.357

Conundrum for Berry: Say Strathmann and/or Komzak returns, he has a tough decision to make on whether to take Montgomery off D in favor of one of them. Montgomery may not have their physical attributes, but he has a lot of poise & makes smart decisions; traits you want in a d-man when you're playing the best team in the country.

That juggernaut is about due for its first loss. They're winning games they're supposed to win, but they haven't played a team of UND's caliber yet. They also haven't been racked with injuries. Next weekend will be their first true test. At this point, I don't think the guys are capable of playing 60 min, so fingers crossed that they can put in a solid 50 & not get burned while in la-la land. But who knows, maybe DU will be a big enough motivation to play hard the entire game.

I had to rub my eyes because it was incredible to see: Including the end of last year, DU has won, get this, 18 consecutive games. 9 wins this year & 9 to close out last year. What a streak. That is the definition of a well-coached team.

With Berg's outstanding play this weekend, I'm starting to think his absence at Cornell affected the team more than I originally thought. He may be one of the few offensive cogs on the team who is crucial for the team's success. Berry would probably disagree & say "Next man up", but there are some players who do so many things well that you can't afford to have them out of the line-up.

Hard to take Montgomery out when the other d-men get healthy; he makes sound decisions & isn't a liability when he is out there.

Hobie has better numbers so far & will probably be the starter next year, so start giving him some time. 7 games last year & 3 this season ... hard to hone your game when you hardly play.

Words are one thing, action is another. When you get to a certain point in life, you stop listening to people's words & you just focus on what they do. The last time the good guys swept a team (excluding Miami) was March 2nd of last year, against W. Mich. Anything less than a sweep this weekend would feel like a disappointment. Gut it out tonight & inject some life into their PWR.

The team should have 1 slogan & 1 slogan only: "Play for 60". Paint it in the locker room, sew it on their uniforms, tattoo it on visible parts of their bodies, play subliminal "Play for 60" tapes while they're sleeping, engrave it on their glasses & utensils in the dining hall, embroider it into their bedding & underwear ... whatever it takes to get the message across to instill a complete game in each & every player. These prolonged gaffes during games where they mentally checkout will cost them against better teams.

Does Miami get a point, or do you have to get to the shootout to earn a point?

For Hobie, hard to develop your skills in net when streaky senior transfer goalies are constantly eating up your minutes. I don't get it. TJ may have solid games here & there, but he's prone to major brainfarts; plus Hobie will be the primary goalie next year anyway so he needs some important starts to gain experience & become more polished (you would think anyway, unless Berry can get another senior transfer goalie, maybe from the CCHA next time). 2024-25 goalie comparison: TJ: 5 GP, 3.12, .882 HH: 3 GP, 2.25, .913

Ok. I assume the average CHL players will stick it out until 20 yo so they won't lose their scholarship, whereas the ones with pro aspirations won't really care about forfeiting it & will leave for the NCAA at 18 & 19 yo. The transfer portal will continue to be valuable, but maybe not as much now with all the availability from the CHL. Guys in the portal will have competition for NCAA spots from the Canadian boys.

"Upon graduation" Graduation from what? I didn't think they were attending school simultaneouly while playing in the CHL.

Now that the team is hanging together by a thread, I guess we'll find out about their character; it's gut-check time. Will they continue to fold, or will they find resolve through adversity? UMD & DU: thinking they need to win at least 3/4 to regain some PWR stability after last weekend. Don't want to be on the bubble come March, hoping other teams win so you can sneak into the tourney.

It went from week-to-week after Providence, to additional testing, & now to nothing, just that's he's not playing. If it were an injury like a fracture or a pulled muscle, that would be obvious through an x-ray or MRI & there would already be a timeline for his return. Perhaps it's clotting or inflammation that's not going away, something more ambiguous than a broken bone.

I'm thinking that if Zmolek were week-to-week, or at least returning in the near future, that Berry would have said so. That's usually his M.O. during press conferences. The fact that he was mum on his return leads me to believe that he could miss a lot more time, as he usually volunteers the timeline for returning without being asked.

