Irish

Agreed that defensemen can be difficult to judge early, but we may have our third average defensive class in a row - the last two and the next one. With our three successive Frozen Fours, our Championship, and the type of defense we showed on a national stage, we should be able to recruit some studs. Am I missing something?

Agree with the Quinn comment - And while BU has their recruiting points we have ours - a history of developing high end pros, the best facilities, the best fans, fans who travel like no one else, great coaching, and a program that is probably top two of all time with a run of Frozen Fours. Given that, I'm not saying we should even shoot for the BU type of class, but I think we should expect better than the last two groups (with the exception of the big 3 talents). We have a group with no scoring punch and defensemen who give away goals. We should expect better classes than that.

True - but we had no Stechers the last couple of years - we must be due for 3-4 next year.

Have you seen our current bunch play lately?

I agree, but given how long it takes freshmen D players to adjust and who we will have back what kind of defense do you think we will have next year?

Half below C. Now do the defense.

Your honest assessment - other than the big 3, how much talent do you see in those 19 underclassmen?

I don't disagree and am not necessarily arguing for more #1 picks (although it would be nice). My point is that other than the three stars we have very little talent to build into a Duluth like team. Many are below average. After the big 3 we have a serious lack of scoring - punctuated by Wilkie and if you saw our defense this week you know what I mean there too. Not only that, we have serious issues clearing the slot and around the goal, clearing the zone, on the power play, and with concentration and not making stupid plays. We don't seem to be able to play Sioux hockey for a whold game and sometimes for a whole period. Maybe Gornal, Wilkie, and Wolanin will develop a lot, but I am seriously worried.

I couldn't agree more - take away those three and the last two classes aren't competitive. No scoring, a goalie who is in Siberia, and defensemen who cough up goals repeatedly. While the championship accelerated the process a bit with the departures, I really don't see a core of talent who will improve with time. We have lots of dead weight and with our recruiting advantages (NHL Stars, top program, top facility) there is no way we should be in this boat. Other schools have reloaded quickly. If we don't have one of the best classes in history coming in, if we have early departures we will be in big trouble.

The talent level drops off like few Sioux teams I have seen since the end of Gino's run. How did this happen with all of our success in making the Frozen Four. No way some of these teams should out-recruit us.

Not even in the ballpark

Why are we going to our walk-on instead of our 3rd rounder? I wish someone would shine a little light on this - pulling Cam for Wrinks is futile.

I know we lost a lot on defense, but jeez - how can BU recruit all of the first round draft picks in the universe to play defense and we have to play this crew anchored by Walanin. Time to hit the recruiting trail and hard. We were beaten physically and mentally last night.

We have some real dead weight on this team. Surprised they couldn't bring in better talent than some here.

Actually, badgers were much more difficult than gophers, but you did see some

He got walked twice right in front of me - both led to goals - the guy drives me nuts.

Wolanin is just brutal, but it seemed like every time I looked he was on the ice. We seem to have a few guys who still don't know what to do at this level.

80 years? I'll put it on my calender

"In front of the net, they were men" - one of the best compliments for a Sioux team I have ever heard.

Who would cover it - The Grand Forks Forum?

I agree, although at this point in his career the "locking on" problem might just be too ingrained.

This ^^^^^

I confess to be more worried than you - it seems to me that we have a lot of passengers on this team. Other than Jost, Boesser, and Gersich I don't see a ton of talent on the last two huge classes. When the studs leave after this year who do you see as stepping up?

I know you are trying to put a positive spin on things, but I'm not sure how crapping away a home playoff game represents a positive step towards anything.

I'm still burning over this one - no matter how you slice it, when you do this in a playoff game at any level it is a massive choke. Sorry to say this on this forum but it is true. Look, Bubba has done a spectacular job building this program - far exceeded expectations so far. However, program building and game coaching are two different things. That's why Nick Sabin brought in Lane Kiffin to coach the Alabama offense. In my opinion, this defeat is squarely on the coaches. Among the problems - we lost a game earlier this year to a blocked punt - there is absolutely no way anyone should go through untouched in a playoff game. Running into the punter - the idiot who did that should have much more game and situation awareness - this should have been emphasized on the sidelines (hell, if we had put the ball boy in for him on this play we would have won the game). Defensive coverage - isn't there anyone on the sideline who can count the number of receivers split to one side and make sure we have enough guys to cover - I haven't seen this happen since the Sioux Falls Game. And finally (and most frustrating to me) - we have an O coordinator whose reputation is to try pound the ball no matter how many in the box we are against - he seemed very happy to go 2nd and 9, 3rd and 7 series after series. Now we are successful pounding the ball and need to run some time off and he double reverses and chucks the pigskin?????????