hawksfan12

Yes have someone blog about the schedule. Or have Brad write an article. I don't know why this doesn't get more attention from a program under the microscope like this. Go look at Alabama / OSU for football, Duke for basketball...the nonconference schedule gets a ton of speculation and questions from those fanbases of those programs. It seems people just accept our schedule as is every year. I wanna hear Dane Jackson explain the program's philosophy on the schedule.

How good was the crowd tonight? Hopefully crowd is getting tuned up for next weekend.

What are the bucket list college hockey roadtrips for all of you? A couple different dimensions: - Bluebloods: MN, WI, MI, BC, BU, Denver - Rivals: MN, Denver - Venues: Yost (MI), Kohl (WI), Mariucci (MN), Matthews (Northeastern), Compton (ND), Ingalis (Yale), Alfond (Maine) - Cool Cities: Madison (WI), Ann Arbor (MI), Boston (BC/ BU), Tempe (ASU), Duluth (UMD), Denver (DU) - Crowds: Western Michigan, MI, Maine, Cornell, Michigan Tech, Michigan State, Penn State, Minnesota In college hockey, it doesn't seem there are "clear" ones like in NFL (Lambeau) or MLB (Wrigley, Fenway). But wonder what places people wanna see or are worth seeing.

Not only playing Michigan but being in Michigan. It's a big hockey state, NDTP is there, hockey town. I think it helps UND stay relevant across the country with fans and young players.

What's your source for that and what would Michigan have against UND? They have played UMD, SCSU, and Mankato recently.

Do you think Michigan is worth getting on the schedule?

I thought we should have a thread to discuss the UND mens hockey nonconference schedule especially since there is a new coach leading the program. Do we know the rationale used to decide the schedule? I have to be honest, UND has some pretty mediocre programs consistently on the schedule relative to the program status (ie Bemidji, Mankato, Manitoba). Is it travel budget? Pairwise gaming? Coaching relationships? Look at Denver this year, they play both BC & Minnesota this year. Second question, if you could develop a priority list of protected opponents, who should we prioritize? My opinion: - Minnesota every year (the only one on this list they have done a good job playing consistently) - Wisconsin every year - Michigan every 2-4 years - getting BU/BC every 2-4 years (maybe create a 4 way thing with BC/BU/Minnesota/UND where UND & Minnesota swap the other east coast school Friday vs Saturday night) - consider programs like Maine, Michigan State, Harvard, Notre Dame, Cornell, Michigan Tech that have some hockey history as fillers every 5-10 years (good programs but not quite at blue blood status) - or heck create some type of tournament like Beanpot with other bluebloods (MI, WI, MN, BC, BU, Denver) like college basketball does all the time - get Bemidji, Mankato off the schedule long-term... other programs we've played I don't get -> Lindenwood, Holy Cross, Niagara, Alaska schools, Canisius I also think the coaches should seek to insert the program into hockey hotbeds for recruiting...get a series in Michigan every 2-4 years, east coast / Massachusetts every 2-4 years. That way, the program is present in mind of recruits and they can see the program / fan support. I think we have opponents that are complete throwaway games in terms of optimizing the schedule. Make every one of these games count!