Irish

If you compare the staff at Ely's Ivy to the Toasted Frog you can see where Ely's is falling down. In my opinion, the Frog has by far the best bartenders in town. Food is great, but a bit exotic. I wish they would add a couple of small plates or a great Burger for when I don't want a full meal. I know they are right next to Joe Blacks and don't want to be a burger and beer joint, but something to eat at the bar besides the great pizza would be nice. Wonderful service though.

I was there not long after their opening and was not pleased with the service - about 10 customers being ignored while two bartenders and a waitress huddled together to chat. Hopefully things have improved since them.

We had two things relative to talent that kept us at an elite level for the past many years - We were a destination for high enders looking to hone their skills for the NHL and we had a great eye for role players and sleepers. You don't have to look farther than our championship year to see this - Top line was one of the best of all time and had two first rounders and an undrafted player. Now look at the last few years of recruiting (especially up front). There is no doubt that we need to re-establish in both of these areas. I like what we have coming in but in my opinion Berry needs success right soon to get things going in the right direction again. Hopefully this season will be the start of another run.

I hadn't been to the Broken Drum for years but recently stopped in for bite and a beer - I recommend it for good bar food.

A big year coming up in many ways. So far I like what Berry is doing. Karl will be a huge asset and not just with the goalies. We seriously need a successful season - and not just to keep the fan base happy. We need to re-establish our brand nationally as a program where top talent can go and develop into NHL ready players. We absolutely can't afford to be seen as the place where offense goes to die. I know we need a mix but our past Blue Chippers contributed greatly to our program. We certainly are due for some good luck and hopefully some stud commits.

Agree Berry needs to up his game but he has at least won a playoff game. Football Bubba is a rah rah guy (nothing wrong with that) who has made a string of bad decisions that are only now being fixed. Anyone who watched football last year knew it - most knew it several years before it dawned on Bubba. The nickname is the least of his problems. I know that we need to adjust to the new nickname but praising Bubba for that is damning him with faint praise. In the words of Minnesota Fats from The Hustler "time to shoot pool, Fast Eddy".

6th year - a .500 coach with no playoff wins - but hey - what a great logo guy. Personally, I loved the Fighting Sioux but saw that we had to change. I'm not very excited about being "The Fighting Hawks" but I can live with it. I can't abide by the new logo though and really have a tough time wearing a poor man's Post Office logo. If I could make one change it would be to get a decent logo design - people would be much more likely to adopt it.

A great addition to our program.

I agree that the BU method isn't a roadmap to titles. However, we still need to be the program that top talent wants to come to to develop their skills. How would our teams have been without Parise, Toews, Oshie, Boesser, or Schmaltz? Top end guys have been very valuable to our program and we should be able to get a few. The lack of big time blue chippers lately concerns me, especially after looking at our offensive output last year. We need to be the go-to team for developing NHL talent like we once were.

The horror - A guy wakes up after a good night's sleep - settles in to read the local paper - opens it - and before he can avert his eyes there it is above the fold - a hockey article.

I hope this happens and maybe with a new O coordinator we will surprise some people. However, we still have a head coach whose game strategy includes calculating how far back we can put our opponents if we punt from where we have the ball. I just don't see us coming in really loose and getting teams on the run. Well we play hard - yes. Will we be loose and freewheeling - I just can't see it.

Agree - this is Bubba's 6th season here (at a whopping career of 30-29). By now the team should be assembled. People talk like this is his first or second year of rebuilding. The entire program including who we recruit, who our assistants are, and what schemes we run are totally on him. It is beyond sad that we expect a 6 win season and think that is fine because we have a hard schedule. At some point instead of us looking at our schedule and bemoaning the good teams we have to play other teams need to be looking at their schedule and commenting that their schedule is tough because we are on it. Time for Bubba to get it done.

Totally agree - I look for a great running game next year for two big reasons - first, the O line should have simpler schemes, better development, and better techniques. Second - teams should be off balance and not able to dig in for an obvious run call like the last many seasons. It is amazing what plays can develop when the defense doesn't know what's coming.