No doubt. I wonder if they have any plans on bringing in Laurila in the 2nd semester.

Good to know, thanks.

So once a roster is set for the year (15-8-3), a team cannot add to it if there is a season-ending loss to a D or F during the year, but a team can bring in a goalie from a club team for a goalie injury? And can a team carry more than 26 or 27 players in a year, or is there an NCAA regulation against that? If so, what is the maximum number of players a team can have?

Colton is an intense guy, don't think he would tolerate any half-assed play on his watch. Younger version of Hakstol, perhaps, in terms of his demeanor.

There's something not quite right when your team has played 6 games, & they go to Cornell, who had only played 1 exhibition game at that point, & it takes them 30 minutes before they start trying. Where was the energy from the BU series? They should have been all over Cornell to take advantage of any rustiness they may have had, but they let that golden opportunity slip by. Valuable PWR points lost. Now we're in a position where we would do well to sweep UMD & at least split DU to avoid digging an even deeper hole & sinking in the PWR even more. And this happens quite often. The players come & go, but the core coaching staff remains. It appears that Berry either isn't preparing or motivating his players well enough. It's up to the coach to ensure that his players come to play every night; if you're making close to $500k/year you should be able to do at least that. It's sloppy, half-hearted performances like that that will get them bounced out of the NCAA tourney before it even begins. The HC position should be reviewed every 8-10 years to gauge the success of the program with standards like: ls the team consistently doing well in the regular season? Are they consistently making & doing well in the playoffs? If a program doesn't have a structured timeline in which these expectations should be met, then these same rinse & repeat outcomes could last for 10-20 years.

College athletes don't surprise me anymore. Last year we started out great & fizzled out at the end. This year the guys have a major issue with being consistent and are below .500; but they could always turn it around & have a solid year. It's been done before. The next 4 games against UMD & DU should tell us all we need to know about this team. If they still can't find consistency after 11 games, this season is probably a wash. Any feedback on Andrew's play on Saturday would be nice. Jamernik was commenting after Saturday's game that Andrew is a very good player & that it's amazing he isn't a regular. (don't know if Jamernik was just being complimentary because it was his first game or if he is actually pretty good)

Boisvert seems to be thriving as a freshman, he's gelling with James & Perron & will probably put up respectable numbers if he stays healthy. He's already acclimated to the college game. Other teams usually bring their 'A' games against UND & play a tighter game against us. Plus UND usually doesn't preach a run-&-gun game. Coming into the year, it was thought that this team would have 3 scoring lines.

Livanavage is from Phoenix, Emery's from Compton, Boisvert is a stone throw away from Montreal & Quebec City (appears to almost be a suburb of Montreal), MacDonald is from a Toronto suburb, Strathmann is from Beach Park (suburb of Chicago), Perron is from Winnipeg, Croal is from North Branch (just outside the TC), McLaughlin is from Spring City (just outside Philadelphia), Wiebe is from Mission (suburb of Vancouver), James is from Calgary, Jamernik is from Calgary, Wilke is from Calgary, McKamey is from across the bay in Vancouver, plus we have a few in the pipeline from the TC. It's never been about the location.

What are the odds that the head coaches of both the hockey & football programs of a university have almost identical nicknames, are both allergic to the postseason & are both affable, "aw shucks" good ol' boys endeared by many? You may be onto something.

He goes from one of the best nights of his career last weekend to one of his worst last night. If he had been playing hard he may have contributed to a goal; or at the least pumped up his teammates with his hustle, but no. All it takes is 1 player to not do his part & the effects ripple to the other players. Will Berry nip this problem in the bud by sitting him out a game next weekend, or not? At least it would send the team & him the message that playing hard every game is necessary for the success of this program. Then if he continues with his subpar attitude strip him of his 'A'. Coddling him & doing nothing just because he's a drafted local boy implicitly conveys the message to everyone in the locker room that putting in no effort is acceptable. Having a guy like Andrew in there instead who at least is giving his best shot is less of a liability than someone who has occasional motivation issues. Short-term it may hurt the team putting in less talented players, but in the long-term it sets the tone for everyone in the locker room that there are consequences for putting in no effort.