beastandco

Given how fast they ruled him out for months, getting him back at some point this year would be a win. It sounds like a broken leg/ankle. I’m far from a doctor so I don’t know how long that recovery would be. He is a good young player. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

I completely agree. Why leave before you have to if you aren’t not dominating the level that you are at? I feel like some of these guys drastically underestimated the level of play of college hockey. College hockey is the best it has ever been and it’s only getting better. It will be interesting to see how programs approach bringing in their commits in the coming years if they are not a top prospect.

I have seen Shaugabay play in high school quite a few times. Him and the Slukynskys were almost unstoppable. You have to think Brad Berry is still employed if he doesn’t whiff on those three. Were any of them recruited by UND? Being Oshie’s cousin, Shaugabay seems like he would have had UND written all over him.

They definitely could play together. I think it being DuPont’s draft year makes it interesting. He’ll want to join a program that he’ll be able to get those top powerplay minutes/points. We could run a two defensemen top unit or have him on the second unit but I doubt either will be attractive for him. All things considered, only a few programs really have a shot at these top uncommitted defensemen, UND being one of them. I would be somewhat surprised if UND isn’t able to land a blue chip defenseman for next year. In my opinion, Carels, Rudolph, Lin, etc. seem like a better fit for the player if Verhoeff is still around.

Both of his parents follow UND hockey as well. His mom only follows UND hockey and Harvard. His dad is private so I can only see that he follows UND through their page.

It would not surprise me if he committed shortly after the CHL season this year. The fit is great for both sides.

Carson Carels has UND written all over him. It would be a miss if he doesn’t end up at UND. He’s somewhat local, his sister plays at Jamestown, and he seems to have some interest in coming. I would love to see next year’s freshman class include him and Preston. Hopefully Verhoeff has high praise for UND. I’m sure he is pretty close with a lot of these guys.

That’s definitely possible. I just think it is much more likely for him to end up at UND if Verhoeff turns pro.

Coexist may have been the wrong way to put it. I imagine when DuPont makes his decision, he will ultimately go to a place that gives him the best opportunity to play in every situation. In all honesty, UND is probably the only team that he wouldn't be the top guy from the jump. UND's chances with DuPont varies drastically based on if Verhoeff stays or leaves.

Verhoeff is likely to be here next year, imo. He needs to grow into his body some more and work on his skating a little bit. Schaefer is an elite skater and that is why he was able to transition to the NHL this year. We will likely lose a player or two up front to the portal as well as a player on the back end. I predict they add a senior forward in the portal and two CHL freshmen for next year. Menghini will be the only senior up front on next year's roster. So far through the first month of the season, only a couple of guys are showing they are ready to make the jump next season. I hope Schultz, O'Neill, or McKamey really pop the rest of the season to make the decision easy. With so many players available for next season, I would be surprised if most of these guys are not pushed back until they really dominate the level of play they are at. It will be really interesting to see how the new staff handles the current committed list this offseason if/when high end CHL players show interest in coming next year.

A top priority for next year should be getting a right shot top 6 winger. It’s an obvious hole for this team, even on the power play. McKamey could be that but he might not be ready next year. I do not think Verhoeff and DuPont could coexist but I hope that I’m wrong. If Verhoeff leaves, replacing him with DuPont would be diabolical. I am thinking they add one forward and one defenseman from the CHL before next season. The committed list will certainly be shaken up a bit with Bryn getting “his guys.”

I was just thinking about this today. Cooper Williams, Cooper Simpson, and Brock Schultz will come for sure. After those three, it is up in the air. Most of these guys are not Bryn’s recruits. It would not surprise me to see a couple of commitment changes. I also anticipate Bryn dipping into the uncommitted CHL pool for a guy or two for next year.

Spunar’s net?

The power play right shot flanks were great when it was Blake/Gaber. It was simple but they could pick corners. All this new powerplay does is play catch with their three guys up top. Verhoeff is a great player but it seems forced to have him at a flank.

Bad bad BAD! What did I just watch.

Excellent news

After reading Brad’s article this morning, Joe Iginla (2026 eligible) is a name to watch. Keaton Verhoeff used to live with the Iginlas.

Brock England’s most recent instagram post from March is at a UND game.

From what I have heard about him off of the ice, he probably is not a good fit for this program and where we want it to go.

Having alums from all over is such an advantage. That’s why UND has received commitments from Cooper Williams, Eli McKamey, Keaton Verhoeff, and Cole Reschny in the last calendar year. UND has gotten the guys that they can from the area and mixed in high end guys from Western Canada. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

If solely focusing on Minnesota kids is the direction they are going to take, they have to recruit better. Potter, Hensler, and West were all from Minnesota and picked in the first round last year. Minnesota landed none of them. First round picks are not everything, but when they are right in your backyard, they should land more than they have in recent years.

Win or lose, I wonder what some of these uncommitted WHL guys will be thinking when they see Verhoeff, Reschny, etc. play in front of a packed Ralph crowd this weekend while they are on their team bus in the middle of Saskatchewan.

After listening to GPL last week, it sounds like there is a lot of concern and frustration with Minnesota’s ability to pay players and are less than optimistic when looking into the future. Minnesota’s issue with paying hockey players is that they are not allocated really any money for revenue sharing and their “Dinktown Athletes” NIL fund is not giving them much support either. The Golden Helmet collective was created to try and bypass these issues. Now, the issue with the Golden Helmet Collective is that the player has to provide equal value to the company for their NIL services or the newly created NIL Go will not clear the deal. Minnesota will be fine but much like North Dakota, they will not be able to be the highest bidder.

UND has to stay out of the box this weekend. If they stay out of the box, this team will wear their opponent down. I felt like a couple of the penalties called on UND were soft on Friday. Nonetheless, we cannot play like we did in the 2nd period last night. Minnesota will likely be less disciplined than St. Thomas. I would expect to see our powerplay a little more than we did last night.

Rankings definitely do not matter this time of year but I would not be surprised if UND climbs a few spots. Especially with most of the top teams splitting this weekend. Bucci has them at 3 which is a bit high. I would be surprised if they are not in the 5-7 range.