND hired a Title IX firm and already had to deal with the OCR (?) who found them in compliance, so I'm not sure why this lawsuit would be any different. For discussion sake though, let's say UND is found to not be compliant, even if that was the case, there isn't any circumstance that would force UND to actually add Women's hockey back, correct? Couldn't they add another Women's team (that's much cheaper) or just add more scholarships / improve financial backing to current programs? Like I mentioned, anytime you're dealing with activists, I get nervous, but I don't see any end game where UND is forced to bring back Women's hockey.

I'm sure it's an easy explanation, but I'm confused by this too. Why are they suing the NDUS and not UND directly? Women's hockey at UND went from something that was background noise to something that I actively despise. My opinion obviously doesn't matter, but as someone who feels that the UND athletic department is much stronger without Women's hockey, I'm slightly worried about this. Always am when you're dealing with activists, logic or common sense doesn't apply in some situations (like this one). I find some parallels to the Sioux nickname, where (at least I found) it to not be worth the headache anymore and I was happy when they moved on. This is very similar, will see how this goes, but will another group sue two years from now if this one doesn't go their way? Of course you have the vocal minority throwing a parade over this lawsuit, but I'd be interested to see how this is perceived by most North Dakota residents. I wouldn't think most are thrilled that public dollars (I'm guessing) is going to be used to fight this.

Now with Tray Buchanan transferring, could someone who follows the team closely give a quick summary of all the off season moves. Not so much the moves themselves, but is there more talent coming in than is leaving?

UND got their first '02 recruit May 24th of last year and had 3 from the '02 birth year by the end of July. My guess is you'll see a couple of '03 recruits over the next couple months.

This is what I'd think as well, it'd definitely be surprising if Senden was getting more than Huber.

Giving the recent departure of Huber, I bet and hope you're right. Obviously hope everything works out well for Huber as well. Moving forward, this also helps a lot with the potential log jam at forward with the '19 class. Bringing the potential number of forwards that could come in to 6 instead of 7.

Studying the schedule, how last year went, I know there's no guaranteed games at all, but I do like how the "conference" schedule breaks. It's much easier at the beginning than at the end, that will give this team a chance to win early and play meaningful games down the stretch.

It's also important to look at where UND was through the first two games last season. I still believe their performance in Utah was more than respectable and the Missouri State game was dominant. I don't think anyone (even with the Rodgers injury) could anticipate the rest of the year would turn out the way it did. What gives me optimism going forward is I believe what happened on the injury front was like a 100 year storm. I wrote about this a couple weeks ago, but what UND was left with at ILB (No Rodgers, Larson) turned that core into probably one of the worst in FCS football. Everything kind of snowballed from there. Everyone is pretty optimistic about the defensive side (at least the Front 7) to return to how they were in previous years. That single-handily will turn the team into a competitive bunch within the Big Sky schedule. Harris is a big X-factor, but a healthy Holm and other defensive backs being a year older (there were times when 3 of the 4 DBs were freshman), should improve as well. This is the year for the coaching staff and the program. They have a pretty small senior class (14 total players), so they'll be young once again across the board. I'm not a playoff or bust guy for the coaching staff, but they need to get to 7-4. If they can do that, I'd look for a big jump in '19.

A lot can change between this year and next and nobody will disagree that there are factors other than numbers that come into play when bringing a player in. This is all pure speculation and like you said, time will tell. Things I believe: 4 Forward spots available because of graduation (moving Johnson back to defense to cover for Shaw) Nobody jumps out as an early departure Wrote about the 4 Forwards who will be True Freshman (Rizzo, Blaisdell, Mancinelli, Caulfield) all with two years of junior experience. Given how they did as 16 year olds in juniors, Rizzo, Mancinelli & Blaisdell will all increase their totals significantly this year, that's a guarantee, barring injury. Caulfield will probably keep his point total steady. These are all high end guys who will have played two years in juniors. Is the coaching staff going to risk losing anyone of those 4 by pushing them back another year? I don't think so. Those 4 forwards take up the four Senior spots, now you still need room for Randklev as well. If Donovan goes high in the draft (possibility), it's possible we could have another JBD situation. It's the summer, so it's fun to speculate. You need a mix of players, but when push comes to shove, I don't see the coaching staff losing out on a potential high end forward by making them wait, to make room for Senden.

We’ll see, I just don’t see the math adding up for there being a spot for him.

I would be shocked if Senden ever ends up on campus.

Agreed. Why I'm optimistic: There was zero hesitation to return this year. Two year Captain Tucker Tucker made the right choice by leaving, but even with this skill set wasn't an "every dayer" in the NHL his first year. A lot can happen this year and if Colton makes another jump, then who knows, but right now, I'd bet on him returning. It's nice going into next year without a guaranteed "he's leaving early after this year" candidate.

Miller and Reid are both 01's, but late 01's. Unless they graduate a year early, they would both only be Juniors in HS next year. Currently, the only D-man they have that would be eligible to come in with the class of '19 would be Frisch. I would think Frisch would play a year in the USHL after his Senior year. They way I see it, it makes too much sense given the stock pile of high end '19 forwards, that Johnson moves back to defense to cover for Shaws loss. All eyes from then are on Poolman, if he leaves, bring in Frisch. I'm not sold on Poolman being gone after next year. Class '19: Frisch (If Poolman goes) Class '20: Kleven, Miller & Reid (loaded class with 2, 2 & 3 years of junior experience) all being true freshman. If Poolman stays his Senior year, you have 3 Senior D-man leaving after '19. Frisch comes in that year if that's the case bringing in 4 Freshman and most likely one of the current non-Seniors leave. Like with the '19 Forward class, the '20 Defensive class is going to not only be elite, but have a lot of Junior experience while being true freshman. This roster is about to get younger and younger and more and more talented in the next couple years.