AJS

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.

No predictions here yet as I'm waiting for Spring Ball to try to get more of a feel on some positions. I do like the schedule though.

Central Scouting midterm rankings have been released. https://www.nhl.com/news/central-scouting-north-american-midterm-nhl-draft-ranking/c-313771208?tid=277764372 N/A rankings: 11. Sanderson 44. Kleven 48. Miller 77. Bowen 113. Kunz 178. Halliday A lot can still change, but this is the first real look at where players line up for the draft.

After last weekend we are officially done with the "must win" games for the remainder of the regular season. That doesn't mean that expectations should change. Omaha is an average team, to keep up with the Top teams, who are all fighting for #1 seeds as well as for the #1 spot in the NCHC they need to be thinking sweep. You don't need to or will win every game, clearly, but take care of the games at home you should (which they've done all year).

These are the two most important games remaining in the regular season and I don't think it's close. Only two must wins.

Here are three things I'm going to really key in on going into the 2020 season. Lines - I like most do buy into the philosophy that it all starts on the lines. I also buy into strength in numbers. UND only loses two players total, key players, yes, but that is as low of a number as you'll get. I don't think there's any doubt that both will improve, but the key is by how much. O-line: Great in pass blocking, not with run blocking. A lot has been made about the weight loss experiment going into last year. Having a year under the new O-line coaches belt, there's no doubt he'll be tweaking his formula. Miller's early starters go JR, SR, SR, SO, SO. D-line: This is really where the strength in numbers is key. This group last year was so young / inexperienced. The very talented Freshman class will now have their first off season, what's exciting like the O-line is when you return so much and especially with the D-line so much youth, it's a numbers game. You now have a baseline, there will only be improvement. There will be a lot of competition for the two-deep and the overall play should greatly improve. LB - Both LB groups are my #1 and #2 concern going into next year. Moving Shannon and the pick up of Krzanowski and Bohenkamp have helped with the depth, but I don't know enough about the youth to be comfortable. Obviously we feel good about Larson and Turner. Is White as a Sophomore a legitimate starting ILB? Who else is ready to compete for a starting / 2-deep spot? QB - This might be the only position where not knowing is actually pretty exciting. It's exciting and crucial that both Neal and Vaughn will be on campus in January to start the competition with Schuster. Is it finally time where UND has "that guy". Some other quick notes. When will they know if Weah if eligible? He's definitely an X-factor. Secondary will be strength. Love the talent / depth. Also, like the schedule. Two winnable non-conference games with an FBS pay day. Like the way the home / away are set up as well. One example is as much as I can't wait to play NDSU at home, it's probably (looking at W's / L's), a good team to play on the road.

Just a reminder

#5 for Montana State is so bad

Definitely agree that lack of consistency was the main take away from the 2019 season. We saw glimpses of really good things from every unit, still can't believe we never really saw what I'd consider a full 60 minutes (Weber was probably the closest). I've been saying this for years, they seem to be scratching at the surface of consistently being a really solid FCS program. Where I fully agree with @SteppenHawk is every year they seem to be missing one or two components that will put them over the top. Last year it was D-line. This isn't saying they were rock solid everywhere else, but they always have a weakness (I will say that over the years it is improving, from an overall (# of weaknesses) and depth standpoint. What's very encouraging is although a couple years later than it should have been, they've made changes to the coaching staff. Freund appears to be a home run pick for OC, overall I really like the coaching staff Bubba has put together. They are very close to breaking through, but like I mentioned earlier, it's now been since 2015 where it's felt like that (throw away the 2017 injury riddled campaign). I still believe it can happen under the current staff. The team is in a much better position now than when Bubba took over, one thing I really do believe is once UND does break through, it will be for good.

Excited about the three QB's that will be on campus in January. I'm more in the @gundy1124 camp, I would be even more specific with who I brought in. This would be a perfect place for a Grad Transfer. Someone like Braden Hanson. One year type scenario.

Nothing yet from ODU or Vaughn that has him signing his NLI. Longer that goes, the more optimistic I'll be.

Additional information on Fenton

Good call. Both honestly are pretty frustrating. At least with Skokna you could argue he had at the end of the year an impact offensively. I really hate burning a shirt the way they did with Nelson. He's going to be such a good player, I realize he played in a lot of games, but they lost a year where he had basically no impact.

The only person who lost their RS was Caleb Nelson and I would argue that was minimal usage.

This is great to see as ILB is really one of the major positions of need for next year. What's the expectations for what appears to be a really solid ILB at the D2 level? Thinking more of a 4/5 guy on the depth chart?

Who knows how it will end up, but I would be very nervous if I was ODU having Vaughn take an official visit to another school the weekend before signing day. It also definitely wouldn't help that 20 other current commits are on campus as well that has his ear. If the shoe was on the other foot, I wouldn't have a good feeling about it.