Zypher

I wanted to get other peoples take on something. It is being widely reported that the NCAA is planning on implementing roster caps on ALL sports. For hockey, it potentially will limit rosters to 26 players max. According to CHN, with current numbers, this would eliminate up to 144 current positions (5 ½ teams). Currently there are 64 teams competing at the DI level, 28 at DII, and 84 ad DIII. (These numbers do not include current Universities that play DI for other sports that may only have a club hockey team.) I know that the ACC Conference, has a sub-conference that plays DII/III hockey, and I have heard that the SEC has several schools that have expressed interest in starting or have already begun the process of cost analysis to the creation of a DI team, including the conversations that I have had with persons involved with the B10, there is already a nudge from conference officials, for schools that have a club team to work to elevate it to DI status. (Any of these things happening would greatly expand the size of DI teams) Add to the 144 or so eliminated positions on current teams, we also have the 600+ Current CHL players once the ban is lifted. All of this when combined with the current recruiting avenues for DI hockey, there will be a massive pool of talent to choose from. My question for everyone is, how do you think this will effect UND, and what schools could you see making the push to Di because of this new policy?

Thought i heard 5, but couldn't find the other 2. ty for adding them. The other issue i didn't mention, it timing. they basically have a month to get someone in the position, for recruiting. But trying to get a coach hired from assistants with teams in the national tournament, drops you down to about 2 weeks after the national tournament, so that you have a coach in place to talk to current player to retain them, and recruit replacement players. as most practices begin in late September / first week of October.

So, it looks like there are at least 3 open positions for head coaches at the D1 level. Bowling Green, Lindenwood, and Miami Ohio. Obviously, for the most part, I don't think any of these schools have the money to seduce a current head coach in the top 20 to leave their current teams. But, what current Assistant Bench Bosses across D1 Hockey. do you think may be persuaded to take the move, to accept a position at any of these schools? Out of our 3 Assistants, I don't see Dane leaving. I get the feeling he is most likely the "next coach up" whenever Berry retires. As for Karl or Dillion, I could see both Lindenwood and Bowling Green as potential moves. Miami, although, currently a step down in a sense, could become a major step up, if they were able to turn that program totally around. (although it would take 3-4 seasons to do so.)

That means I’ll have to do yard work if there is no hockey on Sunday. Lol

I get what you’re saying.

Ok, but might I ask why you think leaving it at 16 teams is good for now? Almost all other NCAA sports tournaments have been modified in the last 10 years with the exception of Hockey.

The last time the NCAA expanded the National Tournament was back in 2003 to 16 teams (62 D1 Teams). Prior to that, in 1988 they expanded to 12 teams from 8, which began in 1981. Currently there are 64 active teams, with 4 more teams currently either evaluating, or have stated plans to move to/or to create a D1 team. Utica - 2024, Tennessee State -2025, Binghamton University – 2024 (last team folded 1987), Simon Frazer University - 2024/2025 (past team folded 2005) Add to that, UCLA, USC, and Washington all currently have teams that play in the ACHC, and all three had past D1 teams, about 80 years ago, and are moving to the Big10, which has its own conference, making the move to re-activate to D1 possible. (none of the new incoming schools have announced what sports they are planning on bringing along) This could bring the number to over 70 teams. At what point does the NCAA expand the field to 20 teams similar to like they do in basketball, having the bottom 8 (13-20) play one another (13/20,14/19,15/18,16/17), one group in each regional, in a similar fashion, just as they will start in D1 football this upcoming season. I think a lot of things have changed in college sports, and college hockey is no exception. The NCAA added the bubble teams to basketball, and well as expanded the football playoffs, to add in teams into the mix, that in all honesty, should be in the mix for the title. I think after 20+ years, it is time to expand and add a play-in spot to each regional. *****Edit****** I forgot to originally put in, that in the play-in games, conference affiliation is out the window! You could have two teams from the same conference fighting it out to get into the national tournament. What are your thoughts?

