AJS

Mancinelli looks like he could be a good one, in his first year in the USHL (either Sophomore or Junior in HS - June DOB), he currently has 10 G 7 A - 17 P in 36 GP. Of that total, in his last 16 GP, he's almost averaging a PPG, with 9 G 5 A for 14 P. Obviously, there's a huge step up from High School / Midget to the USHL, no surprise that it took a while to get comfortable. Seems to be taking off now that he got his feet wet.

Need a sweep.

I've always said, if UND only lost players early to pro contracts, that actually played in the NHL, they would be in great shape every year. Last year, no complaints, lose Boeser, Jost, Poolman, all are collecting NHL paychecks. Losing a guy early like Gerisch (previous year Thompson / Johnson) who in all reality have no shot of playing the NHL that year, really hurts. Still have my fingers crossed they'll only lose Wolanin early. Gerisch returning would be such a big deal.

I remember reading a couple months ago, that it was pretty much a given that Gersich leaves early, but I'm still holding out hope, that the longer we don't see another 2018 recruit, he may change his mind. Right now, UND has 4 for sure forward coming in, taking 4 spots (3 Seniors & Gornall). The incoming forwards being Weatherby, Keane, Senden, Hain. The only two that would be eligible in Costello / Randklev definitely need a year of juniors. Here's to hoping that we don't see another '18 forward commit!

Get ready for a frustrating, no shi*t type post, but here it goes. A lot of my frustration last year, with the ILB's, is although injuries to key players ultimately sunk the position, everybody knew going into the year that it was razor thin. It's crazy to me that you basically had Rodgers and that's it as a proven commodity. Add Larson / Hunt who you like to the mix and Disterhaupt, who was too undersized to begin with. After that you pretty much had nobody that should be playing. I just can't understand why they didn't bring in anybody else. Now, looking at next years defense, let's check off the boxes. If you're looking at Safety / Secondary as a huge, huge issue, is this not priority #1? My first sentence about, no sh*t type post applies to that question, because it obviously probably is. I just hope the coaching staff is doing everything they can to bring in 1 more Safety that can make an impact. I can understand how injuries can derail a certain position if they add up, but I'll never understand not being prepared at the beginning of the year to put your team in position to succeed. Being one injury away from disaster (i.e. ILB last year).

"Maybe the best news? My predictive two-deep at inside linebacker features four players who played a total of eight games for UND a year ago. Maybe that sounds strange as a positive, but I think it is considering the results." Miller isn't breaking any news, but this is why I'm extremely optimistic that defensively, last year will be an abnormal blip for UND's defense. Thinking back to games like USD / Montana State where they could run up the middle at will. That won't happen this year. Rankings are obviously subjective, but on a 1-10 scale (10 being the best), what's everyone's rankings for this team defensively: 2016: 7 2017: 3 2018: 7 Does anyone think they'll be back to how they were in 2016? Slightly worse? Slightly better?

By what metric? I'm not saying Thome should play from here on out, or that he's a huge upgrade from Johnson, but I also don't think that Johnson with his play this year (the guy has a .906 SV%) should automatically be the guy. Johnson played well this weekend and I'm all for starting him Friday against CC, but if he has a bad game and Thome plays well the next night, just don't automatically start Johnson after that. Edit: Play the best goalie, regardless of class, I'm just not convinced Johnson is better.

Whatever weakness Thome has, he still has a better SV % than Cam (they are close .913 vs .906). I just think it'd be crazy to play Cam no matter what, given his very mediocre numbers. This isn't saying play Thome every night, but given where we are at, I'd prefer to go with whichever goalie gets hot.

Did you forget how well Cam played his Sophomore year? Do I think they'll get swept if Cam is playing, no, but I am in the corner that there isn't a big difference between Cam / Thome. If both are healthy, I'd like to see them split time and whoever plays better takes over. If that's Thome, then he should be the one in net.

Interesting! Does GF have a Jackson Kunz type player this year, or overall depth (or both)?

I'm actually optimistic going into tonight's game. You'd think otherwise given (1) Special teams in Duluth (2) Playing on CBS Sports (3) Playing Denver who has as much talent as anyone in the country. All these factors are going against UND, but I tend to believe that everything evens out. (1) Special teams can't be as bad as it was last weekend, Duluth's PP percentage was absurd (2) They can't lose every single game they play on CBS Sports, can they? It's time for Cam to step up and possibly steal a game for UND. They need to come out with urgency and play like their season is on the line.

Saying this is a big weekend is an understatement. They need to have a playoff like mentality this weekend. Need to win on Friday.

The blame for their recent play isn't on just a few people, but on the group. That being said, it's frustrating that it appears if you have a letter, you're in the line-up, no matter what. Looking at Simo / Olson, who should be fair game to sit (because they aren't very good), but instead you have guys like Mismash / Adams, who have talent in the stands every other night. Berry, maybe mix in 11 & 10.

Here’s my one huge frustration with Berry (and Hakstol before), it’s clear special teams is a complete disaster, I don’t want coach talk or his normal “we just need to get one to go” quotes. Something is wrong, (1) Figure it out (2) Fix it — a little transparency would be nice, explaining what is wrong and how they plan on addressing the issue. Take some accountability. Year is far from over, but it needs to get fixed now.

Well its sucked for 20 years, so I wouldn’t count on it.

Cam and Special Teams night 2

Like I said yesterday with Cam, numbers don’t lie. What’s ultimately frustrating this year, is after certain games or weekends (Western for example), I would have never thought this team would be having this much consistency issues. Still time to fix it and this year they look better than last. Need the win tonight, then hope better weekend next.

Turnover, turnover, turnover. What killed them last year was Non-NHL players Thompson / Johnson also leaving early. This year, 50 / 50 player Jost. They need to start winning some of those battles (like let’s say Gersich this year). It’s tough having huge freshman classes every year.

Posts like this are so frustrating, what are you talking about? Where did he say Cam has done nothing? He was great his Sophomore year, but we aren’t talking about that. He’s been mediocre his last two years, numbers don’t lie.

Cam and Special Teams. This team needs Thome to get healthy.

The good news is we’ll see Thome tomorrow (hopefully).

Michael Mancinelli (F) 01’ with another solid night last night (1G 1A). Has 9 points in his last 10 USHL games, impressive for either being a sophomore or junior in HS (June DOB).

If a tie & win were on the table, I'd take it. I hope UND proves me wrong, but I'd be surprised with anything other than a split.

Knowing fully well that very few truly cared about the Women's hockey team and so much of the noise right after was fake outrage, it really didn't have legs to become anything more than the flavor of the week protest. That being said, I'm still surprised how quiet it's been since the Title IX lawsuit failed. I mean, outside of Schlossman making sure everyone stays up on old players, I've heard nothing from anywhere about the program.

Here's some bullet points from what I could gather: 4th round WHL draft pick 6'0" Made Team Alberta in the WHL Cup (1-2-3 in 5 games) -- WHL Cup features the highest rated U-16 players in the 4 Western Provinces Currently plays for the Edge School for Athletes 15s, leading D-scoring, PPG would put him tied for 2nd overall (6-12-18 in 14 games) Seems like a solid player for his age, bodes well that he's currently one of the top d-man for his age group in Alberta. Like so many recruits that are this young, you just hope the continue on the trajectory they are currently at.