AJS

Per UND360: As we reported on January 16th, UND QB recruit Logan Graetz is scheduled to visit campus this weekend. Bubba Schweigert and Danny Freund have been hard after the River Falls, WI native for the last month or so. We now believe within the last week, NDSU has circled back again on Graetz, who initially committed to the Bison as a preferred walk-on. We’re hearing NDSU will be home visiting Graetz later this week and making a scholarship offer. This is turning into a battle for Graetz.

We've seen what this coaching staff can do with a talented roster. To me it became apparent last year that there was a pretty big recruiting misstep that happened with one class. They aren't in the position they are now, strictly because of that class, but it also put the program in a position that they basically had no room for error. I think we'll start to see some nice strides next year, with what I believe is a truly can't miss class. Then in two years, if guys like Halliday and Bowen (Ethan) continue on the path they are on, along with an insane d-core coming in that same year, I think they are back.

Makes sense all around for both Pinto and the Lincoln organization.

Timing to me in these type of situations is very important. If he had committed to UND prior to the WHL Bantam draft, then after the draft gave that quote, I'd definitely say you'd be onto something with your leverage comment. Then it would make sense his NCAA commitment was just to scare off teams he wasn't interested in, making the odds better whichever team he wanted would draft him. Who knows, you could still be right, refusing to play for team X and almost forcing their hand to trade him type deal. Overall, I'll never hold what's said in a press release after the Bantam draft as any true indication in these type of situations. What do you expect the kid to say? "Boy, no idea why they did that, just wasted a pick?" The good news about these type of situations as well, is we'll get a clearer view sooner than later based on his decisions on where he's going to play in the next couple years. Not fool proof, but seems to be a very good indicator.

Good post @skateshattrick, I think many here get a pretty good feel for this program after watching it for decades and at the end of the year can give a pretty good assessment if the team overachieved, underachieved or it played out like most thought. Hakstol like many coaches had a mixed bag, he had some ultra talented teams that did underachieve in the regular season, when you look at some of their slow starts. That being said, he also had some teams that overachieved. What's really concerning to me is after '16, every team since then I would put in the underachieved category. This season isn't over yet, but 3 out of 4 years of underachieving is concerning. Last year I couldn't believe the number of games they gave up two goal leads and that problem is back again. He has four years left on his contract, he's not going anywhere, but if he misses out on the NCAA tournament again, it's a huge problem. That's two strikes for me and should be for the AD. There's going to be a lot of pressure put on next years Freshman class, which by all accounts is a home run class. This roster is going to get a huge uptick in talent with four forwards who will be picked before the fourth round. These aren't guys that put together a solid season as overagers, these are guys who have proved what they can do at the Junior level in their draft year. Side note, I don't know what my expectations are for post game interviews, but him and TH yucking it up after the Canisius loss really rubbed me the wrong way. I'd really like to see some urgency and at least it being acknowledged that these results aren't tolerated. You can get pissed without throwing anybody on the team under the bus. I still believe this team has talent, they just can't seem to completely put it together.

All valid points, it was a frustrating game to watch again last night, because you see large glimpses of really good play, but next thing you know it’s tied late in the 3rd. They just can’t seem to put it together for 60 minutes or even more, can’t finish a team when they have the opportunity. This isn’t a bad team, these close wins are encouraging, they are learning how to win. Still a long ways to go this year. Edit: Them not playing a complete 60, probably isn’t fair. This team for the most part does play hard.

@OgieOgilthorpe was I the only person that wasn’t that impressed with Denver when they played UND? UND dominated the play Saturday. I wouldn’t say Denver is on another level, think UND matches up fine with them.

CANT believe Peski was out there, shocker.

Perfect, about to be 3-3

Adams looks really good

Why is Peski on the PK?

Based on how this season has gone, that would be the safe bet. That being said and I might be delusional, but I keep thinking eventually things have to even out a bit. I'm thinking the Wisconsin game where they pumped in 5. One night / weekend the opposing goalie will struggle, right?

This team really has to be in playoff mode. Wish they weren't in this position, but it is exciting that each game means so much right now. Every outcome changes their trajectory and what needs to happen pretty drastically. Win tonight.

If this guy can kick it into the end zone consistently, this is a big deal for this Football team. It would instantly fix what I think is the biggest problem they have on Special Teams (other teams starting field position off kickoffs).

