AJS

Mitchell Miller named USHL Defenseman of the Week again, the 4th time in the past 6 weeks. Unreal.

Definitely agree. Running Back: If things break correctly, this could be a really fun group. To me all eyes are on Weah. If he can remain eligible, this group could be very fun to watch. Mitchell being on campus is big too. The more I think about it, this group could be much better than last year. JJ is a big loss, but he was basically the only Senior that played. QB: Being the most important position by far on the field, it's strange how optimistic I am. Put me in the camp that thought Kett was above average last year, so I'd be surprised if this group was better than last year. I'm confident with three talented arms on campus that one will step up. Wide Receiver: These skill positions I'll always feel like you can have guys step in and get the job done. Between RB / WR you lose three key contributors and virtually no depth, a lot returning from those groups.

Quick thoughts on some position groups before Spring Ball. Better than 2019 - Same reasoning for all four groups, they return so much. Offensive / Defensive Line Secondary Biggest Concern Linebacker (Both ILB/OLB) Most other groups QB / RB / WR / TE would probably trend a little closer to the "worse than" column than the "better than 2019" column, but right now it's really hard to say. I'm such a big believer in the lines playing such a crucial part that significant improvement (which I do expect), can go such a long ways.

Not at all. Nope, still #1

Side note, I just had to erase a pretty long post about the five minute major call, because I hadn't fully grasped that it didn't have to do with contact to the head. I don't know if I still fully comprehend what happened. Someone please help me. The officials reviewed the call, they determined at that time that it wasn't contact to the head, based on one of the two camera angles that was very definitive. So far so good. The major call for interference is unbelievably frustrating, no doubt, but I understand it. Completely different situations, but unfortunately the circumstances of what happens after a hit carry a lot of weight (i.e. Kawaguchi "penalty" earlier that game). Shame on him, but Poehling sold the hell out of it. I put less blame on the officials. What an ***hole Poehling is. I would love to be able to read the officials minds when they see him 100% right after he's taken down the tunnel, for what couldn't have been more than a minute. I know St. Clould fans don't care and Poehling cares even less what we think, but I would be embarrassed if this situation was reversed and a UND player pulled that. Edit: I'm going to somewhat walk this back. It's clear Poehling wasn't actually hurt, but do we think he was maybe a little shaken up right away? Not saying he didn't milk it, because I think he did, but let's say the first 10 seconds or so he was shaken up. I would be very interested to hear what SCSU fans think. You try your hardest to be unbiased, but I might be in this situation without really knowing it. @The Exiled One , thoughts on the play?

Couple initial thoughts: Transfers and Other Exits: You have to be happy with the initial list, many who we already either knew or figured. Things will change from Spring Ball to Fall Ball, but so far so good. Beefed Up Lines: If accurate, this is very exciting. They are so far ahead of where I'd thought they'd be. In general, is it fair to say that they are around where you hoped they'd be come Fall? Or at least close enough where you won't need anything drastic between now and Fall? NG for example, you have 280 / 280 / 270 currently. Add 5 to 10 on each and you're really close. Encouraging article to read.

@hky one of those two, I have no inside information, but I just find it hard to believe that UND wouldn't lose one between Kierstad and JBD this summer.

Agreed on the anywhere from two to four. When I'm speculating like I'm doing today (i.e. Miller taking Moore's spot), I'm doing so with my best guess of needing to replace three D-man next year.

@scpa0305 Miller was ranked by NHL Scouting as the #48th ranked NA Skater in their midterm rankings, which would have put him in the 3rd/4th round at that point. Those rankings came out on Jan 13th, since that point, he has 5 goals 14 assists - 19 points (9 games). Since he was already relatively high already, he won't be able to "skyrocket" up the rankings, but I would guess he'll now be considered a 2nd/3rd round guy instead of a 3rd/4th.

I believe the make up of the class is fluid, if the season ended today, the class would look different than it would have two months ago. It might look different by the end of the year. Still a lot of year left, but my guess is Halliday and Miller have played themselves in next year, deferring Bowen and Moore to the 2021 class.

I wasn't familiar with the RecoveringOps twitter account until the Pinto suspension hit earlier this year. My opinion is also based on a very small sample size, but if you're looking for context / the full picture, you won't get it there. Very clear agenda.

Enjoyable as weird as that sounds. The history of the rivalry is unmatched and that still makes it exciting, but it's no longer hatred for me.

My list now is different than it would have been a decade ago. Unfortunately, the different conferences has really cooled the Minnesota rivalry for me. 1. Duluth 2. Denver 3. Minnesota Side note: I still get most excited for the Minnesota series, but the hatred isn't there like it used to.

