Irish

I really don't need any crap from you for expressing my opinion.

We're talking about Sioux hockey on the Sioux hockey board and this seems like a pertinent issue - don't like it, don't read it.

Gooch - 5 goals, JJ - 6, Smith - 5, Hoff - 3, Adams - 5, Bowen - 2, Yon - 1. We are as short on firepower as any Sioux team I can remember. Anyone know why we aren't bringing in some serious scoring next year - you know, Blue Chippers and such. We used to get some every year. Are we not landing them anymore? Poor evaluation of talent? Other teams seem to be landing scorers, no reason why we can't. As mentioned, we have 8 players from our championship team in the pros - How many of their replacements are pro material? There seems to be quite a drop-off. The last time we missed the tourney it was mainly a goalie issue - and the next year we brought in Parise and Greene and had Bochinski back as a sophomore. In my opinion we have some work to do - not saying we can't do it.

Coach Berry has certainly shown that he can coach a talented, motivated team and in a sense unleash them and get them to achieve at the highest level. The question is - can he assemble one? Every time I dare mention recruiting I get immediate blow-back, but the fact remains that not only is Denver solid year after year, but St. Cloud and our new National Champions Duluth have very talented youngsters both on their roster now and coming in the pipeline. Duluth won a championship with 5 freshmen defense men and had 5 on the National Junior team while St. Cloud had half of the all freshman NCHC team on their roster. Of the top 25 scorers in the NCHC the only two freshmen were from Denver and Duluth. In addition, compare Duluth's record after leading after two with our play this year. We need a break-out season from many players and the team as a whole. I can live with playing back and forth with Denver, but the thought of being second fiddle to Duluth and St. Cloud makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I hope the many posters on this site are correct and we will be back in a big way soon. I hope among Berry's coaching skills is the ability to re-evaluate and change as needed. Someone mentioned on a thread that coaches don't get stupid overnight. That's true, but some get more stubborn (not saying this is Berry, hoping it isn't). I hope for good news on the recruiting trail soon.

I hope Berry is out recruiting his ass off.

Of course you are right and your logic is correct. No one should want Berry gone because of this season and I believe no one does (well, maybe one). What we do want is for him to up his game especially on the recruiting trail. The optics for this season were frustrating for Sioux fans - we couldn't hold a 2-3 goal lead even in the most important games, couldn't play a full 60, and our offense could be described as "chip it off the glass". In addition, St. Cloud out skated us and Duluth bullied us physically. Looking towards the future, St. Cloud had half of the all freshman NCHC team, Duluth had 5? World Junior players. Of the sophomores in the top 25 in NCHC in scoring, none of the 7 were ours and and the two freshmen on the list belong to Duluth and Denver. There is a feeling that not only is Denver beating us to top talent, but also Duluth and St. Cloud (which drives me nuts). I know we have some good defensive talent in the pipeline, but we are used to being top dog and having top talent. I know we played the top teams tough, but we couldn't put away Miami when we needed to. We have the best fans, the best facilities, and the best tradition in the nation. Time to get in some studs and rule the roost again.

Patience my butt - I am dying for some great news on the recruiting trail.

Are we missing out or getting beaten out for some of these? It's so hard to tell what our strategy is or who we are competitively going after (not a criticism). I just hope Berry isn't changing our focus to rely more on grinders or over-emphasizing "team culture" - we saw how that worked out. Let's sign some talent.

We might just differ over semantics. I think most would agree that we had a lack of firepower and puck skills up front. This was certainly exposed when St. Cloud skated circles around us. I don' care if we have a line of undrafted Caggulas or if we have the Toews, Oshie, Boesser type who are high draft picks. The point is that we need a serious infusion of skill and scoring and right soon. The best way for us on the sidelines to judge talent is to look at draft position. Do all high picks become college stars? Of course not, but it probably is a safer bet they will than a group of undrafteds. We have some recruiting advantages here - tradition, fans, arena, NFL alums. We are also used to getting some studs to play here and not elsewhere - Time to regain some firepower. We are not a program of all 3rd and 4th liners and will never get used to it.

Totally agree - let's hope the coaches are on the trail and sell our program to some studs.

I don't think you can snap your fingers at all - I think it takes a lot of hard work and good player evaluation by the coaching staff who need to sell our program. We do have some things to help us sell however. We have the strongest fan base in the country both at home and on the road. We have the finest arena and live in an area where hockey is king. We have a proven record of developing NHL players and lots of NHL alumni to sing our praises. We have a proven record of championships. We are the team of Parise, Oshie, Toews, Stafford, and Boesser. We should be in as strong a recruiting position as any team in the country. Again, I think it takes much hard work, but that is a large part of our coaching staff's jobs.

