SpudsSioux

Swanson’s game absolutely requires him to be playing with a stud to utilize him. He’s not going to burn past defenders or create a ton on individual efforts. The beauty of his game is that he gets guys the puck in space and in scoring areas better than almost anyone (a lot like what Shaugabay does). If Swanson was playing with the Plantes, you’d see the same numbers out of him). He has shown his best chemistry with Zellers IMO ( when they get together on PP, 6 on 5, etc). I get you probably can’t put those two with Reschny and not be a defensive liability (at least this early), but I do think he needs to play with one of them to best use his skillset.

Could not agree more. Not only does this team not have any full lines in tact from last season; they only have one line that even has two on it that have played together before this year (Croal and Littler). Funny that line is the one that showed chemistry the earliest. I like that DJ is letting them settle in a little bit and build some chemistry. That first weekend the 4th line carried them offensively, but by this weekend the Rickwood line looked to be building some chemistry. I said before the Saturday game that the optimistic part of this team is that so far I really felt like they were winning games solely on grit and being hard to play against; they really hadn't been overly sharp yet chemistry-wise. That will get better as the season goes on, but being able to start 3-1 while they're still figuring it out gives me a lot of optimism for this group.

I thought Emery looked a lot better that period. He really struggled in the first but seemed to shake the rust off. He had a couple great defensive plays

Felt this way too. For a 7th D with protected minutes I’d prefer to get the guy with the higher ceiling reps. That being said, if there’s a plan to rotate early and this isn’t the status quo for the year I’m ok with it. With how many D they could lose this year, keeping and developing Strathman, Laurila and Jubenvil is going to be important.

That’s true. The “3rd line” listed for them last night was their top as far as skill goes. I would think lines 1 and 3 are their top 2 though so still impressive for our 4th to take it to them like that.

The thing that really caught me off guard was who the 4th line scored their goals on. I figured our depth may create some mismatches this season where other teams’ 3rd and 4th lines struggle to hang with our 3rd and 4th. But I think all 3 goals were against UST’s top line. First one for sure was against their top line and top D pair. Zakreski’s was against their top line as well. Pretty impressive

Haha correct. I think Emery is going to take a huge jump this year. Older, put on some weight, and the game should have slowed down for him. I wasn’t advocating for him being out like Oxbow was. I was just reiterating I thought Laurila was very good first game (as was Strathman). I would be shocked if they don’t run 7 most games

I think they’ll have to use the extra skater as a D when they’re all healthy. They’ll want to develop the young guys for future since they could lose a lot after this year. I know it was just exhibition but not sure how you sit Laurila after that game. His breakouts and transition were so good. Seemed like every time he touched puck it was tape to tape going the other way in a hurry.

Thank you!

Can you tell who is playing together? What’s re the lines looking like? And PP options?

Yeah could be nothing to it or just that he was originally projected to come in for 2025 and didn't so that's why he's in red. Still hope he figures it out and makes it here. Lifelong Sioux fan and the Warroad guys have been some of my absolutely favorite to watch at UND.

Just speculating because he's in red on Heisenberg's site which is usually pretty accurate. He moves them to red once they're on campus or no longer committed and we know he's not on campus https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gNRdKGXtofb4ti6cX3nVF9JbAilk4SkCMZM6-Df_zgo/edit?gid=1466169803#gid=1466169803

Great assist by Lindberg on the game winner tonight.

That is odd. Could also be that these are the type of guys that Jackson and co: are recruiting (I know Zakreski was already committed, but Kernan, Mengini and Rickwood were all after the coaching change.

I assumed he was decommitted already. He's been in red on Heisenberg's site for awhile which usually means he's decommitted or coming in/already on the roster.

Agreed. He was on the top pairing for the US team that just won Gold at H-G. He was getting plenty of interest from other schools. Glad UND locked him down as a nice 4 year guy to blend with some of the blue chippers they are after.

That one stings, but realistically probably only have room for 1-2 if Simpson, Schultz, Williams and McKamey are all set to come in. That doesn't even include if O'Neil has a good year and comes in. Just land Preston and then this one doesn't sting anymore, haha.

Yup I would think if Wyatt and Brook’s commitments hold than Joey will follow. Beck I think is UND’s to lose.

Swanson doesn’t have the same speed but he still plays hard. I think Swanson and Zellers will be the skill guys that maybe don’t make as big of an impact in the forecheck as the others, but can play smart as an F3 and pick pucks off in scoring areas. You can get away with and need those players too. You just can’t have a ton of them. One per line max.

Forgot Owen Kraft. He’s better than Mason at that age. Laurila’s little brother is good too.

Wanner from last years’ team. Coming up…a ton. Joey, Thoreson, Kortan, Dozark, Buttweiler, Gramer, little Bergeson should all be impact players in college,

This staff definitely seems to be prioritizing speed and guys that are tough to play against. Here’s to hoping this team resembles Western Michigan from this year that just comes at you in waves on the forecheck.

After listening to BC speak on a podcast (I can’t remember which one), he also talked about how this staff is really prioritizing good dudes where they know they’ll fit in the team dynamic and bleed green and he said you just don’t get that before being in a room with the recruit (and their parents, for that matter) for awhile, getting them around the guys, etc. so with the Minnesota kids, they probably took unofficial visits since it’s not a big expense to come for the day. With some of the big targets in Western Canada or across the US, they may have waited until August 1st when they could take visits paid for by the school. I’m as anxious as anyone to hear some big news, but i think a lot of the things we’ve seen play out poorly the last few years are going to be remedied by this new recruiting approach.

Outside of Wyatt (who I don’t think anyone thought was a possibility), is there anyone that’s committed right now that we’d rather have than DuPont, Carels, Fitzhenry, England, Daley, etc? I personally love that this staff is more calculated and doesn’t mass offer on day 1. That’s how you get into the mess we’ve been on with recruiting misses. I trust Chyzyk has a plan (and a plan B, C, D like Schloss always says. I’m glad we didn’t settle for a portal forward and D and waited out Reschny and Voerhoff 😀. Here’s to hoping this is some of the same.

This feels like a big get if it is indeed Williams. Rookie numbers (21-36-57 in 68 games) are in the same ballpark as the rookie numbers for some of the big names that have been thrown around this year: Rechny (21-38-59 in 61 games), Kindel (15-46-60 in 68 games), Bear (25-32-57 in 67 games).