AJS

I've watched a lot of UND hockey and Saturday's game and how it was called was unique. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it. Didn't watch the St. Cloud series, but have never heard Motzko react the way he did before. Fair or not, I wonder if you'll start to hear rumblings from opposing teams (you now have two) about the trip to Denver. Like I mentioned in my post above, Montgomery's tirades work, no doubt, he has the refs in his back pocket. I'm very interested to see and I'll pay close attention to how games are called going forward in Denver.

This year the offense was average and the defense was well below average. Reasons for optimism: O-Line have solid returners, many were freshman / sophomores this year RB's Legitimate depth at QB CB's will be greatly improved - Harris / Holm are an excellent starting pair, Blubaugh / Hunt / Carter will give this unit incredible depth Rogers / Larson / Cam will be a great ILB group RS Freshman D-Line mixed with Tank / Cieslak / Bennett

BCHL Stats: Blaisdell '01 (F): 4-10-14 22GP Keane '97 (F): 4-6-10 17GP Weatherby '98 (F): 21-15-36 24GP Tychonick '00 (D): 5-14-19 22GP Reid '01 (D): 1-8-9 19GP Scheel '99 (G): 8-5-0-2 2.19 GAA .928 SV% USHL Stats: Senden '98 (F): 4-3-7 16GP Mattson '98 (F): 5-3-8 15GP Mancinelli '01 (F): 1-1-2 13GP Costello '00 (F): 3-1-4 14GP AJHL Stats: Bernard-Docker '00 (D): 6-7-13 21GP NTDP -18: Hain '00 (F): 3-7-10 18GP NTDP -17: Caulfield '01 (F): 8-7-15 17GP

My observations from the weekend: Overall, very solid showing, they proved they can compete with the best in the country. This team does have incredible depth and they can roll 4 lines so effectively, Denver has elite players and it showed on the power play. Referee's were terrible, Saturday they had a direct effect on the game which should never happen. I wouldn't say there were any phantom calls, but Smith's "major" is the one that really drove me nuts. You can't call a major just because a guy gets hurt (guy who clearly came back too early from his injury). My big problem was I've never seen so many 50 / 50 calls all go one way. Couple questionable calls, the 5 minute major, disallowed goal. It was like a Denver fan was controlling the refs. Montgomery is an absolute clown. His tirades work no doubt as far as influencing the referees, but I'd be embarrassed if Berry carried himself the way Monty does. I soured on him after last season and they way he carried himself with the Florida job and the influence on players returning, ect. It was all true, but his arrogance was incredible.

The NCHC twitter account said that all 4 series are on NCHC.tv, why wouldn't it be? Games that are on FSN are still on NCHC.tv, only home games that aren't, will be the CBS Sports games.

This take is strictly from reading the Wisconsin recruiting thread on USCHO and their thoughts on Cruikshank, but I would be thrilled if he ended up at UND. Sounded like Wisconsin wanted him, but offered him less money than Cruikshank was expecting, so that's why he didn't sign. Scouting report is great skater that can score.

Everyone knows to take these rankings with a pretty large grain of salt, but I did like what they had to say in their write up. "has improved dramatically in the past three years. He has size, soft hands and excellent protection. He has the skill and ability to get pucks to the net and score in tight. Earned A at @bchllive Showcase." Hopefully he is a late bloomer that is starting to but it together.

5 The Weatherby one is strange, 4.75 is really, really high.

Here were our last 4 before Weatherby.

Given the Weatherby commitment yesterday, this would make more sense. I'm all about the #'s, right now we have 5 coming in next year (Forwards) with 5 openings (Gersich, Gornall, Seniors).

After the dust has settled a little bit, you can put me in this group as well.

Great post!

It's not Keane, Mattson or Senden individually that worry me, but them as a group. I completely agree that you need different players playing different roles, so it sounds like a guy like Senden will be a great lower line guy, good leader, ect... You can't have 75% of your class be guys like that. You also need forwards that have some offensive talent and none of them have shown even a bit of offensive ability at the junior level.

This is more what I was trying to say. Shane isn't the only one that will have the opportunity to sign after the year (as he could have last year), he definitely could, but is also not (in my eyes) like Boeser was last year where you knew he was gone for sure.

I always think will this person play in the NHL next year. If the answer is yes, then he's gone, no doubt. Gersich isn't one of those guys. Obviously, we've seen guys leave early all the time that have no shot of playing in the NHL that year (see Johnson, Thompson recently), but I don't think Gersich is a slam dunk to leave at all.

I know it's probably too early to tell, but the way I see it, UND has 4 forward spots open for next year at a minimum (3 Seniors, Gornall). Is the thought right now, they'll go with Hain, Mattson, Keane & Senden? Can you push any of them back another year? Priority #1, 2 & 3 should be getting an impact forward for next years class. See Guttman to Denver as the kind of guy. Anybody see any forwards leaving early? We all known Wolanin is going to leave early, but I could see every forward return.

Agreed, obviously, the Big Sky tournament are the only games that truly matter, but their non-conference record since becoming D1 has been frustrating to put it mildly. After the last couple of years of going 1-2 in their tournaments, it's awesome seeing 2-1. Could this be the year they get their "signature" win?

Not one person, ever. Bubba standing by Rudolph is the tipping point for me. I'll still cheer, hope for the best, but have no confidence in either of them going forward. Hope I'm wrong.

If that's the case, welcome to UND! In all seriousness, has anybody with competing offers every picked SCSU over UND?

This does seem to be one that has SCSU written on it, but I'm sure Berry and the coaching staff are doing their due-diligence. His start in the USHL has really gotten my attention, I hope Berry goes after him. Really like that he's (1) Local (2) Small - four year guy My guess is he's definitely a +1 guy (one year of juniors after HS), so would put him in the 2019 class.

Not a fan of Monty, way too arrogant for my liking. This Denver team is the most talented team in the country, now that doesn't mean that they can't lose or are a lock for the title, but they are very good. I'd be very happy if UND could come out of this weekend as a split. This is definitely the measuring stick to see where UND is at right now. If Cam is ready to go this weekend, I'd start Thome on Friday / Cam on Saturday. I've been in "checking off boxes" mode with Thome. (1) Road series start (2) Home series start -- what's really left now is seeing the best team in the country and tournament games. If Cam's healthy he won't see the tournament, but would like to see what he can do against Denver for a game.

Interesting, PPG guy in the USHL last year, 6th round pick in the draft. UND definitely has one open forward spot (potentially 2) for next year. Would be a big pick up and somebody this '18 recruiting class desperately needs.

It was posted here, but post must have been deleted. http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=356

Link?

Exactly, since the 2nd game, if it's not one thing it's the other. UND defense shows up (like vs Montana), the offense struggles. Very frustrating, but thankfully it's finally over. There's reason for some excitement next year, hopefully a couple coaches are on the way out.