hockeytherapy13

I said this in an overly long post above, but Kunz is primed to go 25-35 points this year if he’s with the right guys. He went from 5 points as a sophomore to 19 points as a junior and really only played top 6 minutes half the year. Put him in a top 9 role and have him play with skilled guys. Then we are looking at a guy that could be similar to Malone or Vandevelde in regards to point production in his senior year

I think if we are going top 6 and bottom 6 this looks really good. But like some have said, this team has the chance to have a top 9 and go for goals with 3 lines rolling a lot. With that in mind, I’d flip Kunz and James around so that Kunz can add some size to the line with Boisvert and OMac, and then James can add more speed to the Wilkie and Strinden line. This year Kunz is primed to be a 25-35 point guy if he’s with the right players. He took a big jump from his soph to junior years and he seems like he’ll make another jump this year. But I agree with others in that we HAVE to keep Boisvert in a top 6 role so that he can develop and hit his ceiling faster. But since he’s still a string bean (as is OMac) then having a guy like Kunz can really help give that line some strength. All things considered, if this team goes with a top-9 approach and plays like they are down a goal all the time, they will be able to wear teams down. Plus our 4th line, if it looks the way you have it above, will make it even more frustrating to play against as they could really shut things down.

Yeah RIT's strength of schedule was rated 53rd this past season (as per CHN) so I'd be happy if he ends up being a 20-30 point guy in the NCHC. Let's just hope he can win some D-zone draws unlike the rest of our team the last month of the season.

Guessing Boisvert will get some reps at center too. Interested to see how he’ll be in the faceoff dot

I actually think he may be a better fit for pro hockey than Blake is at this current point due to his physical capabilities

I'm not putting it on Pehrson either. I'd say Persson had a big deal to do with it, though. I almost never blame a goal on a goalie because there are almost always 5 other guys on the ice that could have been around to help out. But that tying goal at the beginning of the 3rd could have been very avoidable if Ludvig either covers it or pushes at a different angle. I'm still not giving the goalie 100% but that was the only goal in the game and maybe only one of the few the entire month that the goalie botched the play.

Ludvig shoveling the puck into Pehrson's skate which deflected it into our own goal didn't help either.

Wait, who? lol

Blake's turnaround from December to March was impressive. He went from being a constant defensive liability to becoming reliable almost all of the time. Sure he was easy to knock off the puck if someone got contact. But his 200 foot game improved big time this season.

Yeah I’d rather have a faceoff specialist like Wilkie. We have guys coming in that can score and make plays. We badly need a reliable winner in the dot.

I wish I could agree with you but I’ll argue that if Pitlick stays, the gophers might have one of the deepest forward groups in the country, if not the deepest.

If he gives the coaching staff an ultimatum that it’s college this fall or he’s going to a different team, you can bet the house they will bring him in. I think our freshman class coming in this year is crazy good and if he came too it would be unreal. The youth and size might be a problem but you have to think they’d be cooking strong by the end of the season.

I think it’s important that he stays 4th line center because he really is a reliable defensive forward. Let him kill penalties too but there is no excuse for him being on the power play as late in the season as he was. It took until the 2nd to last home game (thankfully we were at home for the playoffs) for him to get a goal. That type of impotence has no business being on the power play of a team with hopes to go deep in the NCAAs.

If I remember correctly, he ended up playing in that game against the gophers this year because Pehrson was hurt . And although he had limited minutes, he did well with the time he had. Kept it simple and physical and didn’t have any glaring gaffes

I remember Schloss saying that Wiebe actually likes playing on the right side. He did do it quite a bit this year too so I’m guessing he will be one of the right-sided guys next season. He’s a guy who really developed well defensively this year and I’m excited to see how his offensive side develops