Strong performances from the USHL forwards continue. This weekend. Gaber - 5 points (3G 2A), Ness - 4 points (1G 3A), Halliday 4 points (1G 3A).

We'll see how the rest of the year goes, but Miller might force the coaching staffs hand. The mid-term rankings came out on January 13th, where Miller was ranked 48th. Since then and I realize it's a small sample size, he has 4 Goals 10 Assists - 14 Points in 7 Games. He had 11 points in 29 games prior to the mid-term rankings. There's a lot of season left, but I would say it's very likely that his stock will rise between Mid-term and final rankings.

This article on Portz was posted two days ago. https://www.kearneyhub.com/sports/area/nick-portz-has-brought-experience-scoring-ability-to-storm/article_b1551c80-470b-11ea-8d63-a36026f4a752.html "He doesn’t know if he will attend UND in the fall or wait until 2021, as it will depend on what other forwards join the program later this year, Portz said." As of now I don't see Portz being one of the 5 replacing the Senior class.

Below are the current stats for the list of players I feel could potentially be here next year. This won't include every eligible player. Forward Gaber - '99 (USHL) - 24-12-36 (34GP) Rizzo - '01 (BCHL) 17-20-37 (36GP) Jamernik - '00 (AJHL) - 19-28-47 (46GP) Budy - '00 (BCHL) -18-30-48 (47GP) Ness - '99 (USHL) - 14-19-33 (33GP) Portz - '00 (USHL) - 13-17-30 (34GP) Bowen - '02 (BCHL) - 11-17-28 (34GP) Halliday - '02 (USHL) - 8-17-25 (33GP) Defense Miller - 01' (USHL) - 6-19-25 (36GP) Moore - '01(BCHL) - 11-20-31 (49GP) Sanderson - '02 (NTDP) - 4-15-19 (37GP) Kleven - '02 (NTDP) - 2-9-11 (35GP) Anytime you're talking recruits of course there's the disclaimer that there's more to a player than stats. Based on my uneducated pre-season expectations, no forward has exceeded what I had hoped, but guys like Gaber and Ness are right where you'd want them. What I really find fascinating about this bunch is how solid the numbers are. Not a single one jumps off the page, but at the same time, the depth is incredible (5 players between 1 and 1.06 PPG). I really like this class.

I should have clarified, I was speaking in terms of PWR rankings.

Second half bye week is coming at a great time. Heal up, you're able to survey the landscape and you'll have a better idea of exactly what you need to do the last month of the regular season. As we saw this week, teams can still have wild swings based on one weekends results. As of now there's. Clear cut Tier 1: UND / Mankato / Cornell Clear cut Tier 2: Denver / BC / Duluth Seems like finishing First or Second over Third this year as of now would be really important.

For those that follow the HS game closely, how would you rate how Ausmus / Panzer have played for EGF this year? Panzer: 16G 8A - 24 Points (17 Games) Ausmus: 6G 17A - 23 Points (19 Games)

What's unique about this situation is I agree with both @Feff and @Oxbow6. Put me in the camp that believes Scheel getting back on track and getting back to his first half form gives this team the best chance come March / April. Going into this weekend I thought Thome deserved and needed to start Friday and then unless he was lights out, go with Scheel Saturday. Well, he was lights out. I was so impressed with his poise, how structured he looked, never out of place, always squared up. He looked like first half Scheel. The rest of this post will read like @Oxbow6's, need to go with Thome tonight and if he plays well, he starts again. It should be his net until he proves otherwise.

I couldn't agree more. Similar situation with my frustration with the Football bidding process. Make it easy for people to donate and publicize it. Every 6 months I would have some sort of "Flash" fundraising effort for Phase II. Have a link, promote it and see how you do for a week. It would be a good reminder and get people talking. It wouldn't be much, but I would absolutely give every time if they made it that easy.

Can we move this to the 2020 recruiting thread? Competing offers is really the only way to create these lists, so I have no problems with it. It should be a moving scale though, weighted more on actual offers at the time of commitment. Not denying the #1 ranked guy isn't a great player, but did he have 18 active FBS offers at the time he committed to USD? Of course not. The reality is UND always has a lot of one offer guys, so I never expect them to be high on these lists. The program isn't in the position currently where we'd like, but you also can't deny that the coaching staff either (1) Has an eye for talent (2) Doing a fine job molding the talent they have, because for a program that is heavy on one offer guys, they seem to be doing pretty decent job with the results (Borderline Top 25 team).