Has anyone ever been able to find archive game video from the 50s/60s? I have found some full games dating back to 1948 for the NCAA Championship, and different schools have put out reels from that time but i have not been able to find any footage from the 1959 or 1963 title games. It also seems like UND footage from that time is also scarce. I know up until about 5 years ago, someone had an amazing collection of old UND games on youtube, but youtube shut them down.

Please understand, in no way am i hoping Brad retires, in a way, I wish College Hockey Coaches were more like College Football and Basketball Coaches, going strong until they were 70. I only ask since the belief in regards to players is "next man up" do i wonder who the "next coach up" would be.

So I have a question and wanted to see what others thought Going back to Barry Thorndycraft 1959-1964, UND has a history of promoting their assistants to Head Coach, with the exception of Rube Bjorkman. On average over the last 56 years, for the most part, our Head Coaches have been with the team about 10 years. Also, going back to Bob May in 1957, with the exception of Rube Bjorkman (198) and Dean Blais (1994), all of our Head Coaches have been UND Alumni. Rube Bjorkman 39yo/49yo (from New Hampshire) 1968-78 10 seasons Gino 33yo/49yo (Assistant Coach to Rube Bjorkman) 1978-94 16 seasons Dean Blais 43yo/53yo (Assistant Coach to Gino 1980–1989) 1994-04 10 seasons Dave Hakstol 36yo/47yo (Assistant Coach to Dean Blais) 2004-15 11 seasons Brad Berry 50yo/currently 59yo (Assistant Coach to Dave Hakstol) 2015-present 9 seasons That being said, Coach Berry will be headed into his 10th season next year, at the young age of 59. With that, I have a few questions on other peoples thoughts. 1) How many more seasons do you see Berry staying with the team? 2) Who do you think will be, or should be taking over when that time comes? 3) If it is a current Assistant that takes over, who do you see being promoted or brought in, to fill the new Assistant Coach, in order to groom them to potentially take over in time?

That all depends on the School. At UND and UNO Hockey is the primary sport. I believe the same is true for Denver, St. Cloud as well as Duluth. I would agree with the revenue argument for the Big10 Hockey schools tho.

I just posing a question. I find it interesting how quick teams in other sports are to change coaches for poor performances. This doesn't always seem to be the case in college hockey, wondering why that would be.

I would definitely agree with you for the time being about CC, i do feel that a little more time should be given to the staff to work out the bugs. As for Omaha, I do think they need to seriously look at possible changes to the head coach. in 2011 Omaha made the decision to cut both the football (who was a decent overall program) and their wrestling (who had won 6 national title in the 8 years prior) and decided to make Hockey their premier/focus sport. Even after that change, the highest they finished was 3rd with Blaise (2x), Gabinet (1x),. This includes NO Conference Titles or Tournament Titles, and only 2 visits to the National Tournament. If the same had occurred at Denver, Duluth, St Cloud, or UND the fans would be clamoring for a change. (Just like some are at UND because of missing the NCAA Tournament a few times with Berry over the last few years.)

