AJS

This is my question as well. My thought has always been that just because a forward is talented offensively, doesn't mean they can't be solid and responsible defensively as well. I do think this coaching staff has fallen in love too much true role players. How do you win games? By having each line be better than the opposing line. I get that seems obvious, but does that mean your fourth line is just an energy / grind type line? Not every player is going to match their expectation, so load up on guys who you consider to be high impact guys. Not all will succeed and they'll turn into your four year guys (see Hoff), you'll also have the Poganski and Gardners who are solid and stick it out for four years. Senden will work out, but I look at guys like Hain who will be the perfect four year guy who does have offensive ability. They are on the right track with next years class. Four high end caliber guys, you recruit early enough these days that you have a pretty good idea who has a chance to make an impact when they get here (see next years recruiting class).

Really? You are literally talking about 100% of the 2019 Freshman class. Every single member will be an 18 year old true freshman. Blaisdell, Caulfield, Pinto, Rizzo will be the four incoming forward recruits, Bast / Frisch will be the two incoming defensive recruits. You are right, the two most recent recruits don't fit that mold, but guess who does? True Freshman (locks) of the 2020 class, Halliday, Bowen, Miller, Kleven (possibility of Reid).

USHL Pinto - '00 (F): 19-15-34 (34GP) Gaber - '99 (F): 12-16-28 (39GP) Halliday - '02 (F): 8-17-25 (33GP) Mancinelli - '01 (F): 8-12-20 (36GP) Randklev - '99 (F): 3-8-11 (21GP) Frisch - '00 (D): 2-11-13 (34GP) Schmaltz - 01' (F): 2-9-11 (37GP) Miller - 01' (D): 3-7-10 (33GP) Reid - 01' (D): 0-10-10 (37GP) Costello - 00' (F): 2-4-6 (32GP) NTDP U18 Caulfield - 01' (F): 7-20-27 (38GP) Rowe - 01' (G): 3.49 GAA / .878 SV% NTDP U17 Sanderson -02' (D): 3-16-19 (35GP) Kleven -02' (D): 2-5-7 (32GP) AJHL Bast - 00' (D): 7-24-31 (36GP) BCHL Blaisdell - 01' (F): 31-24-54 (45GP) Stratton - 99' (F): 11-30-41 (50GP) Bowen -02' (F) 18-16-34 (50GP) Rizzo - 01' (F): 10-23-33 (29GP) Other Kunz -02' (F): 10-9-19 (17GP) -- SSM Prep Montgomery - 02' (F): 4-7-11 (9GP) -- Sioux Falls U16 / 1-1-2 (15GP) Waterloo (USHL) -- Per Elite Prospects James -03' (F): 16-13-29 (29GP) -- Calgary Midget AAA / 1-1-2 (2GP) AJHL

He had the most impressive Junior stat line out of all the '01 recruits, really nice to see him producing like most thought he would this year. He's going to be very important to that 2020 class.

How embarrassing for her.

Great post @yzerman19. Ultimately, it falls on the coaching staff to bring in the right players for this system to work, but I agree that their current system can be effective. My overall statement with the coaching staff would be, a college hockey coach at UND is a results driven profession. It's wins and losses, not about morale victories or excuses. No, I don't think that missing the NCAA tournament two years in a row (if that happens) is acceptable. I am frustrated and definitely get the frustration. Where I'll end of disagreeing with a lot of you, is I don't think this team is far off from being a really good team. I get why some are skeptical, but it would only take a slight uptick in offense to really turn their record around.

Another positive is with only one power play tonight, their % stayed pretty similar. Currently 47th in the country at 15.2%.

We're pretty much on standings watch at this point, which made losing that extra point so demoralizing tonight. This season is really starting me to not believe in percentages, or things will eventually even out, but one thing UND will have going for them in the Quarters is the team they are playing will most likely already be firmly in the NCAAs. I still like this team on the road in round one, especially against a team they are better than (Denver). Then it's down to two games, where again, they are playing for their NCAA lives. Of course last year they were and lost, when every other team that needed to win their conference tourney did.

Shaw has to go, that goes without saying. The power play is an abomination. I've turned the corner and will give Berry next year before I start calling for his job. To say this has been a weird season is an understatement. The coaching staff in general has put this team in a great position and have seen great effort night after night, they just can't seem to put it together.

