Irish

There are some very talented local kids - best guess is that this is somewhat a response to numerous articles about local kids on other teams playing in the tournament and many posts here about our local dead weight. In which case - great. At least he is trying to change something. Hopefully our scouting is more accurate than it has been in the past few years.

I'm trying to figure out how our leading scorer was tied for 16th in the league and how we were on the road for the first round of the playoffs. Something is not right. Our leading scorer had 10 goals.

Good discussion - I think almost everyone feels some changes need to be made - some want bigger ones than others. Much of the frustration is that we haven't seen, nor probably will we, any indication that Berry is making any changes so far (not saying he isn't). My thoughts - our biggest need is more talent up front. Even though we brought in some guys with a good upside the fact remains that no one scored more than 10 goals this season. Check out scoring for other teams in the NCHC and it's enough for you to shudder. We have been carrying some non-scorers for 3 years now. Time for Berry to do the hard work and make some serious roster changes. Even if the replacements aren't instantly successful. they have to have a higher upside than someone who has not scored much at all for 3 years. Next - examine what the assistants bring to the program. Shaw is in charge of the power play and doesn't seem to have any hot recruiting connections. Next - reconsider our offensive philosophy. I know we have good corner guys - they spend enough time there (at times all 3 in one corner) - How many times did we get a break-away or even an odd man rush? Not very often. Chipping it off the glass just doesn't cut it for me. I know that Berry worked hard to keep up the work ethic in the face of frustrating times. Time he re-examines everything about the program and make some changes.

This is one of the things about this staff that is totally baffling to me. It's not like we are trying to develop a unique system that no one has ever seen before - It's a power play for crap's sake. Hockey coaching 101. What we put on the ice for our power play was an embarrassment to the sport of hockey and we seemed to double and triple down on it. Absolutely no excuse, nor is there any excuse for not dealing with the staff member in charge. This refusal do deal with reality is a big part of why we are where we are.

Poor eyesight on my part - I wish there was another Boesser or someone like him coming in.

Absolutely no changes so far - I am very doubtful there will be. Berry is probably our recruiting grinders as we speak. - I know, but culture.

Add in Boesser and Schmaltz - after watching these guys this season seems even more frustrating. Absolutely no way we should be this deficient in talent up front while Duluth, Denver, and St. Clown (until tourney time) prosper. No way.

Great question - in my opinion it is really hard to asses, but for sure some of the dead weight were in the pipeline under Hak. My opinion is that Hak had a great knack of adding to his classes with some real studs added later in the process (see Schmaltzs and Boesser - try to imagine a championship without them). Berry has not shown much in this area. In addition, with the necessity to recruit younger and younger we have to constantly update and juggle our classes as their more mature performances show out. If Hak were here I really don't see us just standing pat either with our recruiting class or with keeping the dead weight on the roster. Berry seems to be content to just stand pat. We also seem to have lost out on several recruiting battles lately - This is just my two cents.

I don't think there is much doubt that there have been some recruiting miscues that have happened often enough to become a pattern - not just mis-judging a prospect or two - and it has been going on for several years as evidenced by our top scorer this year from any class having 10 goals. I sincerely hope there is an honest assessment and plans to correct this situation and not just the "hey, we have a better class coming in next year" philosophy. There is absolutely no way St. Cloud and Duluth should be out-recruiting us for several years running now. None. I believe Stony Sioux is right that he won't just come out and tell us what is happening. It's hard to read through all of the coach-speak, but hopefully Berry and Chaves will take a hard look at things. I am cautiously optimistic. but still hope some dead weight will be dropped.

Actually, my opinion is that both were equally poor. We had a very difficult time gaining the zone on many power plays - often we dumped it in the corner and it was promptly cleared out. When we did we held it out front, teed it up constantly and waited for the defense to adjust before passing it around out front (often to lose the puck). Very little quick puck or player movement. Pressure absolutely killed us. What totally baffles me is that even with our offensive challenges why couldn't we do anything different - appeared to be adjustments in equally ineffective personnel but no changes in movement or philosophy. I can't for the life of me understand how it remained so poor so long (and not just this year). This must be fixed.

Well excuuuuuse me Mr. Taz Boy. I clearly didn't know I was dealing with an intellectual such as yourself. Your use of preamble, sophomoric, Bill Maher, and sycophants all in two sentences left me properly chastised. You are clearly a keyboard warrior to be feared. (nice work using vis-a-vis too).

