AJS

Couple things in the big picture, before breaking it down, the final score is big. The playoff committee (pure guess) will look at records and score, I doubt many of them were actually watching this game (safe bet). The loss is tough, but the final score was 35-30 against the #4 team in the country. UND still controls their destiny. To the game itself, this game is 100% on the UND defense. Forget field position (which was bad), ST scored 14 points. The offense who didn't have decent field position the entire day held their own against a great Weber State defense. If you look at the Weber offense heading into the game (20% 3rd down, QB pulled twice for poor play), this is all on them. I can honestly say I've never been more surprised. This is all on the defense, they were pathetic as a group. A lot of this has to go on coaching. To go from 20% to over 50% on first downs is insane. I'm truly shocked by this. Importance of a football season is not to get too low, the reason they lost were on a unit we know is solid. This is an important learning lesson. Sucks that his was another truly big opportunity they failed at (again). Beat Idaho and everything this team has worked for is still in front of them. This isn't a bad team, just didn't perform today (defense ).

USHL Pinto - '00 (F): 4-6-10 (8GP) Halliday - '02 (F): 1-4-5 (7GP) Frisch - '00 (D): 2-2-4 (7GP) Mancinelli - '01 (F): 1-2-3 (8GP) Randklev - '99 (F): 1-2-3 (8GP) Costello - 00' (F): 1-0-1 (7GP) Reid - 01' (D): 0-1-1 (7GP) Miller - 01' (D): 1-0-1 (6GP) Schmaltz - 01' (F): 0-0-0 (6GP) NTDP U18 Caulfield - 01' (F): 4-3-7 (9GP) Rowe - 01' (G): 4.58 GAA / .837 SV% NTDP U17 Sanderson -02' (D): 0-6-6 (9GP) Kleven -02' (D): 0-2-2 (7GP) AJHL Bast - 00' (D): 3-5-8 (9GP) BCHL Blaisdell - 01' (F): 10-9-19 (17GP) Stratton - 99' (F): 2-10-12 (14GP) Bowen -02' (F) 5-5-10 (17GP) Rizzo - 01' (F): Injured, sounds like it'll still be a couple weeks Still very early, that's why I haven't updated until this point. Besides Rizzo, who's a lock to come in next year, Blaisdell, Pinto and Caulfield have had really nice starts to their seasons and based strictly on that should be the next three coming in next year. Frisch has been receiving rave reviews in Green Bay and Bast seems to have picked off where he left off last season. Surprised by the slow starts from Mancinelli and Randklev. Bowen & Halliday seem to be acclimating well in their first years of juniors as '02s.

UND hasn’t been winless through 4 games since 1994, that’s what’s on the line tomorrow. Berry is really doubling down after missing the tournament last year.

This. Aplin has played very well this year, along with the entire O-Line, not only is there no reason to disrupt the chemistry, but keeping Waletzko's redshirt would be huge.

Yes, great info. With Odom not dressing against Montana, my guess is they are indeed trying to keep his shirt intact. If the CB position stays mostly healthy, I like now using Siegel for 4 and then give Odom another game. Would be huge to not use Odom's. Edit: I thought Waletzko's was going to be pulled for sure, but appears he didn't play against Montana. That would be another one that would be huge if kept his intact.

Just win. After the Idaho State game, I looked at the next three games as a group where if they can go 3-0, they will be back to where they were before the Idaho State game. This team has a lot of momentum right now, play a smart, sound game and they should come out with a win.

The general consensus before the year started was 8-3 UND is in, 7-4 they are out, so none of that has changed. They just need to keep winning and the rest will take care of itself. I would think the team will be able to use this as a little extra motivation as well.

Was anybody surprised by this result? If you wanted to sum up the state of UND hockey, just show them this game, it had everything: (1) Inability to score (2) Awful PP (3) Mediocre Penalty Kill (4) Making the other goalie look like an All-American. Just picking up where they left off last year.

Correct, only tomorrows.

I'm sure they did the research to figure out this was more profitable than offering a single game option along with a weekly / monthly pass, but they are going to be leaving a lot of money on the table tonight by not offering a single night option.

I wish there was a week that everyone would agree on that he pollsters would take a deep dive into their rankings. Let's say Week 6, toss out the rankings before and truly look into them (as if they were the playoff committee) and really reset.

Can anyone remember how full those sections usually get for Family Weekend? UND probably would only need to sell 500 tickets throughout the stadium from now until kickoff to get the place to look really full with the remaining seats that show up on Ticketmaster.

