SKondrashkin

I've been resigned to believing this season will likely be Blake's last, but I'm more optimistic now. After this weekend it's obvious, and I mean really obvious, he needs to diversify his game before even thinking about turning pro. His talent is immense, yet not to the degree he can rely on his free-wheeling skills at the next level alone. CC's extremely structured defensive system thoroughly nullified his game , and he seemingly had no clue how to adapt which led to frustration and turnover after turnover.

Guys like Jamernik and Steph Pattyn’s numbers don't scream good players either if Johannes is Judd’s replacement, I love it. Nothing personal against Caulfield, but he was the embodiment of this year’s squad…. inconsistent and always left you wanting more. Johannes looks to be a no-nonsense, big, mean, intense and physical player who can add some points here and there. Hopefully with his age and experience he can add some leadership too; something this years team was sorely lacking as well.

Assuming Caulfield stays, i wouldnt mind: Blake-McLaughlin-James Gaber-Berg-Perron Caulfield-Schmaltz-Emerson Strinden-Jamernik-Kunz/Ness

...and highlighted is the bizarre part; because everything fit together perfectly last year once they found their footing half-way through. They're essentially the same team that won the conference minus Ford and Driscoll. Sure they likely overachieved last year a little, but in no parallel universe should they be this bad.

It would be a godsend if Frisch returned. Caulfield would be a welcomed return, but nothing vital. Can't imagine Johnson not going portal. Best case scenario, at least starting out: Portal Hellsten Portal Johnson Frisch - Moore Strathmann - Bast Wiebe - Livanavage (Komzak, Benoit) Blake - McLaughlin - Perron Gaber - Schmaltz - James Emerson - Jamernik - Caulfield Strinden - Costantini - Portz (Ness, Kunz, Croal, Montgomery)

Wait what?

Our troubles don’t stem from what other teams are doing. Our problems are almost always a result of self-inflicted mistakes —> A lack of attention to detail, lack of poise, can’t play a full 60, not learning from mistakes, etc. etc.

On paper this team is far better than average. Talent wise they;re better and more experienced than last year; a team that won the NCHC. Driscoll and Ford are the only significant loses considering Sanderson didn't play the entire 2nd half and Calder was useless after the Goofs nearly slashed his arm off midseason. It's basically the exact same D-core as the 2nd half of last year when they went on a massive winning streak en route to the league title. Last year they looked great, this year they're aweful. It's so perplexing.

Huh? What do you think happened last year? They were a pedestrian 13-10-0 through late January. From that point they went 9-2-1 to finish the regular season enroute to an NCHC title. What's perplexing is they did it with the exact same D-core they have now as Sanderson was injured. I'm not ready to write this team off just yet, but, man, they better turn it around fast. They can't dig themselves into too big a hole.

This is a top 10 team on paper. Unfortunately, this group lacks any resemblance of confidence, poise and composure. All games have ups and downs; but this team folds whenever momentum is lost. They start playing to not makes mistakes, which actually ensures tenative play and mistakes a plenty. It's like watching a deer in headlights the second anything goes wrong. Sure they've come back from some deficits, but most of those deficits should not have existed in the first place. Their continued inability to play a full 60 is astounding.

Well of course. All of this is an entangled web of legal intricacies. But that doesn't nullify the gist of the problem. WTF is Berry's daughter doing registering NODAK; at a time when the NODAK jerseys were set to make a lot of money? And with the assistance of Tarek Howard? Even if UND has found no legal impropriety, questions still need to be answered. Furthermore, if UND had sole rights to the trademark, why even negotiate with Nodak LLC? Like a previous poster said, I'm not in the "Fire Berry Crowd", but, man, Berry has some splainin' to do. At least for transparency's sake.

Incorrect. Just spent some time researching trademarks over the lunch-hour. You can't register a trademark without owning it first. The difficulty here is a word can be owned and trademarked by anybody; especially in the way Nodak LLC registered 'NODAK'. From their application: 'The mark consists of standard characters, without claim to any particular font style, size or color." It all comes down to how a word is used. An existing owner can prevent other business from using a word/trademark only if they sell the same product or service. Companies making different products can use identical word/trademarks. For example Crest Toothpaste and Crest Construction. But this is where it gets potentially nefarious. Trademark registration applicants must declare what goods and services the word/trademark is used in conjunction with. NODAK LLC's was for apparel, clothing, etc; basically anything you can find at the Sioux Shop. WTF? But, UND also owns the NODAK 'moniker' because they were the first to use it. HOWEVER, because they didn't register it, their usage rights are restricted to the geographic area they do business. Registering a trademark ensures national rights.