Which underlines the need to reload every year.

Agree that it should be a big recruiting tool. Gersich leaving has been speculated on since the beginning of the year. A bigger question is what is our plan to replace his scoring. This didn't happen out of the blue. I'm not sold on counting on player development to take up the slack. We should have some big scorers in the pipeline every year.

I would add puck skills to the list - I can't remember a team that had such a tough time handling and accurately passing the puck. We saw poor puck handling cost us many quick scoring opportunities as we had to take a minute to tee up the puck - especially on the power play. We missed many open nets on misfires. This also lead to the "chip it off the glass" mentality for our breakout. It is hard to believe that this team is just two years away from the 7 pass highlight real goal.

I think as important as who is returning is player development - an area that usually is our strength but turned out to be a huge disappointment this year. Most of the roster played at the same level or less than the previous year. I'm not sure if this has to do with coaching, dedication, or maybe some guys have topped out, but for this program to move forward we need some guys to up their game in a serious way - especially without our usual high end talent. Can we get it done for next year? _ I'm not sure having seen very little from a group of players - especially the sophomore class.

As interesting as this discussion is, to me it highlights our total lack of firepower. I can't believe that we are caught this short of scorers. Denver has 3 in the top 5 of NCHC scorers --Western Michigan has 3 sophomores in the top 25 - hell, Colorado College has 2 in the top 10. We have 1 forward in the top 25. Totally unacceptable. Time to hit the recruiting trail hard. Are our assistants any help at all in recruiting?

It's a lot to lose - however they have half of the selections for the NCHC all rookie team

Because we couldn't hold a 3 goal lead on the worst team in the league with so much on the line.

So what needs to happen to get this program back on track? Some ideas - Much of what needs to take place is in the coaches heads - Can Berry be introspective enough to take a hard, honest look at this season and make some changes? This is an ability not all coaches have - Rudolph has none, Bubba - we'll see but so far not much, Berry ????? Some things to look at: are my assistants doing what is needed? Can they come up with a good power play, assist in player development, and importantly bring contacts and sales ability to recruiting? This year was horrible in all three aspects - player development was nill, our power play was an embarrassment, and we put out the least talented team in decades. Do we need to change recruiting philosophy or at least make some adjustments? Not only are we lacking blue chippers, we seem to have a line-up of almost all grinders. Team chemistry is important, but with all of our emphasis on team culture in recruiting we saw that with 18-22 year old men things can easily go sideways - do we need to rethink team leadership? What can we do in the recruiting arena to get back to a championship level - our evaluation of talent appears to need adjustment - we have many guys who score at a level below but can't put the puck in the net or adjust to the speed of the college game. Our sophomore class has been a big bust - St. Cloud State has 3 on the all rookie team - since when are they kicking our butts in recruiting? Finally, does this season piss the coaches off as much as many of the fans? Do they have a fire in their belly to turn this around? This upcoming year is a crucial year for our program and may indicate whether we can get back to the top or start a long slide. I hope our staff is up to the challenge.

"Chip it off the glass" could describe our offense in 5 words.

Any chance of bringing in a stud or two who is not on the list so far? Heaven knows we could use a couple.

Could not agree more - we had a serious lack of puck skills up front - from the break-out to stick handling and puck possession to shooting accurately. How many times did we bobble the puck on a rush or missed a pass and how many times have we missed open nets. A D man led this team in scoring and although there was some potential it was hard to find a scorer in the bunch. I have been a fan for over 45 years and it is hard to remember a team with less firepower (although perhaps I have mentally erased the Bjorkman years. Many other teams have scorers up front and there are many frosh and sophs in the league who are lighting it up. Hard to think we have missed recruiting for several years now. Time to get serious.

Agree about their experience - Then why do we have a power play that looks like it does? How about motivating the team to play a full 60. Player development? Do any of the assistants up our recruiting game either with their contacts or their ability to sell the program? The coaching staff in my opinion has a lot of room to improve.

Some high end studs have been late additions - see Boesser. And it is not like Berry dropped in from another program - he was head of recruiting under Hak. I guess I am really frustrated in that this team seems light years away from what I believe Sioux hockey is both in talent and effort. No reason a team like St. Cloud should be so much more talented than us that it shows readily on the ice. They skated circles around us. And we have no one on our team who is close to light years better than he was a year or two ago.

What do the "logistics of hockey" have to do with puking up 2 and 3 goal leads constantly or not being able to put away critical games in overtime. This we understand. We get that guys didn't step up. Who is in charge of player development, recruit assessment, and closing on top recruits?