nascar99

Better 2nd period with the notable exception of the powerplay. Needed 1 there

Barely put any pressure on Hauser. Only 2 decent chances all period

Disasterclass 1st period. Outskated, outforechecked, outworked in the faceoff dot. Terrible time to look young/inexperienced

5-2 North Dakota is my prediction Won't be posting much during the game, I'm going to my local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch on a bigger screen. I am not a big forum post from phone guy, prefer the laptop. Cannot wait for the game to start, let's go!!!

Mildly worried that I'm not very worried about Wisconsin. Just feels like North Dakota should win, but as we know, it will likely be a tough battle.

I think Martone was 100% bought in at State despite the high NIL number. He would have fit in well at North Dakota. McKenna just wasn't going to be a fit based on price & his approach. Agree with KEM for the most part as well.

Posting the story link here as well after already posting in the Frozen Four thread. Very interesting how Kris Engelstad McGarry publicly states that the program needed a change, insinuating that things had gotten stale under Berry (which most of us if not all believe they had).

Her married name. I see it used half the time she gets brought up. Many posters on here have used the acronym/abbreviation “KEM” when referencing her regarding donations and influence on the program, so I’ve used that a lot now. Was happy to see she’s on board with Jackson regarding the direction of the program & NIL

Great article on Kris Engelstad McGarry and North Dakota being in the Frozen Four in her city of Las Vegas.

Someone else can link the Yahoo Sports story, but I saw that there’s an NCAA proposal to put an age limit (clock starts at age 19) in for eligibility for all sports. Would assume hockey fights against it &/or gets an exception due to junior hockey existing. Teams don’t want to bring in 18 & 19 years who are woefully underprepared for NCAA Hockey.

Correct, Denver getting that 3-2 Saturday night win in Grand Forks helped turn their season back around (despite not playing well that night). They got their confidence back to some degree.

Some observations: the USHL is harder to score in obviously, so the guys who do produce well are super impressive, but man, so many guys throughout that league who have pretty brutal junior production. Stacking a lot of the best young talent on one team (NTDP) means that a lot of the other teams/roster spots are filled with pretty meh players. Doesn't mean they can't be good NCAA players, but just means there's less pure offensive talent in that league.

Airey (already in portal), Rud, Begley, Harris, Falloon, McLaughlin are the easy candidates. Others like Townsend, Clark, Ludtke, Pahlsson would be darkhorses to enter, but also wouldn't surprise me.

Would be interesting to see how many are following Larson. Losing any of Burnevik, Thoreson, Hall, Henricks, Urness, Roed, Miettinen, Loftus, Berzins, Shostak plus recruits like Souch, Sivertson, & Stengrim would really hurt the Huskies.

Nice group of teams. UMass becoming a fairly consistent contender in Hockey East, Wisconsin back up & in the mix, Arizona State while inconsistent, is starting to recruit better & better talent, and Northern Michigan a team in the region who I'd like to see be more competitive again

I think a majority/plurality Canadian Minnesota roster would be hilarious, especially to see the insular tribalist Goofers fans "stop watching" or whatever they said they'd do with a very Canadian roster.

Martone*

I am in the minority, but I'm rooting for Michigan against Denver. North Dakota Michigan would be a dream National Championship Game IMHO

Yes he was, but Celebrini exploded beyond belief this year in Year 2. Would expect McKenna to put up 60 points in his rookie season if he turns pro for 2026-27, but bad 5v5, doing most of his damage on the PP. Another year in the NCAA would help him round out his game further

Probably wanted to get their group out there early to avoid distractions on campus with their men's basketball national championship related partying

Do we know how much, if any, Kris Engelstad McGarry is contributing to the University of North Dakota, specifically hockey? Would assume boosters/alums are conversing with her this week in her city during the Frozen Four

More and more of the top North Americans are going NCAA in hockey. Sure, some who just want to (in theory) get to the NHL as quickly as possible will just bypass and sign their ELCs, but the Canadian influx of talent to the NCAA will benefit all forever, especially the blue bloods. You just have to balance your roster properly

August 15th*

Yes, if the NHL team that drafts him doesn't think he's ready for the league yet. But I would only put that at 20%, I think there's an 80% chance he's in the NHL

Went to university about 15 minutes from Ann Arbor: it's a fairly big deal for hockey people in Southeast Michigan but doesn't have casual appeal outside of the hockey/Michigan diehards until or unless they're in the Frozen Four. Still very niche overall if you aren't already into hockey.