Park is a nice get. But ironically, for all the talk of Michigan’s recruiting prowess, I’d easily take our future recruits over theirs. Especially the higher-end guys: Wilson, Burchill, Cerbone, Moldenhauer, Cerrato, Park, Spitznagel vs Strathmann, Livanavage, Wiebe, Mcinnis, Perron, Swanson, Boisvert

Geno left most recruiting duties to his assistants. It’s no surprise recruiting took a nose dive when Dean Blais and John Marks left; culminating in 3 sub .500 seasons a few years later (early 90s)

At the very least, the bottom 2 lines should be set in stone as Senden-Jammer-Hain and Albrecht-Ness-Portz. That gives the forwards a solid defensive foundation (if they play to potential) who can play against any line. It's a total waste to bring someone like Senden back and play him in a role he's not suited to play (like with McLaughlin and Gaber saturday). Hell, it wouldve been better to keep Adam Calder instead.

This is a very good take. Perhaps this program has become a victim of its own sense of entitlement. Who else has ‘the Palace on the Prairie’, new uniforms all the time, a Through These Doors media show, etc. Maybe our mentality resembles the Gophers more than we like to admit. Do we still expect teams to show up at the Ralph, be in awe of the place, our culture and history, and roll over and die? Yea maybe. The sky isn’t falling. We’re coming off 3 straight league titles. That said, if this team doesn’t get its act together, we’ll also have missed the playoffs 3 times in the past 6 seasons. We pride ourselves on a lunchpail work mentality, yet Berry teams have been wildly inconsistent in playing as such. i dunno.

Nah, our Freshman (Blake, McLaughlin, James) are really good. They're just not being put in a position to succeed. How are they supposed to do anything when our coaches, vets and team leaders look like the Bantam B team.

Sanderson didn't play after January last year. Ironically Feb. is when they went on that big winning streak to end regular season and win the league title. Sanderson’s spot duty aside, the only significant loss is Connor Ford. Yea it’s still early but this team is underperforming something fierce. Like the only returning players on the entire roster who have upped their game is Jandric, Portz and maybe Hain.

The 2016 team had 1 line who could score on any regular basis; the CSB trio. The remaining key forwards were essentially grinders who could only score 20-25 pts in their best season (Chyzyk, Johnson, Gardner, Poganski, Sanderson). The core of that championship team was the insanely deep D-core. I mean they made Cam Johnson look like Patrick Roy that season.

Yea this team currently sucks, but lets keep things in perspective. How soon we forget we’re coming off a three-peat of league titles. That’s something nobody in our league has achieved since we did it under Blais 23 years ago. Sure a natty would've been nice, but, sweet jesus, the sky isn't falling.

I don't think Hain returning had anything to do with it. Calder is a goalscoring top 2 line player. With Calder we had 5 guys in realistic contention for those 4 wing positions; at least starting out. Gaber, Costantini, Calder, Caulfield and Blake. Maybe Calder realized he was on the outside looking in, and being a 24 y.o. transfer wanted a guaranteed top 2 line role. That said, I'd rather have Calder than, say, Caulfield. Calder was quite good until his arm injury. Caulfield has been the epitome of inconsistency and, to a degree, lackadaisical play his entire career here. Yea I get he's a home-town kid, but still.

Of course it is. But we were so good those years, expectations exceeded the norm. We couldve realistically won 5 national titles in a row from 97-01. Arguably the 2 best teams (top to bottom) of that era were the ones that choked it away in 98 and 99.....led by Blake as an upperclassman. Anyways, it's a completely different situation to compare Blake to Gaber.

You must have not been around back then. With the talent on those Blake-led late 90s teams, 1 title was a disapointment.

Jason Blake? He was involved in 2 of the most infamous playoff collapsing season in our programs history. Those 98 and 99 teams thouroughly steamrolled everybody, yet choked when it mattered.

It sucks losing like this, but this team deserves a lot of credit. They greatly overachieved; especially considering Sanderson was out half the year. Nobody in their wildest dreams expected a league title out of these guys.