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Whoa. According to Schlossman, Pitlick will be playing at MSU-Mankato this year. Totally didn't see this happening.

Which begs the question if Berry & his staff have already begun talking to some MJ players. I assume they have so they can try & get their fair share of the bounty when the floodgates open.

Plucked right out of Minny's backyard by the wizard Carle. Gotta admire the coach for putting his program atop the college hockey pyramid. I see this as more of a positive than a negative. Even though it's unfortunate for UND, it's even more of a negative for MN & the Big10. He's the type of player who will only help strengthen the NCHC brand even more. The NCHC needs players like him to stay dominant, even though he's going to our biggest rival. It's not as bad as it seems, imo.

My question is the predominant talent level of the MJ players going south to the NCAA: will they be mostly like the 20 y/o Braxton Whitehead trying to get into ASU so they can extend their amateur eligibility? (older players like him with his kind of stats won't generally be helping any basement-dwellers compete with the big boys) ... or will we also see some higher-end 18 & 19 y/os who can definitely help bring more parity to the NCAA? But what incentive would an 18 or 19 y/o player who's lighting up the OHL have for playing in the NCAA? Won't these higher-end players mostly just transition to the AHL for some experience before they hit the NHL after a couple years of doing very well in the CHL?

Once August 1st hit I thought UND would see a flurry of high-end commits; most D1 schools outside of a couple have been quiet. I thought that most sought-after players would have decided by now, unless they're having a hard time narrowing their choices down to just one.

Uff da, I stand corrected on saying December, but the gist of my post was that Davis was on a completely different level during the playoffs, compared to the reg. season where even though he was very good, he was still beatable & hadn't sold his soul at that point. Per the denverpioneers website, Davis was ... "Recognized as both the NCAA Frozen Four and Northeast Regional Most Outstanding Player after finishing the four-game national tournament with a 0.63 goals-against average, .979 save percentage."

He basically went from being average, at best, the entire season to making Patrick Roy look like an amateur during the playoffs. I can't remember a college goalie who was that lights-out over the course of 4 games. So in-the-zone he was. The moral of the story being, you can have a team chalked full of NHL-caliber players like BC had, but if you have a goalie who sold his soul for 30 pieces of silver, it doesn't really matter. If you put last December's version of Davis in net in April, DU doesn't win it all. Something clicked for him mentally at the right time where he had a razor-sharp focus & everything seemed to slow down for him, just in time for the playoffs. That coupled with his team playing solid hockey & hitting their stride when it mattered most earned them #10.

Whatever the issue is, be it lineups, coaching philosophy, leadership, training, etc., something ain't working when the playoffs roll around. What has been successful in October has been not so successful in March; it's beyond anything flukey or bad luck-ish & has become a predictable pattern. Hopefully the coaching staff took a long, hard look in the mirror this off-season & made some changes with how they manage the team; instead of trying to pound the same square peg into a round hole & hoping it'll somehow fit this time. But old habits in old men die hard, so we'll see. I don't claim to know the core issue(s) causing UND to nosedive every spring, but something needs to change. Even though MI lost against BC 0-4 in the FF last year, they played hard & fast every shift; giving it their all until the final whistle, even though the game was all but over halfway through the 3rd period. I really admired that tenacity. Contrasted to how UND played 2 weeks earlier in the regional, in which they basically got pushed around & lost all intensity for 10-12 minutes in the 3rd period. That kind of disappearing act simply cannot happen in the playoffs. It's incumbent on the coaches to examine why that prolonged lapse happened so it won't be repeated in the future.

It sure seems like the coaching staff focuses an inordinate amount of energy on winning the Penrose. Looking at the players hootin' & hollerin' last year after they clinched the Penrose, only to have a major drop in their performance thereafter. Amost like they peaked too soon & didn't have enough left in the tank. Part of being a successful coach is having enough insight to change course when the old philosophy isn't getting you the desired result: a championship, or at the very least a deep run into the playoffs most years. The team has more than enough talent most years to inflict its share of postseason damage, they just seem to fizzle out mentally late in the season. All this based on an outsider's perspective who has no idea what is emphasized or talked about behind closed doors between the coach & his players. Am basing my opinion on what I hear Berry say to the media, the players' response to winning the Penrose & their subsequent play in the postseason.