I totally agree that the game atmosphere is going down and we could use a boost. Part of the problems are baked in now, but part could be solved by some changes. The corporate atmosphere was sealed when they decided to make lower bowl tickets contingent on a serious Sioux Club membership level. Part of the student problem was when they didn't put the students on the end and built without figuring out that standing would block the view of others. (I can see both sides of the standing issue - We really need the students engaged and cheering - however, I have been in a suite several times when the students stood in front of us for no particular reason - not play related - just standing, chatting, and texting. Extremely frustrating.) Things that could change - the eternal vigilance on the student section - just looking for anyone having too much fun. If there is a problem fine - deal with it. But putting them under the microscope really dampens their mood. Find more ways to involve the students with organized cheers, more band - have a student group search for ways - this is not the same type of student that went to the Old Ralph - more texting than cheering. Finally, have someone who knows and enjoys hockey run the Ralph game day and PA system. The crap that comes over the system every time play stops is a real mood and cheer killer. Many times the crowd is really into it only to be interrupted by some ad over the loudspeaker. Same with the music. We need the crowd cheering at the breaks. Take some of the profit and subsidize whatever payout they get from all of the ads. This is corporate greed and a mood killer. (also put out a team that is exciting. Watching them try gain the zone on a power play or chip it off the glass then all rush to the corner is ultra boring. Few break-aways or odd man rushes. Also, giving up a goal within about a minute of us scoring really dampers the mood too). We can have the best atmosphere in college hockey with some planning and tweaks and a scoring upgrade.

You may be right here - my point is that when you field a Sioux team where the leading scorer has 10 goals, then something needs to change in recruiting. We can't afford to just do more of the same. I'm not sure if the problem is in poor player evaluation, losing recruits to other teams, having our pipelines dry up, poor skills in selling our program, poor performances from our assistants or a combination of these but something needs to change. That's why so many are frustrated with Berry. If we are to rely on recruiting then we need to up our game and change what has been going on.

So .... You're saying that if we pretend that perhaps the worst debacle in Sioux Hockey history didn't happen then things would seem better?

Looking at the scoring stats we are more than part way there already. There is absolutely no way St. Clown and Duluth should be out-recruiting us.

What have you seen from Berry so far that makes you think he will make some changes in schemes or special teams - he had all year to fix the power play and it got worse as the season went on and his chip it off the glass and have all 3 forwards end up in the corner offense didn't change a lick. His unwillingness to change is part of the reason that we are watching and not playing.

Agree - it's not like they are replacing any scorers - they are replacing guys who showed what they can and can't do for 3 years.

Or we could just be happy with our 13% power play and scoring 2 goals or less 19 times and getting swept by a team that plays above a parking garage.

I just don't see Berry willing to make the hard decisions this year that he should have made last year. At some point he needs to put the good of the program first. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and he willingly took it to the tune of over $400,000. If he doesn't act he may be driving us right into the ditch. We really need to cut the dead weight.

This would be a great time to get some good recruiting news from Berry. Here's hoping he can sell our program to some studs.

Lots of serious issues with the program have been discussed on this board - including but not limited to: recruiting, the system sucking the scoring out of our team, power play and PP kill, roster issues with dead weight, player development, assistant coaches, and leadership. Who here thinks Berry will deal with them in the off season (or even some of them)? Based on his handling of the power play and Captain Gardner during the season I am not optimistic - however, who knows. Maybe Chaves can help Berry can iron some things out. If not, buckle your seat belts - it's going to be a bumpy ride. What is the over/under for change to happen?

This is the million dollar question - can and will Coach Berry take a hard and honest look at his program and make the necessary changes? I've said it before - many very intelligent and knowledgeable coaches are totally unable or unwilling to change their precious "systems" - Football Bubba cost us at least last season and probably more by refusing to take an honest look at the offense and the OC. I hope Coach Berry is willing to make the hard decisions but am not overly optimistic - so far it's been just more of the same (see power play). Maybe a strong AD can help. Like you mentioned, there are many people in the Sioux family that would help. In addition, he really really needs to up his recruiting - there is absolutely no way St. Clown or Duluth should be out-recruiting us and skating circles around us - this is not just a one year anomaly but now a pattern. We are close, but changes really need to be made.

Hennessy clearly forgot that part of a coaches duties is recruiting.

Does anyone with any connections know if Berry "gets it" at all? It is so hard to judge from the coachspeak and softballs from Schlossman and Hennesy. At some point he needs to concede that big changes are needed. If he can't see that then all may be lost until he leaves.

But in the real world we got swept