AJS

Hellsten in net. Not feeling optimistic about their chances tonight. Hope he proves me wrong.

Reading Schlossman's daily article, you get the feeling based on Berry's comments that we'll see Hellsten on Friday. Really hope they go back to DeRidder. Clearly both goalies have not been good overall, but my feeling has always been, if that position group has any chance of turning it around, it will be DeRidder. I don't believe they can beat Western with Hellsten in net. Hope he proves me wrong.

I'm interested in your take on this question. Not calling out any player by name, but do you think there is anyone who is currently considered a lock to be in the lineup that you question why they are? To me, there are a handful of "locks" that I don't necessarily see the difference between them are others that are in / out of the lineup.

To move up in the PWR and standings, this team will have to sweep a handful of series this second half. That being said, this is the only true must sweep. Anything less and you can throw the PWR out and concentrate completely on the NCHC standings and winning the auto bid.

Non-NCHC games seemed to go UND’s way. Cannot get over how bad the NCHC is overall this year.

Did you have the same opinion following the 2021 season, when they were solid defensively and struggled offensively?

Although UND did drop one spot to #22 in the Pairwise, their RPI is now at .5286 which is up from .5242 (following the Western series weekend). The GLI went exactly how we wanted it to go with Western not only winning it, but Michigan State losing both games (although one was in OT). UMass losing also would fall into the category of what we want to see. These next two weekend are so important. The NCHC needs to outperform what they've done in non-conference up to this point. It would also help for HE / the BIG to take a few hits. Today, hoping for LSSU over UMASS (15). Clarkson over Wisconsin (30). AIC over Cornell (18). Long Island over UConn (10).

Big game today @ 2:37 between Michigan Tech (18) & Western Michigan (23). We're going to need the NCHC to be lights out the next few weeks in non-conference games.

No doubt. @LDL asked about True Freshman, so I didn't include the RS Freshman class.

Elidor (USD) - WR: Austin Peay, NAU, ISU-Red, McNeese State, UT-Martin: COMMITTED Peterson (Iowa State) - D-Line: NDSU, UNC-Charlotte, ISU-Red, Kent State, WKU, ODU, UNI, USD Griffin Jr (Northern Illinois) - D-Line: Murray State, Eastern Illinois, Samford: COMMITTED Saltonstall (New Mexico) - D-Line: Samford, Tarleton: COMMITTED Schuster (Syracuse) - O-Line: NIU, EMU, Ball State, ISU-Red, BGSU, USD, WMU Pait (Fresno State) - DB: Lamar, NAU, Eastern Illinois, Southern Utah, Alabama A&M, Wofford, Stony Brook, Murray State, Bryant Durfee (USF) - D-Line: Committed to Washington

I'm going to pivot a little from your original question of showed promise, because that list of course would be bigger. This is based off of what Tom Miller wrote at the middle / end of the season. The question was phrased, which Freshman could potentially make an impact last year. Besides Dennis, he mentioned Bluiett (CB) and Borud (OL).

Initial thoughts on the D-Line as we believe it will be constructed. Lose: Morrison (Starter), Keech, Thorsness, Ledbetter Gain: Griffin Jr (NG), Saltonstall, Teiken*, Schweigert*, Olson* Return: Johnson (Starter), McNaboe (Starter), Beach, Orlando, Schultz, Lennon, Ogbu (?) *Freshman last year My hope going into this offseason was the D-Line would follow suit of the O-Line last year. What that means is you bring players that will push the returning starters / have others push the 2-Deep. Morrison is the only starter & guy on the 2-Deep that won't be returning. Griffin Jr is such an important piece. I wouldn't pencil him in as a starter, but as 360 tweeted, he adds very important depth to that position. I'm excited to see what Schultz / Teiken can do. I also think Saltonstall will find his way on the 2-deep. That would be very important to the overall success of this unit. No doubt they should be better. Thoughts?

One of the things he did emphasize also was speed. How fast NDSU's secondary / LB's are.

