Irish
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Posts posted by Irish
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16 hours ago, tnt said:
Next season starts by the coaches forcing themselves and their team to watch the NCAA selection show today and knowing they all had a hand in us watching rivals being seeded in what should have been our regional. Maybe they will work this off-season to correct that.
They should also be forced to watch all of the Gopher, Michigan, and Denver playoff games to see what teams with talent and speed look like. However, if looking at our goalie situation doesn't dial them in I don't know what will. It's been a long long time since I have seen a Sioux Hockey coaching staff flounder this much.
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1 hour ago, sparky8701 said:
I think it's a multi-year process, involving a season of pain. Abandon the transfer portal and 5th year players unless there's an extenuating circumstance (late decommit/injury/signing) or the player is a game changer.
Recruiting and then managing that pipeline I think is at the heart of our problems, and how things get fixed.
I'm not sure why Stephen Halliday changed his commitment to OSU, former teammate of Gaber's too - they were electric together in the USHL.
We know with certainty that Scott Morrow, Massimo Rizzo, and Cole Spicer did not want to play another year of junior and as a result decommitted.
Spicer has potential to be a good 3-4 year player. The other 3 listed are legit difference makers.
Meanwhile we bring in Farmer, Sidorski + Jandric and Ferner the year before on D. Scott Morrow was a star at Shattuck and high in NHL CSS rankings, yet coaching staff insisted he play in the USHL for a season. That's either a skill evaluation misstep, or a cop out due to being logjammed at D.
Moore and Johnson haven't taken steps. Bast is just a head scratcher. Look at his junior numbers - nothing there indicates he could become a meaningful player at this level.5th years from Hain and Senden, who are both fine but don't move the needle much, takes minutes from players that we needed development from this season. We got 1 decent season from Ashton Calder.
We've done nothing to recruit or develop a goalie since Scheel left.
This is exactly accurate - and quite an eyeopener as to how our current coaching staff operates - throw in slow play and here we are.
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1 hour ago, scpa0305 said:
Berry has to adapt to the newer style of play. Plain and simple. He has to let the skill players play and deal with some of the D breakdowns/learning curve. He has a couple skill guys coming in, they both have to play. If we stick with this chip and chase style of play I’m afraid he won’t make it another year or two.
The odds of Berry seeing the light are around zero percent. Coaches are notoriously stubborn with their systems. And other than this board and the fanbase there is no demand for excellence in our athletic department. Be prepared for more of the same. Sadly.
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1 hour ago, yzerman19 said:
The outcome of this season was sadly predictable, but I haven’t supported this team since the Doug Smail and Craig Ludwig days based on outcomes alone.
The process and product are what is currently suspect. In the slow start Hakstol era, we knew the process would get the boys contending in March and April. Elite talent was exciting to watch even in a losing streak. Speed, skill, physicality defined Sioux hockey. It was better to be a perpetual bridesmaid than not be invited to the wedding at all…to be a program that is a perpetual contender that just can’t get over the hump is vastly better than being middle of the pack.
We need to get that back or we risk losing both recruits and community fanaticism and falling into a spiral of mediocrity. In my book Brad has a short leash. He needs to re-tool his coaching staff for sure, and he needs to look hard at his players and his beloved culture. Right now it ain’t working.
Nailed it. My worry is that there are no short leashes in the AD's office and Berry won't make the necessary changes on his own. If this happens we will be like Wisconsin. Also I thought when we got Karl as assistant he would give us a boost in recruiting and that our goalie play would be outstanding. Not sure what is going on there. We need to be a team that is hard to play against and has speed and skill again. We look and play slow and high end talent doesn't want to play like that.
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34 minutes ago, brianvf said:
For sure. Case in point, Blake…sure he won the NCHC RotY, but he has no talent like the rest of those hacks.
Compare our talent to the top programs - how do you like us now? Either that or we underperformed tremendously - missing the tournament again. Or we can't develop talent. Being on the road in the NCHC playoffs doesn't exactly scream talent. And why for craps sake do we need a portal goalie for the third year in a row. Recruiting is down and we are reaping the results.
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5 minutes ago, brianvf said:
Didn’t Duluth make the Frozen Four a couple seasons ago with five freshmen D?
But they can recruit talent - something that is missing from out current program.
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What are the odds that Berry actually does a self-examination and sees that having a system where offense goes to die isn't working? My guess is less than 10%. Changes need to be made to get more Blue Chippers but coaches are notoriously stubborn about their "systems". And for the love of all that's holy recruit some good goalie prospects. A no brainer. Our "culture: now is one that can't hold leads even when the season is on the line.
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3 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:
@Irishdrinking on St. Pat’s … whodathunkit.
As an Irishman I see it as my duty - the game didn't help either
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3 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:
I think he was being sarcastic.
Sorry - in my defense I've been drinking
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16 minutes ago, Kevin G said:
Agree. And as for the d-core, coach ‘em up!
Who exactly has been coached up lately - this team has regressed in the off season
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5 minutes ago, Esoteric said:
No one did anything wrong. They all gave 100%. Thank you players and coaches for the fun ending.
What fun ending were you watching?
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9 hours ago, AJS said:
Look at the Sophomore class as a whole. I've never seen anything remotely like it. It was a class I wasn't super high on coming in, but I thought they were pretty solid last year. By the end of the year completely outperformed my expectations. There's not a single one that took that next step, I would argue there's not one that is even performing at the level they were at last year. Pretty crazy that every single one is performing worse than last year.
