Brim006

Hence why I said for various reasons...so I'm not pretending anything. Also, you're just bucketing everyone together with your national title or nothing theory. There's a big difference between only missing the tournament once or twice during that span and missing it every other year or more. And there's also a big difference of only having 1 tournament win in that span versus consistently making deep playoff runs. Most folks on this side of the discussion aren't demanding a natty every year, we're just pointing out that after 9 seasons there should at least be some close calls, deep runs, or at least some signs that they're capable.

On paper, the track record shows that was the most likely outcome. But we'll never know!

Probably not but now they're better than UND again so what does that say haha.

Yes, exactly and they've all hired new coaches during that span (for varies reasons including performance). Also, they're all currently ranked better than UND other than Wisc, and all had deep tournament runs since then other than Wisc and Mich State during that span. Frozen 4 appearances in that span. Michigan - 4 Minnesota - 2 Michigan State - 0 Wisconsin - 0 Denver - 5 BU - 2 BC - 2 UND - 0 So based on tournament appearances, frozen 4 appearances, and current rankings it appears UND is in the mix for the worst blue blood drop off during this span (Berry's tenure). Debate would be between Wisconsin, Michigan State and UND. Michigan State and Wisconsin have pretty clearly had the worst drop offs in that span, but Michigan State has turned things around and is back on top. I'd say Wisconsin wins the crown for the worst, but we'll see how this coaching change works out for them since he's in his 2nd season now I believe.

Here's my full prediction WF over Davies Mayport over Wahp Central over FSS GPR over Crookston Legacy over High Minot over DL Century over Mandan FN over WFS

Berry got the team to stop drinking/partying? Impressive

I can genuinely say yes, I would have based solely on my stubbornness. booooo okay fine, but understandable. How about $10 for just making the tournament? 🤠

Haha probably true. I still follow the scores, updates and watch the highlights etc. My interest has just fallen so I haven't gone to or watched any games recently.

Since you have so much confidence in Berry, and since we agree to disagree...I'd like to propose a friendly wager with you. 😊 $20 that they don't make it past the 1st round of the NCAA tournament this year.

Well said. Fan confidence is deflated, and with that so is excitement. Attendance home and away has and will continue to fall. I used to watch every single game every season, but now I haven't watched or listened to a single one in the past 2 years. The last one I watched was the OT loss in the NCHC to St. Cloud in March 2023.

My point is the continual habit of losing to poorly ranked bad teams is what has has kept them out of the tournament and likely will be the reason again this season. 62-26-14 looks great on paper, but 1 loss to a team ranked #35-64 in the pairwise washes out a lot of wins. Teams they shouldn't lose to, but have lost to, have kept them out of the tournament on Berry's watch. I used to come on here a lot 2-3 years ago and mention these same concerns, and here we are still sitting in the spot spinning our wheels. And likely will for however many more years Berry is behind the bench IMO. I hate how the NHL has become a revolving door, and I don't want that, but I think UND is well due for a change after this season. A lot of fans have lost interest, the school has lost some reputation, and he has had more than enough chances to turn it around but just can't for whatever reason. Agree to disagree

I'd argue every year they have missed the post season, it was due to a bad loss to a poor non-con team that killed their pairwise. A few listed below of Non-con only because I wouldn't consider any NCHC team inferior other than Miami at this point. Cansius😭, Bemidji State several years, Cornell, ASU, Mankato (maybe a stretch), Penn State, *Team USA x2*(just rubbing salt on the wound) *Augustana* 😭, Alaska Anch (bad tie), Goofs, Mich State (fall 2016 when they were awful), Union.

Emphasis on the regular season...but only within conference play yes. I'd agree his regular season record within the best conference has been good. But his regular season record against non-con teams has been poor and is the sole reason for his struggles. Those are the pairwise killer games that have snubbed their post season chances essentially every other year, and nearly held them out another year or 2. If they had won more of those, they would have made the tournament more often and would have essentially doubled his chances to get further within the tournament. BUT...losing to Cansius, Bemidji State, Cornell, ASU, Mankato, Penn State, *Team USA x2*, *Augustana*, Alaska Anch, Goofs, Mich State, Union during the regular season has been the reason they have been left out so often lately.