Winning in the OT (first OT like UND did) counts the same as if they won in regulation, so that would count the same. Everything else is correct, winning against a bad team, CC is #37 at home gives you a slight bump, but you more or less are playing defense. Other results weren’t kind to UND. It’s still a step in the right direction, solidified their ranking, just need to keep winning. We won’t see the other results go the way it did tonight as often.

Great to see Rizzo starting to heat up 7 points in 4 games since the new year. He had huge expectations going into the year, but was sidelined with an injury for the first month. Currently sitting with 25 points (8G 17A) in 21 games, which for a 17 year old is a very solid stat line, but wouldn't be surprised if he blows up in the second half.

UND drops one spot from where they started this weekend, sitting at #23 currently in the pairwise after the sweep. Everyone knew after last weekend it was going to take a monumental effort to get back into it. I'm breaking this second half of the conference season into three separate parts: Part 1: CC / @UNO - 3-0-1: A loss would be devastating, need to tread water, got what they needed this weekend. Part 2: SCSU / @Denver / @WMU / UMD: 5-3 / 4-3-1: Two things need to happen, first, they can't get swept. Second, in one of these series they need to somehow sweep. I'd take 4-3-1 as well. Part 3: @CC/UNO - 3-1: Split on the road, sweep at home 11-4-1 / 10-4-2 to finish out the year might seem unlikely, but I think it's doable. That should put them on the bubble.

How does that even happen defensively?

It's definitely a higher scoring league no doubt. The USHL in the hockey circles is pretty much unanimously the top Junior A league in NA. If comparing two players, same age and they both average the same PPG, the USHL player would tend to be the better prospect. That being said, it's why I brought up how old the player is when comparing a guy like Blaisdell to Weatherby. There's good players in both leagues though, I don't see the leagues that UND has been recruiting as the problem. That hasn't really changed the past decade and I wouldn't pin that on the problems this team has had offensively the past two years. They aren't here yet, but Blaisdell / Rizzo / Bowen should be fantastic college players that are playing in the BCHL. All will be here as true freshman.

I have no idea how that reply came from my final paragraph. Yikes.

We have different definitions. To get into the tournament that year they had to (1) Sweep SCSU in the 1st round, which they did (2) Beat Denver, which they did 1-0. They won those three and made the tournament, but to think they were safety in, when going into the NCHC playoffs they had a 50% shot, I wouldn't exactly call "safely in". Even going into the NCHC Frozen Faceoff they needed a win, a 4th place finish and they wouldn't have made it. Again, far from safely in.

I didn't see the Tweet and you're right unintelligent wouldn't be the right word, I think annoying would sum it up perfectly.

I always think it's so important to look at age when comparing stats from Juniors. Anybody would take Blaisdell / Rizzo over Weatherby and Kawaguchi ten times out of ten. Blaisdell is in the Top 10 in points (3rd for goals) as a 17 year old (turning 18 later this year). Rizzo was hurt for a good chunk of the year, but is also a PPG guy at 17. When Weatherby / Kawaguchi put up those incredible point totals, they were 20 / 21.

It's my person thought that they've underachieved the past three years. You talk about dominating the BU game, which is true, but they made the playoffs by exactly one game that year. To me it would have been different if they had a stronger regular season and then the BU game happened (as we know anything can happen in a one and done). I'm looking at it as they've been very average in year two and three of the Berry coaching era (typical UND standards), one year barely making and one year barely missing the playoffs. Getting slightly worse each year. Also mentioned that it's a results driven league, missing by a game is unfortunate, but it's a miss. That being said, it probably still is an overreaction, we'll see how things work out this year. I don't think it's a great sign if he misses two years in a row, after the program only missing once in two decades.

As fans there is definite overreaction to games / weekends. It's easy to not see the big picture and focus strictly on the negative. Also, it's much too easy to play the hypothetical game of well what if this happens. As far as Berry goes, I'm going to let the season play out and then reevaluate once this year ends. One thing that I'd love to ask the experts (Hajdu, Hennessy, @Goon), by that I mean the guys that know the game and are the only people who's opinion matters. Yes, the average idiot (see the rest of us), might overreact, but sports at this level are results driven. What is acceptable for a head coach at UND? Are you not concerned about what you've seen the past three years? Do I personally think Berry is a bad coach, no, but like I asked, what's acceptable to you? One thing I know is there's not one UND fan that doesn't want this team to go on a streak and make threads like this look foolish in a couple years.