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Sums it up. Berry could very conceivably be the HC for another 5-10 years, which would put him close to 70 yo. God forbid it drags out that long. It's possible, Berenson stayed with MI until he was 77. Never heard of an average coach voluntarily stepping down, they usually have to be canned.

Everything flows from the coach. Carle is in a league of his own. If he were coaching UND's current team, there's a high likelihood that he would put a lot better product on the ice, because he gets the most out of his players. Whereas Berry does the usual Berry stuff in a Berry kind of way. Carle's building a dynasty at Denver, & UND is currently unable to stop him.

I was looking forward to this year, but so far it's been a continual uphill climb in terms of consistency & injuries. Some years are just like that, it's the volatile nature of sports. Whereas DU is coasting & it seems like everything they do turns to gold. I'm not ruling UND out because they could go on a tear, but realistically the odds aren't in their favor; they don't seem to have the horses, the consistency & the savvy coaching that define successful teams.

Wiebe was raised a d-man, is a draft pick & is a second-year starter, & he made quite a big gaffe by not covering his man in the slot on a basic play, resulting in a goal. The forwards were also missing assignments, resulting in many grade A chances for DU. We got a glimpse last night of the same inconsistency that we saw in the Augustana game (& even the first MSU-M game, which should have been a loss) when most everyone was healthy; except now we can pin it on injuries. Even in the first Cornell game before Strathmann & Croal got injured, the entire team looked like they had just returned from summer vacation. The inconsistency appears to be systemic, regardless of the health of the roster.

Consistency is a state of mind rather than something that's dependent on how many healthy players a team has (Berg & Zmolek being out did not cause the d-men & forwards to miss basic assignments). UND had plenty of talent on the ice last night, but they were still making fundamental errors that should have been corrected a few games into the season, at most. Those mental mistakes are a sign that the team isn't learning its lessons, & much of that falls on the coaching staff for not getting their message through effectively.

They would first have to fix their massive inconsistency & play a sound, disciplined team-game to even get a sniff of 2nd place. Right now they look like a bunch of individuals without an identity. The team's predicament falls squarely in the lap of the coaching staff.

Some of the members here seem to know about putting together more effective lines than the HC, and that's concerning to me...if one of your more productive forwards from last year (OMac) has 0 goals through 11 games, ya might wanna put him at center, coach. Geesh. Season is only roughly 1/3 or so finished & a lot can happen in the 2nd half, but tonight feels almost like a must-win game for the team: if they lose, they miss out on gaining very valuable PWR points, become even more of a bubble team & enter the next 6 games before break with zero momentum. A win would be massive for their PWR & confidence.

I agree, but he'll probably experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result.

Berry's been spending the last 9 years trying to get things together. UND is no more a functional, cohesive team now than when they played Augustana. It almost seems like they regressed last night. And zero improvement from last year's biggest weakness, which was dealing with a heavy forecheck. A bunch of individuals trying to hit home runs with breakaways instead of focusing on passing, puck possession, sound positional play, etc. DU lost a lot of talent from last year & someone said they're the second- or third-youngest team in the country. Yet their young players have zero problems playing like a team & with discipline. It's clear what the issue is.

And that superiority extends to their coaching staff, it couldn't be any more obvious than after tonight. A team is a reflection of its coach. UND has plenty of talented players, there's no reason why they can't at least be competitive with DU. But they continue to make bonehead plays, are undisciplined when it comes to penalties, cannot string together 60 minutes & the element of teamwork seems to be an alien concept for them. All this even after 6 weeks, which smacks more of a coaching/managing/motivating issue than a personnel one. 11 games into the season & UND played no better tonight than in their embarrassing loss to Augustana. Even with a full lineup then, UND looked lost. That game was an omen of what to expect this season. UND can overpower weaker teams with nice individual plays, but are like a ship without a rudder when they face talented, disciplined teams like DU; because playing like a bunch of individuals will always lose out to a well-structured team.

Schlossman usually reports any injuries as he sees them during the game, & asks Berry in the post-game press conference; or at the very latest it is mentioned in the Wednesday press conference. Which is why I find it odd that it wasn't reported until Thursday afternoon, unless it was an injury that happened in practice. (regarding Berg)

Is there a pop-up blocker you recommend? Last time I checked in with that site I got bombarded more than a blonde woman in New Delhi.

Considering the unpredictable nature of college athletics, sometimes indecisiveness has its place.

Exactly. If anything, this will show us the character of the team & how they handle adversity. Maybe they'll fold & go through the motions, maybe they'll dig deeper. Every single player needs to be playing to his full potential on each shift, no exceptions. Denver’s probably smelling blood. But the coach also gets a turn under the microscope. We'll see if Berry can field a competitive team each night under trying circumstances. Come mid-December, we'll see how he handled this particular adversity & if he was able to rally & guide his team effectively through it. The coach will receive equal praise or criticism alongside the players.

For sure it'll progress someone else's skill set, but probably at a cost. He's a difference-maker in most games he plays. Other forwards will need to go above & beyond to compensate for his absence (especially Wilke, just 1 g, 2a in 9 games so far..need more production from him pronto). If they can somehow gut out a split with DU & manage to go 6-0 against the PWR-killer teams before break ... Glass half-full for now. You would think, but they were missing Berg at Cornell also, & they looked rather disjointed on Friday & made quite a few fundamental mistakes in that series. We shall see if they've learned anything since then.