Brim006

With the West likely having no contenders, is there anyone from the East that will be able to run with GFC+RR to at least give hope of avoiding the all GF ship yet again? FD, FN, WFS, WF?

What's the scoop on Century kids leaving early or what's the doom and gloom about there? I see they are supposed to be returning 4 of their top 5 scorers from a solid team last year, plus have a returning goalie who posted .930 SV% in 18 games played. And there's no way that's true about the WDA only returning 5 of the top 100 scorers in the state. Century alone has 5...and even if they are leaving Legacy has 4 (1 sounds like he's leaving), Bott 2, Dick 1, Jtown 3, Mandan 2, Minot 5, Williston 2. Of those 24 are you saying you personally confirmed 19 of them are leaving early?

Who are some of the top returning players? Minot losing a few to juniors I hear? GPR and DL have a few young studs but not enough. RR and GFC will reload no problem im sure. How are the Fargo and WF schools looking? Looks like century and Mandan will be top dogs out west? Legacy losing a few kids early including their freshman phenom.

This. And a lot of parents forget that even if your kid truly is elite, and you have the money to support whatever extra development opportunities, that the kid himself still has to want it even more than the parents. You can't force passion, and you can't force true effort on someone no matter how hard you try.

Or just let them enjoy playing the sport of hockey with their hometown friends.

It's a strange trend, and I'm guessing most often it is the parents that want it for their pissing matches. Too many doors have opened just for money making oppurtunities that are posing as development opportunities. It is very rare where we see a kid leaving early being for a legitmate reason. Most often they get little to no benefit from a life altering change. And all for what? Someone should teach parents basic statistics so they can see the reality of their kid playing anything beyond Jr Bs after school.

Gotcha. So Jerry, the SDSU transfer and who's the 3rd?

I didn't follow spring ball coverage whatsoever. I recall Romfo was recovering so he hasnt been playing, but how is the new transfer from San Diego State U doing? Also, curious why it is dumb that Tom said that. Is there a clear 1-2 race or clear #1 in your opinion. Genuinely asking since I have no clue as of right now other than Romfo having a low D3 arm at best.

And it isn't just cow college, as I'd say they are an outlier. SDSU is outlier territory too. So let's look at some of the other peers. USD has had 2 drafted and 3 signed in the past 5 years. = 5 total UNI has had 5 drafted and 5 more signed in the past 5. = 10 total MSU has had 2 drafted and 3 more signed in the past 5 = 5 total Griz has had 1 drafted and 3 more signed in the past 5. = 4 total UND has had 1 drafted and 3 more signed in the past 5. = 4 total (the AI tool I used for this lists Waletzko, Maag, Noah Larson, and Jaxson Turner all drafted for signed. Did Tov never actually sign I suppose? Otherwise that'd be 1+4=5 total.) Doesn't look all that bad actually.

Agreed. Statistically speaking, playing middle of the road ball in the MV and BS for as many years as UND has, they should have had at least twice as many as they have. So even without improvements they would've been bound to have more in the future just by the laws data playing at that level and conference. But with improvements added into the mix as well, I think UND is about to see it happening much more often.

Ah yes, I forgot about Toivonen and Maag. I recall Toivonen getting some playing time and even a few catches in pre-season games. His body type got him the opportunity and he did quite well with his opportunity, but it still wasn't enough for a roster shot unfortunately due to a pretty stacked roster that year. Still pretty wild that quite a few local NSIC D2 teams have been producing comparable numbers of NFL talent as UND. Mankato, Augustana, UMD, and even the late St. Cloud team had a few recently. Mankato likely the most impressive list since 2010 in Thielen, Chris Reed and Shane Zylstra who all had/have substantial playing time holding starting positions for multiple years. Hell even lowly late UMC had a kid who played there for 2 years before they folded and he transfered to NDSU and is still playing in the NFL (Mason Miller).

That's a bummer for Bo, I was optimistically thinking he would at least sneak onto a PS somewhere. I didn't count Kenny G. since he transferred to NIU after UND. But the other guys in that bucket would include Kyle Hergel and Kilty too. Before that I think we have to go all the way back to around 2004-2005 for Chris Kuper. Crazy Nice to see UND winning some of the recruiting battles that they would've been losing in the recent past though. That is a small step in the right direction!

I haven't seen a peep about Bo during or after the draft, so it must be safe to say he doesn't even have a shot at a practice squad or anything at this point? Despite UND being mediocre since the move to FCS, it's actually quite surprising how few NFL players they have produced just solely due to playing in the MV and BS before that. 1 OL draftee who was through and through UND the whole way in the past 10-15 years? Hopefully I'm missing some... Woof Hopefully the development process improvement is as big as the winning culture improvement is with the new coaching staff. It would be exciting to see a guy get drafted at least once in a great while. Or signed afterwards. Some other MV teams are getting more guys drafted in a single day than UND has in the past 2 decades. Bo was debatably one of the best UND players in the past 5-10 years and he doesn't even get interest? Only up to go from here for Schmidt and the boys!

Looks like Team ND beat Michigan U18 today 4-2. Goals by Mattern (shorty), Diehl, Clauson and Deziel (empty netter). Seems like that is a good win and a good start to the tournament. Does anyone know where to watch online? It might be fun to watch Mattern and Morelli on the same line. Looks like they're 1st line together and PP1 together from what I can tell.

Any news of early departures other than Mattern obviously? Or kids transferring in or out of state to other towns/schools? I'll be curious to see what ends up happening with the FN+FS debacle.