AJS

Over who? These days you need to clarify that who knows how they will end up, but are you talking about Cade Ahrenolz (16 points in 38 USHL games as a late '02) and Carter Bachelder (8 points in 39 games as an early '03)? Those are some mediocre to awful numbers. Stats aren't everything, so I'll take your word that UND really missed out.

@Walsh Hall kind of nailed it. You follow recruiting for a long time and what you learn after awhile is really wait until the year before that player is expected on campus to really evaluate. If your definition of "blue-chipper" is first rounder, there are only a handful each year. What happens here though is everyone that commits elsewhere at that time is this gigantic loss. Take Cooley out as he's as unique of a guy as there every has been. Some turn out to be, but most don't. I think it's safe to say that recently Flemings trajectory is not what was expected when he committed to Notre Dame. It's just so odd that when you look at the Top 20 in USHL scoring, that UND has the most with 3 on the list. That does not include the NTDP guys, where I think you'd have 5 or 6 really high end, but still, I don't know how you look at next years Freshman class and think that recruiting is a concern. Going back to my original statement, it's tough to really get an accurate read on a guy in his first year in Juniors, but we'll see how Strathmann / Perron / Slipec end up next year.

What's the word on Hain? Any chance he plays again this year?

The last time I saw a Tim H. statement it was in regards to Pinto returning to college this year (he signed with Ottawa a day later). Very interesting to see how this plays out, because like you, I was convinced yesterday based on those tweets that he was done for the year. I find that now hard to believe if he's skating. Think Schloss is more dialed in, so I'm not leaning towards that we won't see him in the Olympics (although the Coach stated he was "truly day to day"), but I'm optimistic he'll suit up for UND when he returns.

All three can and I believe will return next year. I also don't see Senden or Hain returning, precedent was set last year, but also on top of that, there are 4 Forwards that need to come in next year, potentially 5 (Spicer), depending on if both parties feel an extra year is necessary. I do feel that like most years, we'll see a Forward or two with eligibility left hit the portal to make room, since only 3 Seniors at Forward this year and nobody sticks out to me as an early signee type of guy. I'd like to see them stay the course and bring in a Freshman defenseman to replace Sanderson. Hedquist for Driscoll works for me. I would like to stay away from the portal as long as there are legitimate options in the Pipeline, which next year there are.

I think he passed him a few weeks back. He didn’t look out of place in a Top 4 roll. The bigger question is based on his current trajectory should Johnson pass Ferner.

Even before his goal, Johnson has been playing really well. He was solid against Omaha, but seems to have taken that next step. Add Moore, even without Sanderson this d-core is becoming a real strength.

Jandric is really good.

Wild. Twice in a row.

Don’t look for a replay. Maybe 3 FT short on a normal 3 point opportunity. Very UND.

Deserved to lose. Just sad.

Sticking w/ wanting Denver to win tonight, but want SCSU now over Western.

Bend but don’t break weekend. Doesn’t matter how it looks, just win.

Not even close to 15, where are you looking?

It was a couple months ago, but CC did not appear to be a very good team when UND played in Colorado Springs in December. Things could have changed since then, but if that CC team that I saw in December shows up this weekend, then even with injury problems, UND is sweeping.

Must sweep and I think they will. Hoping for the same defensive line chart as last weekend, would like to see goalies split time this weekend.

I do realize there's going to be a big difference between the #2 and #3 spot when it comes to first round matchups, BUT, in the same thought I had about Denver, I think I'm doing the same with Western. For this weekend, I want both Denver (over Duluth) and Western (over SCSU) to sweep.

Another general question. Has a school ever hired an up and coming coach and hit a home run? That coach uses the school as a stepping stone, builds the program up and then leaves it in a better position then when they started? Hypothetically, that could happen, right? My building frustration is that scenario seems impossible to happen at UND. How did UND get here? Optics wise it seems like NDSU / SDSU has nothing but money and UND can't afford anything. It's so sad what this athletic department has become. Edit: Although this is Football question, my frustration is more with AD as a whole. I think back to 2017 thinking that was a low point and we seem to be right back there in 2022. I do think the Football program is in a better place, but that's offset by the Men's BBall program.

Based on how each program reports, I did find it difficult to see who was truly in their 5th / Grade year vs just a regular Senior. I actually was basing my comment on the incredibly small (3 or 4 players) Freshman classes those three teams had / the % of returning players from last year. The same can probably be said for St. Cloud / Western. I'm not sure how many guys truly are out of eligibility after this year. Maybe these schools decide to go "all in" one more year. I will stick with my original statement that I think we see a huge roster turnover for those three teams after this year.

Really looking at it, I put Western / St. Cloud / Omaha in the "all in" 2021/2022 category. All three will lose a lot after this year. Up to this point, only Western looks the part. St. Cloud given their past few years, you'd think would be in National Title or bust category. Regular season and where they finish doesn't really matter as long as they make the tournament. Strategically, this would have been a good year to get young.

There's also a sizable difference between spots #14 / #15 in the PWR. UND's still in pretty good position right now, because they control their own destiny. This isn't they have to win out type of control your destiny. It comes down to two key things. (1) Sweep CC this weekend. (2) Need split the remaining. That would do two things (1) Give them Top 3 spot in the standings, which is crucial (2) Cement their current #12 / #13 spot in the pairwise.

I'm giving myself room to pivot, but today, looking at the standings and this weekends schedule, I'm hoping for a Denver sweep of Duluth. I'm good with Denver running the table if it'll mean (1) Securing Top 3 spot in the NCHC (2) Slight hits to others PWR.

Said it before, but I really do think Sanderson going to the Olympics will ultimately be beneficial for this team. Anyone else think Bast needs to be in the Top 6 moving forward even when Sanderson returns. To me he’s overtaken Ferner.

Omaha like the majority of the league seemed to return almost everyone from last year. They are a solid team. Need UND to start to get healthy, losing both 27 / 19 in one game when they are already thin at forward is ridiculous.