AJS

Potentially jumped the gun with Calder jumping Cruikshank as hopefully the #1 target, although I still agree with a 1a / 1b scenario. I was excited to see him in the portal. There are not many that really fit the mold of what I believe the coaching staff is looking for. Since Calder does, I hope the full court press is on. As far as S. Jandric, I'm not worried at all about how the top talent in the WCHA translates to the NCHC. It might not be a slam dunk like Cruikshank would, but at the same time, we would all have to take a deeper dive into what didn't work this year with S. Jandric and Denver. I know you aren't saying it, but just generally speaking the coaching staff is not just looking at stats when they are offering. Getting ahead of myself here, but I really do think Calder or Cruiskhank would change the outlook for next year. Either one would be huge.

UND has one more Forward spot we all feel confident they'll use the Portal for. Ashton Calder (Jr) of Lake Superior State checks every box. All-WCHA 2nd team member this past year. Tied league lead with 16 Goals (w/ Ford). Junior. Wore letter. Lead the team in scoring this year with 29 points (outside of Veillette who is also in the Portal, nobody was close). 2nd on the team in scoring as a Sophomore (28 Points in 41 Games). Had 22 Points as a Freshman as well. This wasn't a situation where he just exploded this year. He was on the All-WCHA Rookie team. He's steadily improved every year. He might jump Cruickshank for me as the hopefully #1 Target. Regardless, he's one of the few handful right now in the Portal that would check all the boxes.

Quick Google search of a few Bracketology's (Dom Izzo's and Sam Herder of Hero sports) and I've readjusted my expectations for UND getting a seed. Neither of them had SDSU as a seed either. Both also think Weber State will get one of them.

Thinking out loud, but since the original rankings came out NDSU has gone 2-0 and SDSU has not played. I think it would be much cleaner for UND if NDSU beat SDSU this Saturday. Then UND has the head to head vs SDSU as well as 1 loss vs 2. There is zero argument for SDSU to be ahead of UND with an NDSU win. With the deserved reputation NDSU has as well as the head to head beatdown, it gets muddy if NDSU loses on Saturday. It's best for UND if NDSU beats SDSU this Saturday.

Thank you @Siouxperfan7 for the breakdown. Being practical, there should be no reason that UND is not slotted at the #4 spot come Sunday. That would be a huge deal.

Usually "depth" guys don't commit years before they are expected to arrive on campus. I would say the time frame is usually 6 months or less than when they arrive on campus.

I don't believe that is the case, given Feeney is the practice goalie and will only be a Junior next year. I am a big proponent of the "Extra" guy being local though.

I would have agreed with you before Costello. Even less so given he's a Goalie. I'm not saying he will or he won't, but they've shown recently that even if they are local, if they aren't going to add value, they won't be brought in.

UND loses (10 Players <Non-Goalies>) 59 of 114 Goals (52%) 115 of 194 Assists (59.3%) 174 of 308 Points (56.5%) UMD Loses (4 Players) (Since Sandelin said he wants the Seniors back, I am not counting them. We'll wait and see who returns. Below is making the assumption Noah is also signing, so it'll be only the 4 early signings) 46 of 84 Goals (54.8%) 66 of 140 Assists (47.1%) 112 of 224 Points (50%) Notes UMD played one less game, but scored 30 goals less goals than UND. 4 of UND's departures combined for 4 goals and 9 assists, so 6 players did almost all of the damage for the departing players

Duluth will be interesting to track this offseason. Sandelin said he does want his Seniors back, so that's an interesting wrinkle as outside of one-off guys, I haven't seen another program that has brought back a majority of their Senior class. I bring that up, because for the rest of the NCHC it's important that some of those key guys leave. Swaney / Jackson Cates is a nice start. One and two on the team in points. Hoping Koepke and Noah Cates aren't far behind.

What are they doing in the NCHC then?

