hockeytherapy13

If Blake and Gaber get on a line together, nice things will happen. That kid can really make plays, yikes

Guessing we see Kunz tomorrow for sure if he’s healthy. I like how this looks except I was really hoping they’d put one of the high end freshies with Gaber because there was just something off with his line last weekend. Surprised but not disappointed to see double freshmen on 2 lines. the coaches must have confidence in their defensive abilities against HC. the D pairings seem perfect, really excited for this corps to gel as the season goes on.

I know I’m a villain for saying this but I really think the only line that stays intact from this last weekend is the Senden-Jammer-Caulfield line. Yes they got scored on but they also had several grade A opportunities and created Kleven’s goal. It also seems like they want Hain in a scoring role this year, unless James ends up taking that on as a left winger for a top line (which seems very possible with his skill) The other lines will get shuffled slightly, wondering if “top 6” is Hain Schmaltz Gaber Costantini McLaughlin Blake (will need a top 4 D pairing on the ice for defensive safety haha) Gaber’s chemistry on his line this Saturday wasn’t spectacular and he tried forcing it too much so they just need to make a slight change. I’m wondering if the “4th” line will get alternated Friday and Saturday night because everyone was good enough to earn at least one night this coming weekend James Ness Portz (Friday) Kunz Strinden Albrecht (Saturday). With James as extra skater for some power play time But then again, we have so much forward depth that it’s going to take 3 months for any of this to shake out haha DeRidder Friday and maybe we get hellsten in a bit Saturday, unless he’s not healthy enough. DeRidder is going to be the man this year but Hellsten needs to play since he is the heir apparent for next year

Has Chris Peters historically shown disrespect to UND hockey? I haven't noticed it but that doesn't always mean much. I might have a thing or two to say about Chris Dilks but I can't recall any shade getting thrown from Chris Peters. Also if anyone hasn't listened to the Talking Hockey Sense podcast where he had Schloss on I would highly recommend it.

Sacred Heart being in there was the giveaway to me that it was no longer a top-15 ranking list haha

That wasn't a ranking, it was just teams that he thinks might be interesting to keep an eye on.

Pardon me while I wipe the egg off my face

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/7981975-hrabal-fegaras-strathmann-among-15-standouts-at-ushl-fall-classic I put this in the wrong thread earlier. but 3 of 15 guys in this list are UND recruits so not too shabby to start the year

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/7981975-hrabal-fegaras-strathmann-among-15-standouts-at-ushl-fall-classic some of our younger recruits had a solid showing at the USHL fall classic. 3 of the 15 guys in this article are (at least for now) planning to don the green and white. Not bad for a coaching staff that doesn’t get blue chippas and doesn’t crack the top 10 recruiters ;p

Fully agree on the desire the split the Jammer line. They all have tools that will work better on different lines. I also think we see jammer taking draws on power play and PK to get possession and then changing out for someone else like they would sometimes do with Pinto, weatherby, Ford since they were all great faceoff guys

Above is what I think we will see. Here’s what I’d like to see in the forward lines James-McLaughlin-Gaber Constantini-Schmaltz-Blake Senden-jammer-caulfield Hain/Kunz-ness-Portz/albrecht

I don’t want caulfield in the top 6 either but it was a common theme last year. This was more of a projection of what I think we will see. I’d rather see McLaughlin and James higher up soon but idk if that’ll happen. Also I’d be surprised if the D lines aren’t close to what I have with maybe 1 swap being Jandric and Moore. What’s your guess?

This is always a fun game and interesting to see how it actually shakes out Gaber-Schmaltz-Blake Kunz-Costantini-Caulfield Hain-Jammer-Senden James-Mclaughlin-Portz (James and mclaughlin will soon be high on the depth chart IMHO) Albrecht-Ness-Strinden Montgomery Kleven-Frisch Moore-Farmer Jandric-Johnson Bast-Sidorski DeRidder Hellsten Johnson I really want to see Costantini in the top-6 on a regular basis after the freshman year he had but I also see 3 of the 4 incoming freshman forwards making offensive impacts (much needed after losing Sanderson and Ford) by Christmas. We have some great depth forwards and should have a solid group of backcheckers. With our D corp and goaltending I see us as a hard team to score against. We may have one of the best top-8 D corp in the country. I think Denver and St cloud are solid there as well but we have a group of guys with a lot of experience at the NCAA level

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/7978470-ushl-fall-classic-whitehead-shines-for-lincoln-goals-galore-on-day-2 Little segment on Boisvert in this article.

I just realize Sic commented on this haha. I really think they use Jandric defensively because it was clear he doesn’t have the offensive prowess in the NCHC that he did in the (former) wcha. That’ll give Johnson the ability to roam a bit while Jandric stays home

I agree. And I like Jandric with Johnson too because Jandric is good defensively (I think he was 2nd best in plus/minus last year) and may give Johnson a little more of a green light to move the puck up the ice and jump in more often offensively

I know these are very preliminary and experimental lines, but I have a feeling Kunz is going to end up in the lineup most nights and maybe even top 6 or middle 6. With his size, speed, and puck retrieval abilities, this seems like a year for him to make a big jump.

I wonder if we will actually see Strinden play center off and on throughout the year. If the freshman acclimate to the college game fast and can be smart defensively, those top 2 lines could be wicked. We just badly need someone on a line that can help Gaber to reach the potential that he has offensively. I’m also a big fan of that 3rd line as a great shut down line with size that also has the potential to score. Jammer seems to be our best faceoff guy going into the year but maybe that’ll change.

https://www.waterlooblackhawks.com/news_article/show/1221248 Waterloo article about him from a few months back, gives a little info about him and what some of his attributes may be. Waterloo gave up their first round pick to snag him

Yeah for his save % to be as good as it was last year with a mediocre team ahead of him is a great sign. And whether some want to admit it or not, the big 10 was good last year and had some offensively gifted players, therefore, he’s stopped skilled guys. So once this goalie settles into how ours guys play in the D zone, I think he’ll prove to be a great snag from the portal.

Fully Agree. I think we may have the best defensive depth in all the land. Maybe we don't have a high end offensive D unless Moore or Johnson blossom, but we are well-rounded. If we can keep Gaber going, have him on a line with other offensive threats with some actual top-6 scoring talent (which ended up lacking at the end of the season last year), this team is going to be hard to play against.

https://www.nhl.com/news/dylan-james-hoping-to-develop-into-consistent-two-way-player-for-red-wings/c-335184346?tid=277729154

This is going to be a season where we never have to cringe or be worried about a certain line or defensive pairing on the ice. Especially once the freshmen get acclimated to the college game. Having so many new and young players last year that got plenty ice time is going to pay dividends for us this year. I know little about Sidorski but when we have a guy like bast as our 7th defenseman, and guys like Ness, albrecht, or even strinden as the first forwards out of the lineup, things aren’t too shabby.

We went 3-1 against them last year and all 4 of those games were without Sanderson. We swept them in Duluth and didn’t even have Gaber for the Saturday game. I think we are ebbing and flowing ok for now.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/matteo-costantini-looks-to-apply-lessons-learned-at-sabres-development-camp-with-und/article_e5f9a982-1293-11ed-a209-632eb5520ef2.html#tracking-source=home-top-story