AJS

I'm strictly looking at it from the view point that I think UND has a really good team this year, if that's the case, you have to win games at home against teams that will most likely be below 30 in the PWR at the end of the year. For the next three teams, I'm basing the 30 or below in the PWR on where they finished last year, also taking into account the first couple weeks of this year.

Every year I like to break the season down into smaller sets of groups. I'm grouping the next 3 weekends together, all at home against Bemidji, Tech (1) and Miami. These are the ones you can't drop, at home against middle of the road to poor teams. Looking for UND to be 5-0 after this set, 7-1-1 overall going into Denver.

I wouldn't get too excited unfortunately, the 2-deeps once the season get going aren't credible when it comes to injuries. Ex: Holm was listed as a starter the first couple weeks of the season on the 2-deep and as we know never played. What I've never been able to figure out is there always is some movement (i.e. Holm did drop off eventually, so why then and not right away), so I'm not sure what has to happen for the player to actually disappear. Personally, I wish they were closer to how the NFL does them, realistic so we know what to expect.

I'll say this, IF UND happens to win this Saturday, with the injuries they have on the lines, it'll be the shot in the arm this program needs. Not only for this year, but for good or bad, long term, the coaching staff could sell hope. Another absolutely crucial weekend for this team and the direction of this Football program.

Non-conference games are so important, you need to win them, especially at home against a team that's middle of the pack. If this team is as good as I think they are, it's a must sweep.

@Siouxhky19 Mankato was a #1 seed in the tourney last year and lost very little, they are legit.

I was actually going to edit my post yesterday and add the same thing. UND is one injury on D away from Frisch needing to be in the lineup every night. To me it makes the most sense to have him be the extra skater at this point.

I'm not necessarily surprised that a 23 year old Senior looked better than an 18 year old True Freshman in his first game as a collegiate player. My personal philosophy I guess, but like I mentioned in my earlier post, I would prefer to get Freshman like Caulfield and Frisch, who are talented players acclimated and on the ice over a guy like CJ or Yon. We already know the ceiling of those two and what they bring to the table. That statement isn't meant to rip either of them either. This team is going to be very good this year, so I'm going to leave this topic alone. We're kind of getting into the weeds when we are talking about the extra skater. I really liked the line-up Berry had overall this past weekend.

Let's look at last weekend. Friday - I would rather have Caulfield or Frisch as the extra skater. Saturday - Tychonick. What ultimately bothers me is UND has young talented players that on each night are watching from the stands, because CJ is taking up the extra spot. There's a learning curve the first half of the Freshman year, let them get the minutes they need to improve.

I tried my best to refrain from talking about this topic until we see what ultimately happens, but it didn't work. The only thing I'll say is there are two players that clearly stick out to me as guys who should never play outside of injury (last resort guys). One played both games this past weekend. Mentally I'm bargaining with Berry that I'm ok with one of the two playing the extra forward spot, if that means the other is watching from the stands. I'll be very disappointed if we see both and there are other healthy scratches.

UND has played their fair share of terrible teams over the past couple years and never have been able to put together two games where they thumped an opponent like that back to back. This is a very good sign.

Unfortunately, I'm in the cheer for whatever results get Bubba fired. Knowing UND's luck, I agree with @Oxbow6, they'll go 6-5 and Bubba will stay.

John, I think you are going to be in for a long, disappointing season... this team is going to be really good.

Talking about Fort, I want to expand that a little further. I believe this years True Freshman were Bubba's best class. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a chance that nobody loses their Red Shirt. In 5 games Fort has played 4, Cochran 3 Nelson 3 a few others have games sprinkled in there, none of which are anything close to key contributors (which makes believe all shirts will stay in tact). Of course the new 4 game rule really helps out, but I do think this says something about UND finally building a little depth.

Fort didn’t play last game, will be something to watch, if he doesn’t play again this weekend we can assume they want to keep his RS.

Looking at Pt/G in the BCHL, Budy is currently 4th, Bowen 12th.

Agreed, this is a game UND needs. ISU is a quality team, but if UND is a true Top 25 team, which I think they are, this is one they'll win.

Last weeks game appeared to have gotten away from ISU (understatement), up 17-0 in the 2nd and then get rolled. You can pick out one game. You can also look at: @ Utah - 31 point loss @ UNI - 7 point loss PSU - 27 point win The Montana game is definitely their low point of the year, but otherwise their results look ok to me. There are bad teams on UNDs schedule, ISU isn't one of them.

This should be a really good game, Idaho State has a solid team. I have a lot more confidence this week after what this team showed offensively in the first half last week, they were really good. Consistency is the key moving forward, they've shown flashes offensively (more bad than good) and defensively (more good than bad), but really haven't come close to putting together a complete game from both sides of the ball (together). What's the word on Idaho State, is one side of the ball their strength, or just overall a solid team?

It was sarcasm, although I do agree that more than 3 or 4 would have a 4-1 record, I took (most likely too much offense) to the word many. Who knows, you could be right and many is a subjective amount, but I could see your comment coming one of the 4 NDSU fans that post here coming from a mile away. We get it, every team UND beats sucks, it gets old hearing it over and over.

The weekly PDF isn't out yet for Idaho State, but they do keep track of who plays in each game. Fort played in the first 4 games going into Davis. It's possible they shut him down, but probably unlikely. This one bothers me, given that Odom would have been just fine on the 2-deep. Of course, we don't know if this was also a players choice, but this potentially is about as bad of burning a redshirt as I can remember.

Thanks for the input. Let's go with only 3 or 4 FCS teams wouldn't be at least 4-1 and we'll go from there.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, that's for sure! It's a good problem to have, clearly, but the coaches will really have to earn their paychecks trying to navigate this. One of the "problems" is Sanderson is just a Junior this year, but being a potential 1st rounder, it's definitely either accelerate or lose him. Early prediction: Poolman / Peski (Graduate), Kierstad and JBD sign early. You bring in Bast / Moore / Sanderson / Kleven. Hope Miller / Reid are ok delaying for one year, which honestly if they are 3rd round picks or lower (which is probably likely), that's not too big of a stretch they do.

Rizzo returned to action for the first time of the year last night, registered an Assist. Bowen with 1G 1A in that game as well.

The BCHL Showcase Festival is happening this week/weekend. A little different than the USHL as they don't have their Showcase the first weekend of their season. Chilliwack still plays tonight, but so far some big numbers for UND recruits. Bowen (1 Game) - 4 Assists (5G 6A 11Pts - 9GP) Moore (1 Game) - 2 Goals (6G 2A 8Pts - 9GP) Budy (2 Games) - 1 G 5A (3G 10A 13Pts - 10GP) Who would have thought Moore (Defenseman) would be leading this trio in goals so far? Very impressive start for him being the other two have Junior experience. Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, this trio will be fun to track this year (as well as Rizzo when he gets healthy).