What kind of record has he chalked? Even looking past his post season struggles (or lack of even making the post season) he also has a worse winning percentage than Hak and Blaise did. His poor regular season records, and habit of losing to far inferior programs....is the exact reason his teams have missed the post season so often. I'm on the very easy side of this disagreement lol. Are you Berry's burner account?

It's pretty glaring when a team regularly gets beat by far inferior programs at a high enough rate where it can't be chalked up to a few fluke weekends. Despite their major recruiting and training facility advantages, they're still losing a lot of those, and have been over the past 8 season. Bottom line, they're getting out coached and it's time for fresh blood IMO.

It wouldn't be just for the sake of firing. They've been a bubble team missing the tournament just as many times as making it in the past 8 seasons and are in line to miss once again. It's time... As far as the pipeline goes, even if the entire staff was swiped clean, most would stay committed, and any that left could be backfilled with the same caliber kids pretty easily. The facilities and tradition guarantee a solid pipeline far more than the coaches do.

WF seems to be catching their footing now that Mattern is gaining momentum. I'll guess WF over Davies tonight. And ill guess CHS over Mandan in a close one. FN vs WFS could be a decent one too but I'm guessing FN has the upper hand there? Same for DL vs Minot. Minot should win and probably will win, but this is the type of game DL's goalie could help them steal if he gets hot.

I always think the recruiting piece is a little silly as far as UND hockey goes. UND's world class facilities, tradition and name do the recruiting. Yes, some coaches are obviously better than others, but just about any no name clown could step in and still land top tier recruits year after year. "hey kid, welcome to the Ralph, here is the lockeroom, and here is our long list of NHL legends". Plus, the top end talent is overflowing the NCAA..aka there are more top tier players than there are roster spots. Hence quick success of brand-new teams. The kids will come either way, and typically UND will always have first dibs at a lot of the top choices no matter who coaches. So with that said -----with an essentially automatic pipeline of top tier NHL level players coming in non-stop, it's actually an impressive feat to coach a team so badly to have not made the Frozen Four in nearly a decade, and have only won what, 1 tournament game in that span too? Pull out all the excuses you want but Berry has clearly crept the expectations lower and lower slowly over the past 8 years and it shows. We went from being mad about not getting through the Frozen Four, to being happy to make the tournament every other year. Woof. The other blue chip hockey teams have probably had more drastic of ups and downs than UND....losing seasons, but also in the mix for a Natty or won a Natty. While UND has essentailly just been a bubble team pretty consistently. Viewership is down, true attendance is down, interest overall is down. UND coaches start out on 3rd base and are expected to take it home. Every single year? No. Be in the mix every single year? Maybe, but probably no. He's had a long enough chance and I think it's time for a change.

As Mr. Curl has said "the kid has to want it more than the parents" Aka, most of it is out of your control no matter how much you spend and push for it.

Sorry, yes I had changed the subject from girls hockey to boys hockey. FS/S in particular.

Fargo just needs to be honest and admit it's an unneeded co-op that's just about being competitive and not at all actually about the numbers. What's there to know about the Fargo program....the numbers are there.

Fargo population 140k = 3 varsity teams ( 1 per 47k) 2012 Fargo population 100k = 4 varsity teams (1 per 25k) Bismarck population 75k = 3 varsity teams ( 1 per 25k) Grand Forks population 58k = 2 varsity teams ( 1 per 29k) Minot population 47k = 1 varsity team, soon to be 2 ( 1 per 24k) WF population 42k = 2 varsity teams (1 per 21k) Which one stands out?

Same argument goes for South/Shanley/Oak Grove on the boys side. I'm constantly told they don't have enough kids, yet their roster shows they have 43 this year lol. Not to mention another 20+ on the Junior gold team which probably equates to at least another handful that opted out due to knowing they wouldnt play varsity. I fully understand there's more to it than that, but it seems egregious when about 1/3 of their peers around the state make it work with those numbers.

Wow nice, thanks for sharing! I had Grant listed but missed all others. I’m assuming I’m missing several from WF and Fargo as well. I knew about Kuntz at UNLV, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that program!

That’s just kids who have went D1 even after playing through high school in ND without leaving early. The point is that you don’t have to leave early to still obtain good opportunities. Spare me about MN high school hockey and how many more go D1 from there when they have 21x the amount of players and teams…it’s probably a very similar amount that go D1 percentage wise.