Impossible

This X100. We've seen these teams play four times and UND was clearly the better team 3 times, but will finish probably 15 spots behind them in the pairwise. I have no idea how Denver is where they are, they are so average.

I said it after last night, this year is like nothing I've ever seen over 20 years watching hockey. A team that time and time again outplays the opponent, but has a record like they do. It would be one thing if they had Goaltending problems, but they don't.

One of my keys to the rest of the year was Scheel to play to his average (.905 SV%), when he does that, UND has only lost twice coming into this weekend. Well, he managed that, playing above both nights, but it didn't matter. The true positive coming out of this year is this team next year will have an excellent defensive core and great goaltending. Even more important, it'll be impossible to be as offensively inept as this year. Impossible. We are witnessing history this year with their lack of goal scoring.

First time I've ever just wanted the season to be over. It can't come soon enough. You give up 3 goals the entire weekend and only manage a single point. It's so unbelievable.

On the disallowed goal can someone explain the following to me, if Johnson was pushed into the goalie by the Denver player (which he was), should that by rule still be interference?

Starting with St. Cloud, I wondered what would happen first with this stretch of highly ranked teams, they win a Friday night game and give everyone true hope for a sweep they desperately need, or get swept. It's time to continue to bend but not break.

UND is a program that by the time a class is Seniors, they are a shell of what they were, losing multiple players to pro contracts. I've been a broken record, but the Junior class was a recruiting misstep by the coaching staff. Hoff hasn't panned out with his expectations, but besides him, everyone was a bottom line "energy" type of player. This years Senior class (Forwards) although small, is a solid group, but when you combine them with the Junior class, your upperclassman don't have the top end talent. The Junior class is so key to a program like UND, that's where you see a lot of guys prove themselves before signing a contract (with the exceptions being the 1st round talents who have already signed). The Sophomore class is small in size, but does have talent. Freshman class has probably exceeded expectations, but I also questioned the overall talent coming into the year. My hope is and it appears that way looking at next years class, that Berry has learned from some of his recruiting mistakes. Side note: Strictly talking forwards, since the dman / goaltending is solid.

Really good article, "the cover up is worse than the crime" type deal. I can't believe how poorly this was handled, it's unfortunate for Robbins, but it could have been a none story for NDSU.

You guys ever hear of Jonny Brodzinksi? That's true that it doesn't always translate, but I'll still take a guy who has produced at the Junior level over someone who hasn't. Age is also a really important thing to evaluate when looking at Junior numbers too.

Anyone watched East Grand and Trey Ausmus this year? Pretty impressive stat line as a Freshman Dman. 7 goals 11 assists in 20 games. Tied for 4th on the team in scoring and leads the d-core by a wide margin.

This game is a microcosm of the season and maybe apathy has started to set in with me, but as frustrating as this game was and this season has been, as funny as it sounds, I'm starting to have a more positive outlook on this team. They play hard every night, which is important to me. I understand how sick everyone is about hearing about shots on goal, but one thing it does show is more times than not they are carrying the play. Hockey isn't a fair game and this hasn't been a fair season. I don't really know what else to say. They have quality chances, just most the time they can't capitalize. I've been watching hockey for a long time and what's gone this season is really like something I've never seen before.

Who really fits that bill on this team though? Bernard-Docker / Tychonick / Mishmash are really the only three. It's still obviously early in his career, but a guy like Weatherby although drafted and did have a monster year, did it as an overager. I'm always more cautious with guys like that. As we've seen, you don't have to be drafted to be an impact player (Poolman, Kierstad, Bast), but I have a good feeling about next years class. There's going to be four forward that will be drafted higher than anyone other forward except for Mismash. Those four are true high end players.

I'm getting ahead of myself looking at next year, but he's the perfect example of why I'm so excited about next years class. You have a bunch of guys that are highly skilled, high caliber true freshman coming in. Tychonick took awhile to situated into the college game, but once those type of guys do, watch out.

How impressive was Tychonick tonight? He's going to be a force in the upcoming years.

The problem I have is this isn't necessarily a bad game they have played.