Oldguy

The most significant things said all related to... ~Finding the right guys who want to battle for UND and want to be held accountable. ~Getting back to what he has seen work at the college and pro level, which is a dedication to doing things right every day, without a day where that mindset does not exist. This may not exactly be "modern" in terms of what some kids want, but it certainly can be an approach that works, if they truly get the right recruits that will stick around and work hard enough. It blew me away in March when Berry was talking about going light in practice to keep guys fresh. They only play two games a week in college - that would be more valid it they played an 80+ game schedule, but not in the NCAA's.

I'm guessing UND needs to bring in at least two portal centers to fill the giant hole that Berg, Schmaltz, & Boivert are leaving.

So now our returning upperclass forwards are only James, Strinden, & Montgomery. Not good.

That's three of our top 4 "returning" forwards that are now leaving. Crapola.

And, Berry advocated for a nationwide search, which also indicates things may not have been all peace and love with the staff.

Enough failure. Let's get this over with and bring in someone who can ACTUALLY build on the program's great history.

To be honest, UND coughed up the puck for rushes far too much to be successful going forward. But, that third period focus and effort was pretty damn fun to watch! I would not have predicted it, but that was a memorable comeback, certainly.

I think the writing is on the wall for Berry. He has shown this repeating pattern for his teams far too often. Not good defensively, not good enough offensively, and the "hard skill" that he supposedly recruits to and preaches is just not evident on the ice. It almost reminds me of the Miami "Band of brothers" at this point.

Now that's funny! "Bleed all over them. Let them know you are there!"

What can we say about this game? Well played, in terms of puck management - no, more like a "B-" there. Well, played, defensively - I would give that an A-, and that seems to be where the chips lay for this team. Not making glaring mistakes on D is what this season has been all about.

1st period: Stupid penalty early - give up goal on the first shot. Not a recipe for success for a team like this. Then that second goal - Perron slides a "great" pass into the slot that the cutting forward can't handle, it goes down the ice quickly and they score again. Sometimes, those "wizard" passes are not the best idea.

Another complete shuffle. Not a good sign at this point in the season.

So let's look back on what went wrong this season (because it's basically over). Coaching staff went with one Jr. and the rest underclassmen on D. That's just bad roster management. It absolutely killed them this season. Injuries - that is not anyone's fault. Bad luck. Lack of energy, focus, and grittiness ("hard skill"?, HARDLY) - was evident in many games this year, IMO. That's bad coaching. So, two of these come down to poor coaching = poor coaching is the dominant theme on not even having 20 wins at the end of the regular season.

Why would we want to play at home? Don't we have a better road record?

Yes, that seems obvious. I thought rock bottom had been hit earlier this season, but nope - they saved it for senior night.