Edit: This is my concern with bringing in portal guys / 5th year guys. It really can hinder development for others. I just wish the rule of thumb was do not keep a guy for his 5th year when you have others on the roster that are more than capable of filling that position. Same with Portal guys.
Our program problems in a nutshell - you would think our "culture" would include steady improvement. If we get the reputation of not being able to develop players we'd better strap in for a bumpy ride.
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1 hour ago, siouxkid12 said:
I would agree with you on the media. Brad and company never push the buttons like they should, its just status quo all the time. When Tim, Jake or Alex start criticizing (just a little bit) the "real fans" lose their mind.
What I do not agree with you is in the shape of the program. Last few years we have been relying on transfer players and we have not had a legit goalie to help us and it doesn't look like we will for a little bit either.Recruiting has been off for a few seasons now - and unless we can start selling our program to some Blue Chippers get used to the "hey, we had a winning season" mantra. Our lack of ability to recruit a good goalie is stunning.
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1 hour ago, 1966guy said:
C'mon man everybody here has the answers to everything whether they are true, hypothetical or completely fabricated. People don't understand there are plenty of quality programs and all those programs are working towards the same goal.
It's a never ending cycle of calling for coaches heads on a platter. Hockey, football, basketball. It doesn't matter. Coach Bernhard may be the only safe coach on campus but look out if they dont win the tournament their in this weekend all bets are off!!
Plenty of complaints but very few answers from what I've read. The
last post I read apparently a 20 win season is the new goal post until that's moved again.
I don't see anyone who is not safe - remember, this is the AD who extended the 5-6 Bubba after one of the worst season of coaching calls I have ever seen.
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8 minutes ago, brianvf said:
Probably a lot, being that they are at every single practice and have more hockey knowledge than all of us.
You are correct but this season has been a real head-scratcher to us fans
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1 hour ago, fightingsioux4life said:
Berry is under a lot of pressure with how the season has gone and the questions on our recruiting prowess or lack thereof. This is the first time I have seen him express it publicly like that.
Good to hear - hopefully he and his staff will take a hard look at the program - especially focused on what they need to do so high end talent once again wants to come here.
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Who is this new goalie and what has he done with DeRidder?
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5 minutes ago, dden3 said:
Our Slovakian scout must have took a pass on this Omaha goalie.
Not to worry - he may be in the portal in several years.
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1 minute ago, SiouxFanSince1990 said:
And how foolish you would look, if these men bring home #9.
I'm sure he is willing to take that risk
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1 hour ago, jk said:
For all the questions about the lineup at forward and defense, I'm pretty sure if you could sit down with a coach and ask them, they would have very specific reasons for each one, and when you heard them, they would make sense. But they can't say those things publicly, because they can't be throwing players under the bus.
Along the same lines, they probably have pretty strong ideas on why things went sideways this season. I'd love to know them, but, again, there's not much they can say without tearing guys down in public.
Ok - I'll buy that - but we could hear how they are going to correct this mess - are we going to adapt a faster playing style so we can start getting Blue Chippers again and not have them think UND is where offensive skills go to die? Are we going to clean up the defensive play? Are we going to address the lack of player development particularly in this last off-season. Are we going to address the lack of mental toughness that led us to cough up leads right and left, and are we going to actually recruit goalie talent and develop them or is going to just be portal, portal, portal. These issues could be addressed without throwing anyone under the bus (except maybe the staff). Or instead are we going to hear about our "culture" some more - you know the one that gave us this fiasco of a season.
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21 minutes ago, dustnyou said:
I wouldn’t trade Brad Berry today for any current head coach coach in D1 college hockey. If you would, who would be your guy?
Not sure who my guy would be but I feel changes need to be made going forward - If Berry can't or won't make them then it will be time to move on. Hopefully there will be some serious staff discussions about this year in the off season. My major concern is that we seem to be getting the reputation among high end recruits that our system will inhibit their growth - especially scorers. This feels like it has some truth to it. This could spell disaster long term. We can't just sit and watch our rivals pull in Blue Chippers year after year. Player development is a concern - case in point is this year's team. Remember when high end talent wanted to come here because we would get them NHL ready (Parise for example). The lack of tournament success is a problem. It has been pointed out correctly that Berry and Co. have much more knowledge about hockey than this board - very true. But the flip side of this is that very knowledgeable coaches can become enamored with their systems and not willing to change. I hope that is not the case here. Next year will be very telling. And any great coach in a top program should be able to recruit good young goalies and develop them. We will be relying on a portal goalie next year for the third year in a row.
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For all of the complaining that Men's Hockey hoggs all the revenue and hurts football people should take a hard look at how much Women's Hockey cost the University Athletic Department. That was a real budget breaker - it that money was give to Football instead problem solved. I urge everyone to go to Youtube and google Bill Burr on women's sports.
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13 hours ago, Big A HG said:
Playing a brand of hockey that doesn't lend itself to improving your draft stock among mediocre players and a mediocre head coach. Remember, we want culture kids only here now.
Any indication Berry is aware of this and has an inclination to change - because if not we could be in real trouble.
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5 hours ago, scpa0305 said:
Schloss does a good job…he’s more of a marketing tool though. He isn’t going to press hard like a journalist covering an NHL team.
Im actually fine with that. We really don’t need negative press right now. I’ve heard indirectly/directly from one brother of a high end recruit and one dad of a higher end recruit that there is risk going the UND route. We need to keep the press positive and keep pulling in talent
This worries me - what kind of risk?
2023-24 University of North Dakota Hockey Season
in Men's Hockey
Posted
Desperate times call for desperate measures - hey, it's worth a shot.