AJS

Looks like Buckner had Youngstown and WIU offers from the MVFC. Appears to be a really nice commitment.

Denver was a team that was so well balanced between classes. Out Eligibility: (2) Wright / Barrow Signed: (2) Brink / Savoie There is still a lot of talent on the roster. Any word on Guttman and Stapley? Both Seniors last year, 3rd / 4th on the team in points. Could be back with their Covid year. Benning had a big year on the blue line for them. As it stands now, I would still say they are the favorites in the NCHC next year. Will need to take at least another two of their big guns to sign for that to change.

Good questions. No, I don't know how Berry has handled the scholarship dollars. I keep hearing non-scholarship players, I think we're making assumptions on that part. I don't want to get into this where it turns into player by player comparison as this conversation is already negative. My question would be, why is Motzko and other schools pushing so many low (or non-scholarship) players to the portal? Edit: One more thing. Part of my frustration as it sits on 04/18, is I'm watching what Motzko is doing at Minnesota. Five or Six guys in the portal, to me, he took all available from 5th year to eligible recruits and he is piecing together his perfect roster. Not bloated. Personal opinion is Berry seems to be spinning his wheels at the Forward group after hitting home runs at Goalie / Defense. I want to point out the as it sits on 04/18. We've already been down the path of what I hope happens.

For most schools looking at the transfer portal that does seem to be the case. My concern with Berry is he appears to be the only coach where this is very difficult / he's unwilling.

Is this true, Men's hockey, very few players are on a true full scholarship (100%)? Or was it like that at one time? I would also guess that very few are truly not on any portion of a scholarship. It's not a stretch that Budy's % would be cut if elected to stay next year, but the numbers are still not adding up. To varying degrees, all four Freshman would be getting scholarship $. When I think of guys that wouldn't be getting $ or at least a small portion it would be Feeney / Albrecht (at least the first few years), guys that are truly brought in for depth. I know you aren't saying this, but redirecting my post a little, if we believe that we'll see 4 Freshman forwards, then they won't be staying at 17 and we will see movement. It just doesn't make sense to keep it at that number.

Both those games are in Grand Forks

Like wasn’t enough, sign me up for these lines. Clean up one or two from the group that isn’t part of the four lines to get to 15 or 16 Forwards and I really like this forward group.

Quick spin on social media and he follows UND / UND related accounts, along with other schools.

You are right on that the Freshman class isn't announced until May / June. I want to clarify, the impatience part is on how the numbers are going to work. Logically, there are players that will have to leave for you to keep Senden / Hain and bring in 4 Freshman. I don't understand why if a player was going to leave that they wouldn't have done it already. It just may be that there will be 17 Forwards. I'll guess we'll see.

That article was written before McLaughlin committed. Still, what I'm still stuck on is the timing of everything. I guess the logical thought would be that up until this week Spicer thought he was coming this Fall. If you've followed Schlossman, he's been saying for months that McLaughlin / Blake are locks and that Strinden was the 3rd to come in. So, doing the math, it must just be as simple as James went from #5 to #4 recently and that is that. My only confusion is I would have thought James would have been ahead of him the entire time (see production / midterm rankings / age). I'm just getting a little impatient and reading Schlossman's article, it says the Forward group should be cleaned up by May! I cannot figure out why this would take so long. I am convinced that McLaughlin / Blake / Strinden / James will be coming, which is what I wanted. More impatience then anything on my part, since daily you see other schools vision become clearer and clearer (see Minnesota's 5th guy to the portal yesterday). UND is just spinning their wheels.

All we can really do is watch how this plays out. This discussion made me think of the Mitchell Miller situation a few years back. There was a lot of Moore or Miller talk and he ended up bringing in both and that summer there was 9 defenseman on the roster (before the fiasco). That does tell me, that if Berry thinks the player is ready, he'll make room. There are going to be more dots to connect, but if we see two more go to the portal, then that was him making room for James. He clearly didn't think that Spicer was ready or that there was anymore fat to trim.

I don't think they did. If you agree with what Schlossman is saying and Spicer was 5th on the Freshman forward ranking (which I agree with the ranking), I just don't see how you were getting to five Freshman forwards. There are still going to be dots to connect, but I think the casualties of Hain/Senden are coming from guys already on the roster who would have stayed and not to the detriment of the Freshman class.

Like I mentioned, IF you see Budy enter the portal and you look at it from the standpoint of Senden or Hain as 5th years or Calder / Budy (Seniors) then you have upgraded your Senior class without disturbing the numbers.

To go a little more in-depth. For starters, you need to address Senden / Hain staying. That would be in the form of Calder and Budy heading to the portal. Think of it as a two Senior for two Senior swap. This ends up as a net gain for the Senior class. Where I differ from @The Sicatoka is I would like to see one other depth forward enter the portal. That would give a clean Four for Four with the incoming Freshman. That would also if you're worried about Hain's injury, give you the option to Portal for a 16th forward.

Budy and one other "depth / 4th line guy" to the portal. Bring in the four Freshman forwards. Call it a day.

I did say with my first post on this and I should have stuck to it, that I'll reserve judgement until after the Forward situation shakes out.

How about we take a page from Denver / Michigan and have a Top 9 and a Bottom 3.

For sure. I brought this up last week regarding James and my concern at that time was do the coaches potentially try to push for an extra year in Juniors, so that they aren't forced to make tough decisions with their current roster. My initial thought was the same as yours with Spicer. Is there an arrogance when it comes to local guys who grew up wanting to play for UND and is it easier to push them around. I'm doing my best to keep from running down the list of current players that next year I think Spicer will be more valuable then.

I hope we can all start here with what I bolded. When you talk about "all-in", I would argue not as the Forward group is constructed right now. When Hain / Senden came back, my initial thought was, is Berry doing an internal audit. Hain / Senden stay, who are valuable pieces, but then two go who play a similar roll. So far, we've only seen Calder go. I'm going to withhold judgement until I see how it plays out, but I don't get why this taking so long. What's so frustrating is if he were to go "all-in", I would feel better with brining in 5 Freshman and clip off guys from the bottom of the pack.

Been saying it for months. Bring all four in.

Duluth electing to bring back Laderoute (13 points) and Jacques (11 points) for their 5th years.

Some logistical things I like about this schedule. I like starting off on the road and finishing at home. I like ending the 1st half on the road. I like the week off during the second half in-between road series. Only one true back to back road series and that is starting with the most convenient road trip to SCSU and ending with 1st half schedule, so not bad. Like having a week off before traveling to Denver.

Currently 5 players from Minnesota Duluth in the portal. You're seeing a lot of the top teams making hard decisions.

With todays signings of Brisson and Bordeleau, even with an excellent Freshman class coming in, you'd think Michigan will drop to the #2 / # 3 seed range next year. Minnesota will be better next year then this year, so they are the early heavy favorites. Wait and see time with Denver and Mankato. Both would have to lose a lot (see Michigan) to take that step back. Quinnipiac is interesting as they seemingly are returning a lot, but when you look at their offensive stats, they are lacking. Incredible GAA / SV% though from the goalie tandem. I would say Minnesota / Quinnipiac / Denver / Mankato / UND would be my early Top 5.

Agree with @jk bet this was Motzko’s decision, not Cruikshanks