What's going on in sections 210 / 211? It is Family Weekend, I'm guessing that's where the tickets usually are? If you go on Ticketmaster right now, it's probably a little deceiving unless there's something going on where all those seats are actually all spoken for. If that's the case, there will be a lot of people at that game. Still plenty of seats of course, but it makes such a big difference showing nothing in 210 / 211.

Started last week against UNC, but each week is like a playoff game, JUST WIN.

I've been shocked with the run defense the last two games, especially after what they showed, basically shutting down Washington who's a legitimate Top 10 team in the country and also playing very well against Sam Houston. The first half against Idaho State was like watching last years bunch and the UNC game they were able to run as well. It's puzzling for sure. If they get that fixed, with the way the secondary is playing, this defense could be pretty close to lights out.

I think this is probably a common theme among UND Football fans, I'm in the same boat. That ISU loss really stung and took all the momentum from the Sam Houston win. I was thinking about this as well, I'm in neutral right now, cautiously optimistic. Montana is a must win for the program, at home after a bye week. If they can get that done, you'll start to feel the enthusiasm again, going into the Sac State game, IF they win that one, I think this fan base will be back to where they were after Sam Houston going into Weber State. One week at a time, but they need to be in playoff mode right now.

Full list: B: Donovan ('19), Rizzo ('19) C: Bast ('19), Blaisdell ('20), Caulfield ('19), Frisch ('19), Pinto ('20) Did I miss anyone? I think the only one who I would have expected on there is Mancinelli. The CSS Preliminary Rankings had the year expected next to the player, did they talk to each player before coming up with those?

Yes / No, I wouldn't have thought any would have an A grade, the one thing to note is although the NHL isn't the NHL of old when it was all about size, UND's draft eligible prospects still don't have the prototypical size (outside of Donovan / Caulfield). Love guys like Rizzo (B), Blaisdell (C), will be fantastic college hockey players.

Coming into the year, my prediction was 7-4, which I would be fine with IF the following happened, (1) No blow out losses in the FCS portion of the schedule (2) Couple of lopsided wins (not counting the first game). The UNC game was very important as it showed that UND can dominate a "conference" team. If this team can find consistency on offense, they can be a pretty good team. It's frustrating to know that all they'd need to be 4-1 is if they scored 7 points in each second half. Looking at their remaining schedule, they are all winnable games. I don't expect them to run the table, but there's no "automatic" losses. I do like that they have Montana (better team at home) and Weber State at home. I don't anticipate them losing both of those games. I see 8-3 as a real possibility.

A great team win yesterday, a couple things I really liked to see. Freshman specialists are starting to find their groove. Leach has now made 3 straight FG's and Peterson was booming his punts. This team should be in capable hands at the RB position next year with JJ & Otis Echo others that have said that the O-Line might be the most consistent group right now on the team. Liked to see Russo get some playing time, this is still a very young group, I'm excited to watch them develop over the next couple years. Defensively, this has to be the healthiest this team has been all year, right? Will be nice to have the week off for those that are nicked up, but is Ott the only injury right now? Offensively, tough to hear about Mortel, need Waltezko healthy for the stretch run.

We'll see how it plays out, but count me in the group that's concerned about the forwards. I like that you have a built in first line of Kawaguchi / Jones / Mismash, who will be better this year than last year. Gardner is a great piece for the 2nd line center, where I'll disagree with you, is I don't think Hain is Top 6, JJ is borderline. I would hope Adams gets a shot to start the year, he is a talented offensive player, then I'd say it's a coin flip between JJ / Weatherby. My make or break guys are Hoff & Bowen, this team needs something from that junior class. Mismash / Jones / Kawaguchi Weatherby / Garnder / Adams JJ / Hoff / Hain That's not a bad Top 9, Bowen / Smith would be solid 4th line guys. It didn't happen last year, but like you said, we need some offense from the 3rd line this year.

I posted a few months back how I thought this defensive core was going to be deeper than the '16 group, won't be as talented with the Top 4, but I'd take 5-7 this year over '16. Kierstad / Shaw / Peski > Thompson / Wolanin (FR) / Shaw (FR)

After leading the USHL in preseason scoring, Pinto w/ 2 goals in the opener yesterday.

Didn't realize the Canadian Junior leagues started so early, USHL regular season starts on Thursday. BCHL Blaisdell '01 (F): 4-4-8 (7GP) Rizzo '01 (F): 0-0-0 (1GP) Stratton '99 (F): 2-4-6 (6GP) Bowen '02 (F): 3-2-5 (7GP) AJHL Bast '00 (D): 1-4-5 (5GP)

Read my first sentence, not worried, just find it strange, especially since that hasn't been the case in the past. Last year they had four '02 recruits by this point.