How can ASU get a verbal from a WHL player before the class action suit has even been decided? I know it's inevitable, but doesn't an NCAA school have to wait for the official ruling before a Canadian player can commit from the CHL to the NCAA? This will increase the overall talent pool in D1 hockey, but won't it exclude some marginal American players because NCAA rosters will now be inundated with CHL players?

Was being serious, didn't know the format of their competition. Thanks for explaining it.

Was that a standard Ironman being a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride & 26.2-mile run, or was it a shorter version of these?

With my luck, I'd be sitting there halfway through the 3rd period with UND down 1-4 & playing one of their worst games in recent memory, wondering why I even went, with the wife chirping in the ear about where that $900 could have gone instead...I was seriously considering going since I live only 15-20 minutes away, but it's just not worth it for a mid-season game. A number of states define price gouging as raising prices by more than 10% on basic necessities compared to pre-emergency prices. Hockey isn't a basic necessity like food (maybe it's a necessity in GF, but not in most places;)), but I would still call it price gouging. If a ticket normally costs $50, but it jumps to $400, that's a 700% increase; this compared to the 40-80% increases in groceries over the last 4 years at my local supermarket. I would spend $400 for a NC because that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, most definitely, but not for some game in January.

Drag the old lady with you, plus parking, food/drinks & it's probably close to $900 for a UND game at Mullett. It better be a resounding Sioux victory for that price.

How in the world do you guys afford such high prices? How much does an average ticket at the Ralph cost (not when the Gophers are in town, but say an average team like WMU)?

$399 for 1 ticket? I think it was him who recently described the UND fans' exodus to watch a series at DU as "...their annual pilgrimage to civilization". Funny.

Yes, making the F4 is a solid accomplishment, but bringing home the hardware is what defines a program. Teams like QU, UMD, even DU (who I don't think had a single first-rounder last year before Z. Buium was drafted this June, correct me if I'm mistaken) are all doing better against stacked teams with first-rounders. Logicallly it doesn't make much sense, but that's how it's been playing out the last 5-10 years. And going back 10-11 years, teams like Union & Providence have more to show for themselves than anyone in the Big 10 as far as NC go. Go figure...seems that blue chips are good at getting you to the Big Dance, but experienced 3rd & 4th year guys, excellent coaching & forging one's steel in the most difficult conference are better barometers for national championships, generally; along w/ peaking at the right time & having a healthy roster going into nationals, of course.

All that talent has translated to diddly squat for the traditional powers in those two conferences; those teams being BC, BU, MI, MN, WI. This leads me to believe that teams with many solid players (2nd-7th round guys) staying for 3-4 years generally have better success than teams w/ revolving doors of 1st-round players who are around 1-2 years. Out of those 40 players drafted in the 1st round who played in Hockey East or the Big10 since 2019, it would be interesting to see how many of them went to just 4 schools: Michigan, MN, BC & BU.

The portal has been a cruel mistress to the less-established schools, but has been a boon so far for UND. Though it should be used judiciously & not viewed as a recruiting tool on par with the traditional method.

Lagging in what respect, visibility? The NCHC has won 6 NC since the realignment, Big 10 zero & Hockey East a couple, I think. If anything, the exact opposite is true. There's no comparison, the NCHC dominates when it matters.

How do you know that MSU wants Zajic? And because you know about MSU, do you know who UND is targeting?

You're forgiven if this blurb was written under duress, under the influence, if you were experiencing a psychotic break from reality or if you were in a public venue with Gopher players & their slackness was transmitted to you. Complacency leads to mediocrity. As one of the premiere hockey teams in the nation, it's incumbent for this program to always reach for the stars, year in & year out. May this team always be a reflection of its fanbase: full of piss & vinegar and may they always be contending for a NC. Maybe the coaching staff can stop treating the Penrose like it's the Holy Grail for the team. Last year the players were celebrating the regular season championship by skating the trophy around the rink, hooting & hollering. Premature celebrating & the consequent let-down the remainder of the season when they couldn't seem to recover their spent mojo. It's only natural for a team to have a drop in performance in their remaining games if they blow their load too soon.

Not confirmed, but there is chatter that Rhett Pitlick will be leaving the Gophers soon after 3 seasons with the team & turning pro. He tied for the lead in team-scoring last year. A little odd to be doing this in mid-August. Again, this is not confirmed.

Would be nice to see how successful our hit rate is on recruits for any given year; but dunno if the plebs are privy to such information. After everyone commits, would be nice if Schlossman listed from his top 30 which players UND was targeting. But maybe the coaches don't share that information with him.