AJS

Road series against a solid team. I really don't know what to expect. UND is elite when you look Defensively (grouping together D-core, Goaltending, PK). Still feeling out this team offensively. My best guess is we'll see a split. Sweeping a series is tough, especially on the road.

The formula for success has always been very simple, when you look at "must haves", one the components is beating average teams at home. Although still fairly early in the season, UND would put themselves in unbelievable position both in conference and on the national stage with a sweep this weekend. Last weekend really was a coming out party for the team, this would solidify it.

Last weekend coming up and what a weird year, I've never seen anything like it. What I mean is we've seen the offense / defense / special teams be spectacular at separate points in the season, but also borderline unwatchable at other points. It's not only the consistency of the units, but they've never really played close to a complete game, where they are clicking in all three facets at the same time. I still believe that if they do, they can beat almost anyone in the country. Really hope they can find their way into the playoff field.

One thing that has really stuck out this year when following the potential recruiting class is all of their teams really struggle to score. I've been a little surprised especially in the BCHL at the pretty modest scoring numbers of Rizzo and Bowen, but when you look into it. Rizzo - 6G 11A - 17 points (17 GP): Leads the team at a PPG, the 2nd highest is .81 PPG Bowen - 8G 17A - 25 points (25 GP): Leads the team at a PPG, the 2nd highest is .91 PPG If you look at the league, a PPG puts you around 20th in that category. The BCHL isn't really the high scoring league we all remember. Rizzo / Bowen are holding their own right now on their respective teams. Hopefully we'll see a slight uptick in scoring the rest of the way.

I truly believed that as frustrating as last year was, they were really close to being a really good team. What's the difference this year? Their strengths last year (Defense / Goaltending) are better this year. This isn't a surprise, given they only lost Shaw. Currently, UND's Save % is at .924, last year as a team it was around .900. You are going to win a lot of games only averaging giving up 1.53 Goals a game. Penalty Kill is playing at an elite level as well (much improved from last year). This is a Championship caliber Defensive team in all facets (Goaltending / Defense / PK). This isn't a juggernaut offensively, but they have a solid deep collection of Forwards. Each line is capable and has found the back of the net. The difference is simply guys finally taking that step forward. Nobody took a leap, but all that was needed was guys getting a little better. The influx of new players has helped as well, it was a very solid (& deep group). Power Play is back to average, but more importantly is timely goals. Side note: What an amazing job this coaching staff does on Face offs. UND is currently at 53% which puts them 9th in the country. That was a concern going into this year losing the two top % in college hockey this summer.

What's everyones thoughts on Frisch so far? He's been logging huge minutes and playing in every type of situation.

Another NLI

Just think, there's a distinct possibility we get another year of this line intact! Could you imagine this line as Seniors?

For who? I know you mentioned Bast, but he's not going to Age out of Junior Eligibility if he doesn't play College next year, he has one more year after this. Side note: There are guys this year that are June 1999 playing Juniors, Bast is November 2000 -- just for a potentially next year comparison.

If that happens, will we only see the NTDP guys? Honestly, that's the ideal situation, if Moore / Bast and Miller are ok delaying one more year.

You don't see three in a row very often, but they all individually make sense. There's different reasons, but given the timing, it's pretty apparent that they weren't in the cards for next year. Randklev couldn't delay, Mancinelli and Reid who have both played multiple (Reid 3, Mancinelli 2) years of Juniors clearly didn't want to delay. Can't fault them for that. Wish all three good luck moving forward. Will be interesting to see if anyone else is involved in this.

Agreed to the open slots, but when you look at the pipeline, there's no room for next year for Reid. I'm still trying to figure out how it's going to work. You lose two and I'm guessing it's a safe bet that we'll see one more. Sanderson (potential 1st), Kleven (potential 2nd) both signed NLI's today. You have Bast who was delayed last year, Moore who's a 5th round pick. Those would be the first four. Also you have Miller who's highly regarded and draft eligible (also playing his 2nd year in the USHL).