So I am curious as to what others think in regards to coaching retention and when its time to make a change. Colorado College’s Kris Mayotte (Union College Alum) is in his 3rd season with the team, he currently has a 33-64-7 record. In his first 2 years, he has maintained a solid 7th place finish each year, this year tho, they have the chance to finish 5-7th place. In order to get into the NCAA Tournament this year, they will need to win the NCHC Tournament for an automatic bid, which by all means, will not happen. Denver’s David Carle (Denver Alum) is currently in his 6th season with the team, and currently has a 131-58-15 record. His highest finish in the NCHC was 1st and has maintained a top 4 average almost every other year, and is on track to do the same this year as well. Duluth’s Scott Sandlelin (UND Alum), he is currently in his 24th year with a record of 451-378-100. His highest finish in the NCHC was 2nd (3x) and has maintained a top 4 average almost every other year. Miami Ohio’s Chris Bergeron (Miami Ohio Alum) in his 5th season, has a record of 35–101–15 with 0 NCAA Tournament appearances. His highest finish in the NCHC was 7th his first year, but has finished last every year since, and is on track to do the same this year as well. In order to get into the NCAA Tournament this year, they will need to win the NCHC Tournament for an automatic bid, which by all means, will not happen. Omaha’s Mike Gabinet (Omaha Alum) in his 7th season, has a record of 105-108-14, with 1 NCAA Tournament Appearance. His highest finish in the NCHC was 3rd in the 2020-2021 season but has finished around 6th on average every other year, and is on track to do the same this year as well. Over his tenure, they have had glimpses of success, but nothing that has been sustained. In order to get into the NCAA Tournament this year, they will need to win the NCHC Tournament for an automatic bid. St. Cloud State’s Brett Larson (Duluth Alum) is currently in his 6th season with the team, and currently has a 117-66-19 record. His highest finish in the NCHC was 1st and has maintained a top 4 average almost every other year, and is on track to do the same this year as well. UND’s Brad Berry (UND Alum) is currently in his 9th year with a record of 195-98-32. His highest finish in the NCHC was 1st (3x) and has maintained a top 4 average almost every other year, and is on track to do the same this year as well. Western Michigan’s, Pat Ferschweiler (Western Michigan Alum) in his 3rd season, has a record of 63–32–3, with 2 NCAA Tournament appearances. By far, appears to have righted the ship at Western Michigan. Currently they are on track to potentially earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament again this year. Now lets add to this our incoming member Arizona State, their coach, Greg Powers (Arizona State Alum, Club Team), is an interesting one. Powers coached the team from 2010-2015 as the coach for Arizona State’s club team, with a record of 164-27-9, and continued as coach when they transitioned to D1 in 2015, and is in his 9th season D1 (14 total with the team), with a record of 119-143-22. Although his current record is a losing record in D1, he does have a proven record with the team, that he can produce, his combined total for both club and D1 is 283-270-31. Only time will tell where they go when the formally transition into the NCHC. Out of all the teams I mentioned, when you look at the historical numbers and rankings of the NCHC, the teams traditionally competing for the top 4 in the conference, Denver, Duluth, St. Cloud, UND, and Western Michigan, have coaches with relatively strong winning records over their tenure. I’m going to give Colorado College a small pass, due to it being Mayotte’s 3rd season, he is still trying to build a team, but it continues to trend downward when compared to Western’s success, with a coach of the same tenure. But when you look at Miami (5th season) and Omaha (7th season), of their current coaches, there seems to have been ample time for these coaches to make the necessary changes to improve their teams, especially given the turnaround Ferschweiler has done at Western in less than 3 years. They are beginning to play like the Western of old! Most of us know, that if these teams (Miami, and Omaha) were D1 football teams, coaching changes would have been done by now for both teams. When teams seem to be less competitive, it is reflective in the fanbase and its attendance at the games, and its support of the team at the games. In the end, lets be honest, neither Miami or Omaha’s choices have been successful anywhere close to where they should be, Colorado Colleges choice is starting to become questionable. Over the decades, North Dakota has been blessed with the coaches we have been given. I think that is why many are extremely critical when things don’t go right for the team. In the end, I don’t mind having the teams that the chances of winning are high, just like any other fan, but my questions to you are this; Is it possible, that the talent pool of quality coaches is small, and the only real opportunity for most teams is to try to poach a quality coach from another school? Do you make a change because a coach doesn’t win the regular season, what about the conference tournament? How many chances do you give a coach to make the NCAA Tournament, and then win a National Title? Finally, at what point, after how many unproductive and under productive seasons do you cut your losses, and move forward with a new head coach?

I fully agree with you on this one, it's confusing as hell! I will say tho , that, I would like him for one more year, in the net FULL TIME, from the beginning oft he season. He is taken control of it, and would only be stronger next season if he can come back!