Fratt Mattin

Considering we’ve won a national title more recently than every other blue blood not named Denver, I’m gonna have to disagree

Bryn follows him, but he does not follow Bryn

Not the most scientific approach, but it appears he follows Minnesota and Michigan on Instagram and not us. Can't say I'm surprised. We don't tend to get players with his profile much anymore

Next year's d-core probably looks something like this: Laurila-Emery Strathmann-Verhoeff MacKenzie-?? Ex. Engels, ??, ?? I think it is very likely that Wiebe and Livanavage go pro and Jubenvill transfers. That leaves you with three open spots and a particular need for righties. Other than MacKenzie, Lindberg is probably the only committed defenseman that is ready to come in and he is a righty. He's been good, but not great for Fargo this year, so I'm guessing the coaching staff would rather he be more of a 7th-8th guy for us next year. That means two more spots to be filled, one of those being a spot for a presumed starter. Neither Carels nor DuPont is going anywhere next year where they won't be dressing every night, so I'm not sure I buy the popular idea that we're going to land two of that Carels, DuPont, Lin, and Rudolph group. In a perfect world, you land DuPont to fill the right side of the 3rd pair and then a depth guy to round out the group. Although the most likely scenario is probably that we get Carels and someone plays their offhand and I'm fine with that too. All of this is to say, I don't really think it is likely or necessary to get 2/4 from that group of elite defensemen. I'd much rather get one and save our remaining resources for an elite forward (Preston, the Rucks, etc.)

What caliber of player are we talking? First round level? Top ten?

Worth bringing up again how much better Through These Doors has been this year. It had become basically unwatchable the last few seasons. Just a highlight package and 90 seconds of awkward player interviews. Now it's back to real "behind the scenes" content, which is what it was supposed to be.

Well both would be great, but personally I'd choose hockey

I think Schlossman has said 2027 is more likely for Williams at this point. Can’t remember where he said that though, so take it with a grain of salt

I doubt it. I'm not sure they even know there's a university in Grand Forks

As far as I know NDSU football is part of the Mountain West package now. No more games on WDAY

I don't know the actual numbers, but it does feel that way. Certainly when you look at our campus versus their's, you can tell who is investing more in academic facilities. I also think the recent success of the Forever UND campaign shows where our fundraising priorities lie. $100 million raised for the university endowment in 2024 and another $119 million in 2025

Not stunned that NDSU has a leg up here, but the fact that they've more than doubled us up is concerning. What do we think the problem is here and what can we do to compete better? As an aside, I'd love to know where you got these numbers from. I was looking for these the other day but couldn't find anything

Duluth is a weird one because they've had a ton of individual success and one era of extreme team success. Outside of the last 15 years though, they haven't accomplished a lot. Prior to their first natty they only had three frozen four appearances. With that said, if they maintain the standard they've set recently for another decade or two, then you have to add them to the list

What a thoughtful post. Very much appreciate it. All of that makes me wonder then if we’re putting too high of expectations on Wisconsin. Maybe, despite their successful runs, the blue blood distinction can’t be given out to schools where hockey is playing 3rd or 4th fiddle

I’m very confused by Wisconsin’s struggles in the last 15 years. You can blame a lot on Eaves, but Hastings, an objectively great coach, has had mixed results there at best. He actually seems to have a similar problem to Berry in terms of constructing his roster. It’s like he’s not sure what he wants their team identity to be