Huge news, that would make such a difference having Bennett / Turner and Morrison all getting healthy just in time for the playoff push.

I get it, but we both know these are completely different scenarios although you're right, both the oldest YOB's. One the oldest YOB were mostly drafted True Freshman who all proved themselves in Juniors. Next years oldest YOB would be a lot of guys that are maxed out of eligibility. Edit: By the way, I don't have a problem with most the guys you listed (Gaber / Budy / Rizzo), where I do worry is that based on YOB they would delay guys like Bowen & Halliday for guys that have proved less in Juniors and are role players, but are just older. This is clearly just speculation anyways. I'm confident we'll see Bowen / Halliday next year.

Costello currently more than anyone, but yes, Randklev as well as Montgomery. Although not local, you can add Schmaltz to the mix. As I said earlier, it's not that any one individually couldn't have a role, but that's four players who can't score in Juniors. That's just the local ones, there are other role type players (i.e. Ness, Portz). I see more role players than guys that can get points and that's a concern.

I agree with this mostly, but my major concern is still (this goes back to the current Senior class), what happens when a local player doesn't develop as expected. Berry has shown he's capable of cutting ties with players, but not local ones.

That's true, but what current recruit has a situation even close to Pinto's when he committed / where they are currently?

I'm not following this. Toews was underage, but Parise / Oshie were true freshman, just like Frisch, Pinto, Blaisdell and Caulfield are from this years team. A freshman class based off of YOB is my nightmare scenario. Halliday is off to a slow start, not saying he doesn't need another year, but I bet you lose him if he gets delayed. No way Bowen gets delayed.

To expand on this a little, what I'm nervous about right now is looking at @petey23 list with their ages / eligibility. Outside of Budy and lets say Gaber (possibly Ness), have the others shown enough in Juniors? I don't want to start the same argument about what about player X, he didn't score and look what he did in college. This isn't a shot at anyone individually. Just like as critical I've been with the current Senior group, it's nobody individually, I know there's roles for everyone. The problem Berry got into, is you start stacking depth players in one class and it becomes a complete disaster. I might be optimistic, but I don't think they'll lose any forwards early. I just don't see where all of these players fit. I have my fingers crossed that Berry has learned from the current Senior class and he's out recruiting, making the hard decisions on next years class. It doesn't work out sometimes with players unfortunately.

Also, players can start signing their NLI's on Wednesday. This year more than usual, I'm very interested who signs early.

I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit of a purge / re-evaluation of the current Forward recruiting scope. Although it's early, to say I'm concerned about the current group of USHL forwards would be an understatement. It's been an absolute nightmare of a start, nobody can score. Who do we feel comfortable with right now for next year? BCHL: Budy (lighting it up as expected), Bowen / Rizzo (hopefully will increase their production, but have ok numbers so far). USHL: Halliday (been a disappointment so far, but has talent) / Gaber (Solid overager) After those five you kind of have an avalanche of guys who I would say are pretty interchangeable. Lose: Bowen / Michaud / Smith / Yon / Johnson

That response was a response to an earlier post I had asking how many leagues will the autobid not already be in the Top 24.

Good call, I definitely did. How many are we talking? Outside of the Pioneer, is there another that usually steals a spot? Doesn't really change my overall thought process. Sitting today, it's kind of out of their hands, which although isn't a spot you want to be, but would take pretty much everything to go wrong to keep them from making it at 7-4. Although I do put more stock in the Coaches / STATS polls, it's also nice that Massey, Athlon, AGS all have UND higher than #26.

#26 in both STATS and Coaches polls, disappointing, given how valuable each spot is, but overall, in a pretty good spot. You most likely aren't going to move down with a win, so win the next two weeks, the floor is #26. Two teams in the Top 25 are from the Ivy league, so for playoff purposes, UND would be at that #24 spot.