Do you know what they call alternative medicine that works? ......... Medicine

Certainly a pertinent question - I feel that Goehring will bring in a lot of expertise and not just in the goalie area. We certainly need to fix the power play - watching it lately is just painful. The good news is that it should not be rocket science. It's not like we have to invent some secret, never been seen before system. We need to find a way to get the puck into the zone - we were horrible when pressed last year and when we dumped it in it was usually promptly ringed out again. Then we need some movement - both with and without the puck. I have never seen a team fiddle around and tee it up out in front as much as we did. Finally, we need a presence in front of the net. Actually, the Central coach could probably come in and draw up something that is light years better than what we did last year. The big mystery to me is that with all of the coaching experience on the bench last year we couldn't improve the PP - I think it actually got worse as the year went on. Any fresh eyes has to help. I look for a big improvement this year. It seems like Berry is willing do dig in and make some changes - maybe this will be one.

Great hire - I predict Karl will be head coach someday. Looks like Berry is working to right the ship after the last couple of years. A nice more forward.

I agree that the new Heraldo is horrible - but to blame a "sell out to hockey" is utterly ridiculous. As I travel around the country and wear UND apparel I get lots of recognition for the great Sioux Hockey Program. The only other athletic complement I get is when they mistake our football team for the Bison. Maybe hockey is a "niche" program, but it has fans all over and allows us to be the best program in the country at the DI level with 8 National Championships as well as strong representation in the NHL. Are you saying FCS Football is less of a niche level? Or perhaps you think the Summit League is a well known and well respected conference (talk about a niche - and not a very high one). I love and support UND Football, Basketball (M & W) and Volleyball, but to think we are going to get much national recognition for these programs is indeed pie in the sky. Do I wish for more coverage of these sports - absolutely. Is it Hockey's fault - not one bit. I think Hockey is getting some good article coverage to make up for the fact that the Saturday game results are at our doorstep on Tuesday. Actually, if the Heraldo cut its annoying coverage of the Gophers there would be many more column inches available for other sports. The real problem isn't Hockey - it's that we now have the Fargo Herald.

Not a comment on Smaby but here is my wish list of qualities 1. A relentless recruiter who hopefully has new contacts or is familiar with different territories than we usually recruit in 2. Some fire and emotion on the bench and in practice. Not saying Berry's approach is bad - it seems to fit his personality - but some intensity seems to be what we have been missing in the mix for a while. (since the departure of you know who) 3. Some ideas to get scoring back in the offense - for sure ideas on how to get a better presence in front of the net. 4. Power play - I put this 4th because I don't think designing a working power play is rocket science. Thjere are many many teams on all levels including high school who have figured it out. We just need to do some different things both to gain zone entry (a big problem) and getting movement of players and puck when we have it in.

In that case you are correct and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm not convinced it's all luck but I don't know what it is.

Yes ...... lucky. They anticipated a stud departing early and had quality options to replace him. Remember when we did that. And we didn't call ourselves lucky then.

Are they ill-tempered? Seriously, one thing that could change easily is that incessant mood-killing crap coming over the PA during every break. If play stops during an exciting stretch dominated by the Sioux, you can count on the PA to take the crowd out of it with blaring music or a commercial. Those who were in Vegas can see the difference.

I believe the crowd could come together on many chants and yells if they fixed the PA system during breaks - what a mood killer. A great investment would be to supplement the money they get from the constant ads and have them fire up the crowd instead. The Ralph needs to look at what many pro teams are doing. Nothing worse than blaring music or a commercial just when things on the ice get going.

Fair enough -

Tell me how I'm wrong.

We were on the road for the first round while Duluth and Denver were again in the Frozen 4 and St. Cloud (before their annual choke job) was the highest seeded team in hockey. Our offense and power play were the worst most fans have seen. I'm not sure that the fact that we had the puck a lot brings much optimism to me. Our team was hard to watch this year and we need some serious changes starting with Shaw. I'm not sure Berry has the will to do what is necessary. I hope so. We can't take much more of this as a fanbase and program. We do have some talent coming in, but we've seen what Berry's program seems to do to scorers.