360 Signing Day Podcast: It was refreshing to hear Kelly rant a bit. He was very blunt when talking about how things need to change if they are going to challenge NDSU / SDSU. Looking ahead to 2023, they discussed on a positive note how good this team should be offensively. On the defensive side of the ball, simply UND NEEDS to get better at Linebacker / Safety. I got the feeling he felt Ok with what they'll have on the D-Line (or at least they'll be improved) as well as CB.

Elidor (USD) - WR: Austin Peay, NAU, ISU-Red, McNeese State, UT-Martin <-- UND GOT HIM! Peterson (Iowa State) - Committed to NDSU Griffin Jr. (Northern Illinois) - D-Line: Murray State, Eastern Illinois, Samford Saltonstall (New Mexico) - D-Line: Samford, Tarleton <-- UND GOT HIM! Schuster (Syracuse) - O-Line: NIU, EMU, Ball State, ISU-Red, BGSU, USD Durfee (USF) - D-Line: Committed to Washington @The Sicatoka made a few adjustments. Listening to the 360 podcast, they did mention Griffin Jr by name. I understood it as they expected him to "sign" today. Although they did explain how transfers don't sign as you do as a HS Senior. That is one to watch.

Per the GF Herald. J. Johnson, Kauppinen, Mullin, Siegel, Ventrelli will use their Covid years. No mention of Buckner / Ogbu.

Doesn't look like Peterson / Holmes / Schuster signed anywhere today.

Based on the 360 list, we should only be waiting on Hindbjorgen. Fingers crossed that we’ll see another one of the transfer portal offers as well. Seems we’re running out of time though for that.

Twitter. Tom Miller / 360 are always on top of tweeting out when an offer is made. An important note is the source of the offer is the player himself. It’s possible other offers have been made, where that player doesn’t make them public.

I’m hoping it’s one or two of the current transfer portal offers. So far, the known transfer portal offers all appear to be impact guys.

Here's my best guess. You had KK / Fort / Coley as returners who had experience. KK / Fort started against Nebraska. Fort gets hurt early, he's out for the year. KK / Coley are now the only two with any experience. They would be your natural starters. Buckner had experience elsewhere, I did think he looked better at the end of the year once he got comfortable. Ball was on the 2-Deep, played. Davis got some time as well. As far as the portal. I think the Coaching staff grouped KK / Buckner / Fort / Coley together (Seniors). Coley ended up being the odd man out. You definitely couldn't leave this group stagnant after last year. That was done, because I'm guessing KK / Buckner are back. Fort will be healthy. Ball / Davis with another year. Sutton will now be a RS-Freshman. My best guess is we won't see Portal adds at that position. The hope / belief will be that Buckner will take a huge step with a full year under his belt. Fort will be healthy / return as a starter. (Buckner / Fort starters). Maybe have KK take a step back(ish), be that 3rd guy. Ball / Davis, both take an extra step with a year. Sutton now be a year older, ready for some playing time. My final thought being that position was a weakness last year, no doubt. There were other areas that didn't help it out. Need to improve just about everywhere on Defense.

Coley transfers to Murray State. That was his best offer. I think it was agreed on here that him entering the portal was most likely mutual. Like the others at his position, he had a really rough year overall. I did have really high hopes for him following his sophomore campaign. I really hope that safety room is being closely evaluated this winter. If a STARTER's best offer is Murray State, nothing more needs to be said about their performance as a group last year. Best of luck to him at Murray State!

I would say it's about normal. I wondered if I should have included Halliday (since he did stay an extra year in Juniors), like Bowen did, although both decommitted and ended up elsewhere. We'll see if Dunbar plays at a school next year or is in that same camp (i.e. decommits because they get pushed off a year but end up playing Juniors again anyway).

Off the top of my head, Dunbar, Spicer, Morrow, Halliday.

Wiebe is having himself a year. 7 Goals 22 Assists - 29 Points (28 Games) Tied 16th in BCHL scoring 2nd Defenseman Leads Chilliwack in points by 6. 5th in Goals