Scratch

Because there are new Canadian leagues with talent that also need to be watched. Every minute watching the NAHL is a minute spent not watching 4 vastly superior leagues where nearly all our players come from

Can anyone explain to me how bringing in NAHL players can be construed as a good thing? I can’t fathom why Chyzyk would even be watching that league at all. Our August recruiting pull of this and Merrimacks scraps while everyone else is piling up first rounders seems like the berry recruiting method

Not that it really counts cuz there were like 16 teams, but 1950-1966, 15 in 16 years. More legitimately - from 1973-1983, 10 titles in 11 years. WCHA won something like 60% of all titles over ~60 years. The NCHC has been great out of the shoot and hasn't hit a lull yet, but it will eventually like every conference does. If the NCHC has won 60% of titles after 30 years every member of the forum can mail me their oldest shoe and I will eat every one.

I feel the same. I’m sure they’ll be soft as usual but might be the fastest team this year. Which Nathan Gerbe taunt me is a formula that can be pretty good unfortunately

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/podcast/240-the-athletic-hockey-show/episode-1048/ comments on zellers and Swanson performance at summer showcase at 30:15

Great conference, but doesn't hold a candle to the former

My guess is a depth nobody transfer

WCHA had its doormats for sure but it had four blue bloods which made it a challenge to win every year. Now all UND should have to do to win is catch Denver on an off year. I'd agree that the big ten is looking more legitimate, in large part because of fucking Pegula money round 2.

Ah now I remember, he was atrocious first half then lights out after Christmas. As far as I’m concerned, conference championships stopped existing when Pegula killed the golden goose. 6, 7, 8 team leagues don’t require a great team to win, Minnesota and UND show it like every other year

Ford was pretty good. If I remember correctly Driscoll was the definition of average. I wouldn't say either moved the needle.

With Tyler Young signing is it fair to assume our last forward for this year will be another old transfer? Only criticism of the new staff I have so far is that we are still taking scraps from bottom-tier programs (no offense to Young) born out of desperation to fill the lineup. I hope that is because we couldn't get young skill to round out the lineup. If its by design, not sure what to make of it as we've seen how that's worked out the last four years (zero transfers with any notable impact, other than negative) while BU has taken the young and skilled strategy to the frozen four every year.

I agree that Liv is a very good player but for whatever reason I don’t think of him in that elite category like Stecher and Poolman. If freshman year Emery is your #1 d I have to believe there’s no chance you’re making the tournament. But Verhoeff is going to come in as the most skilled d, by far, and with the rare attributes of also being the biggest and perhaps strongest defenseman on the team right from the gate. That assuages my usual apprehensions about freshmen d big time

Agreed. I think Verhoeff is currently either the best D or second best D on the team behind Livanavage. The idea that our D core is stacked doesn't resonate with me. Last year I saw a bunch of middle pairing guys, even Livanavage would have been middle pair in the mid-2010s

Wouldn't be surprised to see a Mankato or Quinnipiac type win this year. All the blue bloods might be particularly young, tiny, and soft - us included.

I used to think the same, but the past couple years listening to the podcast kinda changed my mind to think he is actually oblivious to problems. The way he scoffed at the suggestion of firing berry and ridiculed the masses who held that opinion as clueless twitter morons seemed genuine when he talked about it. Then he invented the "first round picks ensure teams wont win the natty" narrative once it became impossible to deny that Berry hadn't brought in a single talented player his first 4ish years as head coach. That seems beyond toeing the line to me, but I am admittedly jaded about Schloss so idk. To add to the Dupont gossip, my cousins in BC (early twenties, best played 2 years in WHL) tell me the rumor is he's very likely to play college and UND and DU are the frontrunners. Also say kids out west still think of UND when they think of college hockey but Denver becoming more popular quickly, for obvious reasons. I was surprised that they said no one really talks about BU or BC still. I agree with the guy who mentioned the concerns about Verhoeff also being right shot D. Hopefully UND promises Dupont 1st PP and 28 mins a night from day one because based strictly by output compared to his same-age peers Dupont is arguably a better prospect than Crosby and McDavid.