AJS

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.

Have never heard Berry be that direct.

There will be nights next year where those 6 will be the d-core. Fun to see how they match up a year early.

Brent Johnson played well in the 3rd. Learn by playing. Really like that Bast / Johnson are getting minutes this weekend.

I'm a huge fan of next years class and really UND's pipeline in general. The Berry vs Minnesota (since Motzko) has been the one aspect that has bothered me the last few years. This does need a little further explanation, because yes, I am ignoring Perron for example (or Strathmann). One can assume that Minnesota most likely wanted them, but we really don't know that for sure. The same could be said for UND and Moore. I'm talking about guys where there have been articles about the other teams involved (ex: Knies / Broz) or Chesley where before he committed to UofM, it was quoted as saying he was down to UND / UofM. There was a dman recently that plays in Sioux Falls and UND was in his Top 3 (with Minnesota), you can guess where he picked. I'm not saying that Minnesota was never interested in any of UND's recruits, but I never remember seeing (outside of Kleven) an article recently that lists UofM as one of the other top candidates of a UND recruit.

There will come a day when Berry actually beats out Motzko for a recruit. Hasn't happened in years (if ever), since he's gotten to Minnesota, but someday.

Through January. Blake (03) - Chicago: 18-33-51 (35GP) *2nd USHL in points* / +14 McLaughlin (03) - Sioux City: 19-27-46 (35GP) *Tied 6th in points* / +10 Strinden (02) - Muskegon: 17-20-37 (37GP) *16th in points* / +22 James (03) - Sioux City: 12-20-32 (34GP) *Tied 25th in points* / +11 Spicer (04) - NTDP: 11-12-23 (33GP) / +6 Very good numbers from that group.

Going to Arizona State

Completely agree.

3 more points tonight. He’s now in that Tier 1 of USHL points leaders. Dylan James with 2 points as well, he now has 32 points in 34 games.

Regardless how this OT goes, very fun game. Kudos to that 4th line, I’ve been harder on that line than anyone and they’ve been excellent all weekend.

Like the way they are playing 5 on 5. That PP though is next level bad. I cannot believe that those coaches think that’s the way to go.

Then they come out the next shift and dominate.

I’ve been hard on the 4th line, but they have been noticeably better than Senden / Jammer line. What happened to those two?

My school of thought is, a team can't lose (virtually) every single Friday, right? Eventually, they'll get one. Seems like the moment most (me included) really start to get frustrated, that's when they'll do a 180. Note: Or this could be 2017 (or 2018?) all over again. Where you wait and wait and next thing season is over getting swept on the road.

% chance that Hellsten starts tonight? There's no way that he goes back to Driscoll is there?

Excited for this series. I'm putting a lot of stock in tonight's game. This team is wounded, no doubt, but ultimately, all it takes is potentially one game to stop the bleeding. Win tonight. Offensively, they'll come around eventually. I'm not saying this is some high powered offensive team, but they aren't as bad as they've shown over the last two weekends either. Really concentrating and hoping for (1) Good performance from Hellsten (2) Defensively be solid. Do those two things and win a close one type of game (3-2) tonight.