Really surprised by the pushback from my post. I thought that would have been the general consensus. For those against it, is it both Bemidji and Mankato for Western / Miami? Would you support a Miami for Mankato switch? The NCHC was formed to compete with the Big 10 as the fear at the time was you would have big schools with big budgets and they would basically take over power in college hockey. That never came to fruition. The Big 10 is on the upswing, but we have enough data to know that the original fears will never truly materialize. Let's start over with Miami for Mankato. Who says no (outside of Bemidji and Western)? UND is trading one flight for a bus trip. NCHC Tournament there's one more team within close proximity.

Here to emphasize Win and You're in. This has been the perfect scenario for UND. Not only looking at Spring Football and the playoffs, but also ahead to Fall. You get a month off to heal and collect yourselves and then back to live action. From a total number of "regular" season games, 6 seems more manageable in the Spring than 8. Win and you pick up momentum. Playoffs. It's a very important game.

My ideal scenario would be Western / Miami goes to the new CCHA, Bemidji and Mankato replaces them in the NCHC. Who (outside of Western) says no? Waive any type of exit fee. It just makes sense. It would be more financially viable for all schools. Creating for the most part two bus leagues. Travel costs goes down, you'd see a slight uptick in ticket sales as easy road trips for the majority of schools fan base. If Western doesn't want to leave, then keep them and replace Miami with Mankato. It just makes too much sense for everyone to not do it.

12. With Seniors / Early Departures, that is how many players the coaching staff had to replace. The Coaching staff has done a magnificent job navigating this. I've said it before, but the transfer portal (being so active), could not have come at a better time for UND. You cannot bring in 12 Freshman and have that lopsided of a class. Ferner is absolutely the exception to the rule, but he makes sense as they needed someone to replace the Rieger roll. The other three fit this really rare formula that I wanted to see. Are they legitimate (1) Top 6 Forwards (2) Top 4 Dman (3) Starting Goalie on a Championship contender. Ford / Jandric / Driscoll fit that mold. In the entire portal so far there's maybe been 10F / 5D / 3G that fit that criteria. I also like the split between Seniors (Ford / Driscoll) and Juniors (Ferner / Jandric). What I'd like to see moving forward. Use the transfer portal to replace your early departures (2 F / 1 D / 1G). Again, Ferner (Rieger) being the exception. That would mean one more Forward from the portal. Also, I'm in the Schlossman camp that no Goalie recruits are ready, so I would prefer another Goalie from the portal as well. The additions from the portal has brought this team back to neutral. I think they are really playing with house money right now. Be picky with that extra forward / goalie. If they can bring in another Top 6 forward, that could tip the scales for next year. Not necessarily as important as Driscoll, but having a safety net that's proven at goalie is also very important.

Sanderson (L) - Kleven (L) Jandric (L) - Frisch (R) Moore (L) - *Morrow or Johnson* (R) Bast (L) - Ferner (R) That’s how I see it. One spot left and it’s either Morrow or Johnson, you could make an argument either way. Which ever one will be in the Top 6.

Both Morrow and Johnson are right handed shots. It’ll be one of them.

Add Grad transfer Brady Ferner. This appears to be Rieger's replacement. If that is the case, I really like the move.

Driscoll single-handily changes the expectations for next year. What I found interesting about Schlossman's article this morning is he doesn't feel Hedquist or Johnson are ready to come in yet. The absolutely ideal situation is if there's a talented Goalie in the portal who has more than a year remaining. You can sell in backing up Driscoll this year and being the guy the next. There might not end up being a team in the country whose expectations will change more for next year than UND's because of the portal. I'm getting greedy. My updated wish list. Chris Jandric Grant Cruickshank Goalie #2

Highlights would be. All WCHA Rookie Team Lead Alaska Dman in scoring both years Fr: 15 Points (5th on team) - Leading scorer 24 So: 22 Points (3rd on team) - Leading scorer 33 Coaches Pre-Season All-WCHA Team for 2020-2021 (which Alaska ended up not playing)

Chris Jandric would be very interesting.

Heard anything about a transfer portal goalie?

Looking into some of the names, he would definitely be at the top of my wish list.

The Forward / Goaltending list was a lot easier to pick out "The big names". Nobody in Schlossman's original article really jumps out at me. Will Cullen was an All-WCHA First-Teamer at BGSU, he might top the list. Are there any D-man in the portal that would be Ford quality gets?