atxsioux

Crazy how down the program was last year and this year. Looks like it's rebounding though next year. He was one of the rare cases where there was maybe a fair argument to leave. Most years I think it would be crazy to leave.

Depends on what mock draft you look at but as of present day a good chunk of North American players projected to go in the 1st round are either playing NCAA or already committed to an NCAA school. (and that doesn't include Mathis Preston, Carels, Ethen Belchetz, Ryan Lin, Daxon Rudolph etc) I think this summer will finally be the writing on the wall moment. If around 80 to 90% of North American players picked in the 1st round all have NCAA ties they'll come to the realization of the new reality. (especially considering there might be 0 USNTDP players picked in the 1st round)

Alot of the CHL teams just don't even understand the NCAA recruiting rules present day either. Some CHL coaches were shocked that teams were recruiting some of the 16 year olds on their team (Obviously like we all know once it's January of your sophomore year, contact can begin)

^^^ Scott Wheeler with The Athletic did an article recently and there's still alot of animosity present day between some Major Junior teams and the NCAA. Based on the way some CHL teams are acting it's caused alot of players to be fearful to announce their commitment (More or less a direct quote from an NCAA coach) So that leads to the silent commitment.

I'll throw out a guess that the silent CHL commits are Carels and Preston. (Also Suvanto would be a nice 2C to fill in for Rickwood...)

What are we thinking for the attendance split? I'm Thinking 60% UND fans if not more...

Ludtke almost looked like he was point shaving with his giveaway

Glancing at the U-17 roster I think he might be the youngest player by a couple of months as well so he's got alot or runway to keep developing. Played the 1st half of the year as a 15 year old which is pretty crazy.

ESPN showing the MSU and BU game along with the PC vs BC last night is encouraging. They are slowly showing more of a commitment to hockey in general it seems. The CHL opening is good as well. Majority of the best players in North America will all be playing in the NCAA now so more stars to market + can market it to NHL fans that want to watch their prospects. In the case where you live out of market from your NHL team you can watch NHL and college all on 1 app which is super convenient as well. UND would still get their TV money from Midco so from how I see it they aren’t as dependent on the NCHC tv money as other teams in the conference may be.

Meanwhile in BU. Pandolfo didn’t have enough time to list out how many passengers his team had in his post game presser lol

Want to call out Zellers as well for consistently being a puck hound out there last night. Awesome stick lift strip to turn it over and get it down to Swanson so he could set up that 1st goal to Rickwood.

Tulk is legit for Wisco based on watching last night. He's got a super quick release.

Seems like the timeline would be start skating middle of February and then 2-3 weeks of getting somewhat caught up to game shape. So maybe we see him during the NCHC playoffs…

He didn't have the best performance at the WJC this year. Seemed to be not squaring up 100% correctly to shooters at times when he gave up his goals. Granted that seems like something that could be corrected with practice.

The upcoming series with them will be interesting. In the past few years they haven't been very tough to play against (much different from their past NCAA teams). The Saturday game when we beat them 5-1 they looked similar to how they did the last few years. Maybe they can change that narrative we'll see.

Them losing almost every game 5-1 seems unsustainable lol. Kinda why I’m thinking they’ll snag a few wins to mess with top teams NPI

Michigan state is going to need alot more out of Nilson, Lindstrom, and Vansaghi in the 2nd half if they want to be a true contender. Their D-core doesn't really have a standout offensive guy that can stress you from the points so maybe that's made them a little easier to defend in the O-zone.

Miller looked a bit off this past weekend against WMU. He may be coming back down to earth a bit after his hot start. Need to come out flying and get plenty of rubber on him in the first 10 minutes. Think this team is going to be amped up to play a top tier opponent at home.

^^^ very likely that it’s a silent commitment and that him / UND don’t want to shakeup his season until after it ends. (Assuming they think his Q team won’t take it well once he officially commits)

I think we'd like to have this exact option though in a future season where a 1st half hasn't went well. Recruiting has it's ebbs and flows so for a year where some freshmen clearly don't pan out / a goalie doesn't pan out I'd 100% be open to adding a player mid season if the staff thinks they can make an impact. I think you want to be careful with doing this too often but do it when it makes sense for the player and can jumpstart the team.

For as good as Tynan Lawrence seems to be they're gona need alot of players to up their game compared to what they did in the 1st half of the year. Granted picking up a player like him might help team morale.

2nd half jump candidates: Kernan - he's really started to come on as of late. Seems like he's adjusted to the pace now of college now and feels comfortable making plays at the right time. Reschny - he maybe played slightly too much on the edge in that WJC semi-final but loved his aggression with taking the puck to the net and not deferring. Based on what he's done in the past year during U-18s, WHL playoffs, and now the WJC, he's not afraid of the moment.

Traveled to watch that series. Wanted to stay positive about that season after the sweep but in the back of your mind it was concerning how easy we were to beat.

Eiserman looked brutal at the WJC for the most part. Turnovers, ineffective at puck battles, just seems to have little confidence going right now.

Counterpoint. Notre Dame was missing Kempf along with some Spengler cup players for one if not both of those games. WMU also plays with more structure than I would say Penn State and the Gophers so its an easier game for WMU than it will be for Penn State/Gophers IMO